It was too easy to be true.

Matt Lloyd coming home, the friendly face with the A-plus resume returning to rescue the Chicago Bulls from years of mediocrity, back-biting and basketball hell.

On Monday, the Bulls threw everyone a curveball — or I guess a no-look pass — by hiring Bryson Graham, the former senior vice president of basketball operations with the Atlanta Hawks, to take the top Bulls job.

Lloyd, who worked his way up the ladder in Chicago and was in charge of college scouting back when the team actually made good draft picks, seemed like the perfect fit. But for anyone complaining about “The Reinsdorf Way,” you can be happy they went outside the family for this hire.

Of course, that’s really more of a White Sox thing anyway. The Bulls had no connections to Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley, and look how well that worked out. President/CEO Michael Reinsdorf finally fired them after six seasons, and now he’s taking his second swing at finding someone to lift this organization out of its doldrums.

Whether they went inside or outside the organization for this hire, people are going to be skeptical because it’s the Bulls. They haven’t earned any trust over the last decade. Graham, who was on the early publicized list of candidates, is relatively anonymous after spending his NBA career in New Orleans and Atlanta, so that doesn’t help. This is really a wait-and-see kind of hire, which is fine.

One thing is for sure, Graham, who turns 40 in October, has a lot of work to do. For one, he needs to hire a coach. Billy Donovan stepped down two weeks ago. For another, he needs to add to a front office that is consistently on the small side for an NBA team. Graham, the first Black lead decision-maker for the franchise, inherits two Bulls executives he worked with in New Orleans, in JJ Polk and Brian Hagen, along with Pat Connelly, whose brother Tim also worked with Graham.

Graham and the Bulls will need to keep investing in the organization, from a modern analytics department to, eventually, a better roster. The Bulls have only paid the luxury tax twice. While they have plenty of salary cap room, they don’t need quick fixes either.

It’s up to Graham to figure out how to make the Bulls a winner again. The previous regime produced one winning season and a bunch of mediocrity. The Bulls have only made the playoffs twice in the last 11 seasons, and they have just two winning seasons in that span.

Things didn’t go so well for the Bulls this past season as they missed the playoffs for the fourth straight time. (Matt Marton / Imagn Images)

While his father, Jerry, has a real mixed bag of results making tough decisions over 40-plus years with two organizations, the younger Reinsdorf clearly didn’t know what to look for when he hired Karnišovas in 2020. This time around, he at least thinks he knows what he needs.

“I want someone who’s process-oriented,” Reinsdorf said after the firings. “I think some of the biggest mistakes we’ve made over the years is we have not followed a process. I think that’s really important. Conviction. I think we need someone who is not afraid to pull the trigger. Communicator, OK? We have a history at the Bulls in the top position, other than (Jim Paxson), they haven’t always been the best communicators, going back to the days of Jerry Krause. It wasn’t one of Artūras’ strengths in terms of communicating with the media. I want someone who’s really strong in communication, not just internally within the organization, but also externally.”

I was told by a Bulls employee who was on a Zoom call with Graham that his early enthusiasm is palpable, which is certainly a step up from Karnišovas, whose enthusiasm was consistently negligible. Karnišovas rarely deigned to talk to the Chicago media, but in his defense, when he did, he usually made the situation feel worse.

Donovan was the real face of the organization during his six years, so it would be a nice change of pace to hear from the person making decisions.

Graham wasn’t exactly a household name outside of New Orleans, where he spent his entire career before moving over to Atlanta last season after Joe Dumars was hired to replace David Griffin. But his “intern-to-GM” career arc there is impressive. He worked just about every job there was in New Orleans aside from sidewalk busker and Drew Brees’ backup quarterback.

In a 2022 “40 Under 40” interview with The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov, Graham made his aspirations clear.

“It is ultimately my goal to run a team,” he said. “I would love to be a general manager. I would love to be a vice president. And take everything that I’ve learned over the years and the experiences that I’ve had, and take those experiences and run an organization. I think that’s ultimately my end goal. But if I don’t get there, I just love basketball. I love being a part of team building. I love being around the game.

“I mean, I’m winning right now, just being in the door. But for me to sit here and say that, ‘Oh, I don’t care about being the GM one day or being the vice president.’ Eh, that’s a bunch of bull. I want that opportunity. And I think everybody that’s in my shoes ultimately should strive, as long as it’s coming from a good place.”

Can last year’s first-round pick, Noa Essengue, turn into an impact player? (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

We all love a good story, but after Wednesday’s introductory news conference, the only question that will matter is: Does he know how to build a winning organization? In a news release, Reinsdorf said he does.

I might need more proof.

In his 15 years with small-market New Orleans, the Hornets/Pelicans had only five winning seasons and five playoff appearances. In his one season with Atlanta, the Hawks won 46 games, flying out of the Play-In Tournament and into the playoffs as the No. 6 seed. They didn’t last long there, but the franchise is in better shape than when he got there.

As his first order of business in Chicago, Graham might want to consider visiting local churches, synagogues and mosques. This team needs some immediate prayers.

The Bulls have the ninth-best odds in this Sunday’s NBA Draft with a 20.3 percent chance of a top-four pick. After undertaking a rebuild following the 2016-17 season, the Bulls never lucked out in the draft. They selected twice at No. 7 and then got the No. 4 pick in 2020 and used it on Patrick Williams. If Graham is fortunate enough to get a top-four pick again, I’d advise him to use it on a better player. That shouldn’t be difficult, as this is a top-heavy draft.

The Bulls also have the No. 15 pick, which is a decent start for a new executive. He also has 2024 first-round pick Matas Buzelis and point guard Josh Giddey. Last year’s first-round pick, Noa Essengue, missed almost all of the season after shoulder surgery, and outside of those three, the remaining players on the roster are all role players and spare parts.

So, welcome to Chicago, Bryson. This is all your problem now.