Pippen Ain’t Easy Audits The Front Office…Gar Forman!

Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Breaking News to Pippen Ain’t Easy. Tom Thibodeau is being traded to Pippen Ain’t Easy for Ronald Agers, a second round pick and season tickets to the Miami Heat next year. Sound  ridiculous? Well so are the rest of the rumors with Thibodeau leaving town. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, we keep it real here at Pippen Ain’t Easy, like  it or not. Let  me tell all of you Chicago Bulls fans something, unless the Miami Heat send LeBron James to Chicago for a trade, Tom Thibodeau is your coach. Okay? Everybody good? Breathe in then breathe out. Pippen Ain’t Easy has gone over the roster with a fine tooth comb on what they have accomplished and we covered Marquis Teague too (Hey Marquis, man I would thank Ashley Wijangco…I forgot you were alive homeslice.) Now it’s time to go take a look at the guys who wear the suits. Let’s take a look at the front office at the guy to your right in the picture Gar Forman.

Gar Forman

This man is the definition of the question that I ask every Chicago Bulls fan. Do you want to win the NBA title or not? Now if you fans are cool with the Bulls being one of the only three billion dollar franchises in the NBA (New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers being the  others according to Forbes) then Gar Forman should be the NBA Executive of the Year and not R.C. Buford the lead executive in San Antonio. Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf gave the front office some crystal clear marching orders when he saw Derrick Rose go down with a knee  injury..again. Get below the luxury tax threshold. That’s it. How did he do it?

1) Traded Luol Deng to Cleveland.

Look Pippen Peoples, Luol Deng was in no danger of being signed to an extension. All that mileage on him? Three years at 30 million? That would have left the Bulls cap strapped. Wasn’t going to happen. Luol Deng stated that the Bulls weren’t going to sign him. I believe him, you should too. Think about what they got back. Andrew Bynum who Indiana told to go away after the Bulls waived him. They got three future picks.

Money wise

Andrew Bynum was discarded faster than bad milk in your refrigerator clearing 12.3 million dollars off the books. Ding, ding, ding! The Bulls are below the luxury tax threshold. I’ll bet you Gar Forman got the key to the corporate toilet. Now combine that with not paying Deng the rest of his 14.3 million dollars for this past year, the Bulls were saved 20 million dollars. Think Reinsdorf’s happy?

The roster.

To all the Pippen Peoples that  get upset when I bash the Bulls, I have some advice for you. When you  search the internet and search for articles to read (after mine) pay attention to what Forman and Paxson have to say. Think about what they have fed you this year. After trading Deng and not bringing back any players that could help the roster, they said they were going to bring over Nikola Mirotic and they have waivered ever since. Truth be told, none of us knows if he is going to come over because it costs money on the salary cap.

Look, the front office got lucky with DJ Augustin. His career was on  skid row before they signed him. Why, his contract was prorated at the league minimum. What does that mean? That means he is cheap. They probably didn’t even pay a million. That’s with the per diem. Maybe this wouldn’t have been such an issue had they signed Marco Bellinelli in the offseason who actually was surprised when the Bulls didn’t even try to sign him in the offseason. Oh well, I guess he’s happy still playing in San Antonio.

I was very critical about the Bulls not bringing in players at the trade deadline. I was critical because the Gar Forman and John Paxson had already done what they were supposed to. This team was not built for the postseason. These guys NEVER wanted to go for the postseason. Joakim Noah and Tom Thibodeau imposed their will on the team and the locker  room bought in and the Bulls got hot feasting on the Leastern Conference. After the Bulls started winning, Forman and Co. jumped on the bandwagon.

When the playoffs started, I mentioned that the players the Wizards brought in would make an impact. Andre Miller and Drew Gooden who came in at the end of the season came off the bench and were major contributors coming off the bench.

Let’s look at what the Bulls brought in…

Jimmer Fredette

Ronnie Brewer

Mike James

Lou Amundson

Ahhh the Chairmen of the Bench! They combined to contribute well let me put it this way. Close your eyes. What do you see? Nothing? That’s what they contributed. But they were  and all together now…CHEAP!

Relationship with Tom Thibodeau

I have a question for the Pippen Peoples out there? Take a look at the teams currently winning their respective Conference Finals series. They consist of the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat. Do you ever hear about the coaches  fighting with the front office? Do you hear rumors of Gregg Popovich going to Memphis? How about Eric Spoelstra going to New York? No, because these franchises have steady working relationships. Gar Forman and Tom Thibodeau reminds me of that movie Kramer Vs. Kramer. It’s a movie about a couple going through a divorce fighting for custody of their young son. These guys are  fighting for custody of the franchise. Let’s see what Forman has done to get on Thibodeau’s happy side.

1) Fired Ron Adams

Tom Thibodeau’s friend and confidant. All because he had an issue with how the team was built. Let’s look at the roster now. Hey Ron, you might have a point.

2) Traded Luol Deng for “future retooling pieces”

Did you guys believe him? Tom Thibodeau didn’t either.

3) Killing the coaching rumors

Dude, I got you started. Tom Thibodeau is not going anywhere. Do you wanna make it official.

Pippen Peoples, your path to the future  starts with this guy. Do you trust him?