Pippen Ain't Easy
Fansided

Step-by-Step: A Chicago Bulls tanking guide

By Daniel Coughlin

Jan 24, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) holds onto the basket post after being fouled during the second half at Amway Center. The Bulls won 100-92. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 24, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) holds onto the basket post after being fouled during the second half at Amway Center. The Bulls won 100-92. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 12, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls vice president of basketball perations John Paxson (left) and general manager Gar Forman (center) talk with sports writer Sam Smith (right) prior to a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls vice president of basketball perations John Paxson (left) and general manager Gar Forman (center) talk with sports writer Sam Smith (right) prior to a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports /

Fire Forman (and Paxson)

This isn’t a new thought. Forman has been sitting pretty, making terrible decisions for years. He, and his staff, haven’t been able to consistently draft well. Rose was a no-brainer at No. 1 overall. Even if he wasn’t so good, they would have still taken the hometown kid.

He’s failed to be involved in a team that can develop or even evaluate talent properly. For every Butler – there’s one of him – they also drafted Cameron Bairstow, Marquis Teague, or Erik Murphy. They just don’t get the most band for their buck, over and over.

Bobby Portis and Denzel Valentine aren’t getting much playing time. Portis got the start in favor of injured Gibson on Sunday night against the Philadelphia 76ers. It was strange not just because he started, but because he had racked up four straight DNP-CDs prior to getting the start.

Forman doesn’t take questions from the media and Paxson does impromptu, uninformative press conferences.

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They both hold on to their jobs, firing coaches and letting players walk while bringing in a new coach that they surround with talent that is counterintuitive to the systems he ran in college, the only other place he’s been a head coach on any serious level of competition.

They constantly talk about their ability to win regular season games, as if there are banners the league hands out for those kinds of things.

Everything is tone deaf from Chicago. It looks, sounds, and feels like the Reinsdorf family is interested in cashing checks for the Chicago White Sox, but not so interested in developing the next powerhouse Bulls team.

Before Wade and Rondo, who were the big name free agents that came to town? An aging Gasol, just like Wade and Rondo, Carlos Boozer?

Even if they have a plan and can provide a defensible argument for their past missteps, Forman and VP Paxson choose not to. And that simply undermines any confidence that might be had in the two. Their ability to communicate leaves significant doubt in their ability to run a franchise successfully, if you define success by building a contender through smart drafting and appropriate use of funds.

They had to know that this team wasn’t going to work. They had to know that there would be problems and lots of losing. They had to know that the draft this summer is going to be filled with players who can impact at the franchise level. But all they’ve shown is that they don’t have a firm grasp on what it is they are trying to do with this team beyond this season.

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