Pippen Ain’t Easy roundtable: Where do the Chicago Bulls go from here?

Michael Whitlow (@couldbelikemike): Let’s get started, fellas. We’re not going to beat around the bush here. You probably know how we’re going to kick this one off. When Jimmy Butler became a part of the Minnesota Timberwolves last week, what was your instant reaction to it?

Dru Berry (@druberry_): You know that scene from The Office where Michael finds out Toby is back and can’t do anything but scream, “NO” at the top of his lungs? It was exactly like that.

Daniel Coughlin (@xvanwilderx): Actually, I missed the first 10 picks of the draft because I was at kickboxing. I got back to my phone after class and saw that I had 1,700 notifications from Slack and Twitter. I knew something bad had happened. Yes, anything Gar Forman does is bad. When I saw what happened, I was somewhere between despondent at what the Bulls had agreed to and happy for the Timberwolves.

Bennett Halpin: I was disappointed. Not with trading Butler, but with the poor return.

Idrees Kudaimi: My first reaction to the Butler trade was, “That’s it?” It’s worth mentioning that when I first found out about it, there had been no mention of the 16th pick. I heard they wanted a king’s ransom of picks and young players, but they were definitely low-balled and I was pissed. Then I found out the 16th pick was gone too, and I basically said, “That’s it. Reinsdorf better fire GarPax NOW, or else there will be riots in the streets.” Basically, i was extremely angered by the trade.

Willie Lutz (@willie_lutz): It was the most excited “meh” to ever be “meh”ed.

Matthew Price (@Ecript99): Woah! If it’s 2016 I would absolutely be digging this trade! In reality though, I wasn’t too upset by the trade simply due to the fact that Chicago needed to choose a direction. GarPax did that, and although the returning pieces aren’t amazing, my initial reaction was relief that the team finally made its choice. Kris Dunn could be a solid player if he can develop on the offensive end, Zach LaVine has All-Star potential and Lauri Markkanen has the offensive tools to become a great player. At the same time, all three of these players could be bad … but at least Chicago officially chose a direction for the franchise.

Ryne Prinz: Denial: When the tweets reporting the possibility of a Jimmy Butler-to-Minnesota trade started infiltrating their way onto my timeline, denial immediately set it. I refreshed and refreshed and refreshed, hoping someone had been fooled by a fake-Woj account or been given false information.

Anger: When it became clear this wasn’t a joke, I was filled with rage, posting a few curse words and throwing darts at pictures Gar Forman and John Paxson’s heads, of which I have plastered on my wall like any normal Bulls’ fan.

Bargaining: Once cooled down, I tried finding ways to regain my fandom for Jimmy. Should I get full League Pass this year? Should I move to Minnesota? Should I buy Jimmy’s home in Chicago? I can’t afford any of those things.

Depression: I was hanging out with a couple of friends on Draft Night, both of whom do not care about the NBA, so when I stopped talking for, let’s say, 20 minutes, with seldom sighs breaking the silence, they were concerned. I told myself I wouldn’t cry.

Acceptance: Figuring as if the Bulls are going to stink either way, and Jimmy can at least enjoy himself playing with the up-and-coming Timberwolves and reunite with Thibs, I might as well go have a couple of beers.