Sources: Bulls get OK to interview for front office vacancies - ESPN

The Chicago Bulls have started the search process for their new head of basketball operations, receiving permission to interview Timberwolves GM Matt Lloyd, Pistons senior vice president Dennis Lindsey, Hawks senior vice president Bryson Graham, Cavaliers GM Mike Gansey and Spurs assistant GM Dave Telep, sources told ESPN on Monday.

The Bulls are also expected to speak with the co-head of CAA's basketball division, Austin Brown, regarding the vacancy, sources told ESPN.

Interviews are expected to begin this week, sources said, and the team is aiming to hire its new decision-maker just before or just after the mid-May draft combine.

The Bulls made sweeping front office changes two weeks ago, firing executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley on April 6 after a six-year run produced just one playoff appearance.

Ownership has made it clear that the franchise wants to keep head coach Billy Donovan under any circumstance.

«If I interview someone and they're not sold on Billy, they're not sold on a Hall of Fame coach; they're not sold on a person who's won championships in college, who's gone deep in the playoffs with Oklahoma City,» Bulls CEO and president Michael Reinsdorf said April 7. "… If Billy wants to be our coach and someone's not interested in that, then they're probably not the right candidate for us."

Donovan later responded by saying he's not reading into the endorsement.

«I think Michael was making the point of how he felt about me,» Donovan said about Reinsdorf's comments. «But I also understand that, like I said, everybody's got to look out for what is best for the Bulls at that point in time.»

Reinsdorf said the Bulls planned to cast a wider net during