Pippen Ain't Easy
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Bulls management has no earthly idea what it’s doing or what it wants to do

By Michael Whitlow

Jul 18, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf signs autographs prior to ceremonies to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2005 World Series championship before a game against the Kansas City Royals at U.S Cellular Field. Kansas City won 7-6 in 13 innings. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 18, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf signs autographs prior to ceremonies to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2005 World Series championship before a game against the Kansas City Royals at U.S Cellular Field. Kansas City won 7-6 in 13 innings. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Bulls don’t know if they really want to move Jimmy Butler or not. Then again, the Bulls front office really doesn’t know what to do about … well, anything these days.

It’s never a good thing when Bulls fans are organizing a protest about firing your team’s general manager and vice president of basketball operations.

It’s even worse when it’s #TradeSZN and your owner is most likely more concerned about his newly-landed prospects winning a championship in another sport a handful of years down the line.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the dysfunctional and befuddling front office of the Chicago Bulls.

The four mainstays of management — owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Reinsdorf’s son Michael (the president of the franchise), general manager Gar Forman and VP of basketball operations John Paxson — have really put the organization in a sense of limbo with this season’s trade deadline approaching on Thursday afternoon.

Chicago Sun-Times Bulls reporter Joe Cowley went full Hank Scorpio on the entire front office of the Bulls this past Wednesday and it’s clear that the Bulls have no earthly idea what they’re doing in terms of basketball decision-making.

“To understand why the Bulls are taking calls on Butler rather than making them,” Cowley wrote, “one must first understand Bulls logic.”

This is true. Whatever you think the conventional way is in your own mind in terms of the Bulls, the front office tends to do the complete opposite. (You know, like signing Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade to keep sponsors happy, according to Cowley’s piece, instead of finding pieces to fit your $5 million-a-year head coach’s system.)

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Cowley continued on about how Michael, not Jerry, is seemingly the head honcho of the organization. (Remember the whole prospects thing? It’s almost baseball season, which means you won’t be seeing Jerry anytime soon unless it involves the Chicago White Sox.) According to the piece, the younger Reinsdorf feels that the Bulls are “just fine” with how things are now.

Arguably the most notable part of the whole piece from Cowley was the part about the younger Reinsdorf’s way of thinking.

“Former and current Bulls personnel believe that Michael Reinsdorf is a business-first owner and he measures success by the team’s profitability and marketability,” Cowley wrote. “Winning championships is a priority but takes a back seat to the financial bottom line. That’s why the decision-making has been so questionable the last three years.”

So, there’s you have it. The Bulls are more concerned about their funds and their sponsorships for the organization, rather than the figures that actually bring fans to the arena 41 times a year.

Then, there’s the reported debate between the front office personnel about where to take this team in the future. Do they rebuild it and start anew by moving Jimmy Butler for a huge asset package or continue to tinker and rebuild with what they have?

Here’s Kevin O’Connor from The Ringer on that:

"When the Bulls and Celtics talked Butler last summer, there was organizational disharmony between Chicago’s four primary decision-makers (owner Jerry Reinsdorf, president Michael Reinsdorf, general manager Gar Forman, and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson). Not all of them were committed to rebuilding; according to a league front-office executive, Paxson “sees the writing on the wall,” whereas Forman is comfortable with the status quo, while ownership is not amenable to any potential trades."

So, wait … Paxson wants to rebuild (like he’s done in the past as the general manager of the Bulls), but the current general manager doesn’t want to? Yeah, I can see the issue.

(There is the not-related-but-kinda-related part where the Celtics didn’t want to let go of Jae Crowder last summer and his extremely friendly contract through the 2019-20 season. You can read more about that with David Aldridge’s comments here. According to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, the teams talked Crowder, one of Marcus Smart or Avery Bradley, and the No. 3 and 16 picks for Jimmy Butler last June.)

MORE BULLS: Exploring the depths of Magic Johnson’s past tweets on Chicago-related things

OK, so let’s recap this:

  • Michael Reinsdorf is in charge and cares more about keeping sponsors happy than winning basketball games and championships
  • Forman and Paxson can’t decide on whether or not to trade Jimmy Butler
  • The Bulls signed two known veterans past their primes (a Jerry Reinsdorf special with the Sox) that don’t fit their second-year head coach’s system

There’s a problem in Chicago and it runs much deeper than questions about Butler’s leadership ways. It runs much deeper than Rajon Rondo’s useless defense, Dwyane Wade’s effort at times or the fact that the Bulls haven’t drafted well outside of the lottery since Butler was selected No. 30 overall six years ago (and even then, that was pure luck).

The front office has been well-documented for years, even before the toxic breakup with Tom Thibodeau. (John Paxson fought Vinny Del Negro. That was a thing that totally happened.)

It’s clear that the Bulls have no idea who they are or what they want to do moving forward. Cowley mentioned “Bulls logic”. It’s seemingly business logic, instead of winning logic or success logic. Fans don’t care what sponsors have their logos and names up inside the building. They want their team to win, just like the players do.

However, the NBA is in fact, a business. That’s partly why Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah are gone.

But, this business model is extremely flawed in Chicago and until things change up at the top, the product’s going to remain the same, confusing, non-logical creation.

Next: If the Bulls won't send Jimmy Butler to Boston, what about Taj Gibson?

You can probably see why thousands of fans will be wearing “FIRE GARPAX” shirts on March 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers on national television.

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