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3. The Bench Mob Gets Gutted for “Basketball Reasons”
If Omer Asik leaving because the Bulls lied about wanting to keep him at all costs was a lowpoint in the offseason, what followed it was the equivalent of Jerry Reinsdorf kicking Bulls fans while they were down as he maniacally laughs whilst puffing his cigar.
When Asik was let go, the reason that was given was a phrase that came to define the offseason and was the absolute worst strategy in terms of moving the Bulls psyche away from what had happened in May. When Asik was let go, we were told it was for “basketball reasons”.
Turns out that “basketball reasons” is code for the owner doesn’t want to pay the luxury tax.
It ended up being almost Shakespearian. Reinsdorf doesn’t want to enter the luxury tax threshold, he hadn’t done in the entire history of the franchise. Since becoming an NBA team, the Chicago Bulls have never once had to pay a luxury tax, so there was natural incentice to not make this the first year.
However, that became a conflict of interest, as the natural incentive should have been to win and assemble the best team possible to achieve that goal. But instead of doing that, the Bulls gutted what was perhaps the best bench in the NBA and replaced it with a hodgepodge of bodies that even Dr. Frankenstein would be ashamed of.
Again, it’s not that the bench was completely gutted and the Bulls ended up paying more than it would have cost to bring the old bench back. It’s the fact that we were told the best interest of the team was in mind, yet it didn’t come across that way when it came down to transactions.
For a team that was reeling from losing it’s superstar to a career altering injury, the Bulls couldn’t have botched the offseason anymore than they did.