In an offseason that originally looked dire at best, the Chicago Bulls front office pairing of John Paxson and Gar Forman are flipping the narrative. With Wednesday’s signing of Diamond Stone, the duo continued pushing optimism down our throats.
I know when I say the phrase “GarPax”, you’re probably on a desperate search for the word “fire“. However, what I’d originally deemed, along with copious others, a terrible offseason is rounding into a fine couple months of front office work for the Chicago Bulls.
While I’m not here to say Rome will be built in a day, a month, or a year, I am here to say that this isn’t a complete train wreck. Moves are starting to make sense, the roster is looking less capital-heavy, and the prospects are, in fact, looming.
Acquiring talent, not All-Stars, is the narrative of a good rebuild. While I’m a Cincinnati Reds fan, look at your Chicago Cubs, Chicagoans. It’s all about getting the right prospects in a room at the same time, then “it” happens.
GarPax transactions have been, for lack of a better reference, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Now, it looks like their flipping to more of the “good”, or at least they look like they’re trying.
Let’s work backwards
Late on Wednesday night, the Bulls inked center Diamond Stone to a two-way deal with only $50,000 in guaranteed dough. You can read the details, but essentially, the Bulls are paying pennies on a 20-year-old with upper-tier potential. While he hasn’t shined since his departure from Maryland, he’s younger than me. I’m a junior in college and he’s playing professional basketball. That’s some perspective.
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Little moves like this are ones that’ll pay off in the long run. It’s similar to the Quincy Pondexter trade on August 31st.
While Pondexter is a 29-year-old veteran, he’s not the real value in the trade. Eating his $3.8 million salary for a second-round pick is worth its weight in gold.
Sometimes, you swing and miss in the second round with regularity. It happens. However, sometimes your second round pick becomes Jae Crowder, Khris Middelton or Draymond Green. Those three, you might be asking, were ALL available in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft. That’s just for a little more perspective.
This is why we go to the ABSOLUTE F- move of the offseason; trading Jordan Bell to the Golden State Warriors. I’d assume GarPax got lost in the moment following the Jimmy Butler trade. Bell produced above value in the Summer League and looks like a stud. However, because John Paxson has been very touchy on the subject, I’m guessing there’s a gallon-and-a-half of seller’s remorse from the Chicago front office.
As for that Jimmy Butler trade? It’s realistically going to be what was best
I still think it’d been a significantly better deal if the Bulls were able to hold onto pick No. 16, but it’s history. On cap room alone, this team wasn’t going to win a title in the next couple of years, or at least not with Dwyane Wade in the starting lineup.
Jimmy Butler is gone. That’s a scar. Dwyane Wade is still on the roster. That appears to be a wound in need of stitching. Getting these young Bulls regular season reps, where they’ll learn to win as a core is crucial. The Wade buyout is, by approximation, a crucial part of the matter.
Zach LaVine could be a stud if he takes the next step. No. 7 overall pick, Lauri Markkanen, looks like the real deal if his EuroBasket play is indicative of the product.
What comes next is getting your Paul Zipser, Denzel Valentine, etc., kind of guys into roles. What those roles will be? Only time will tell.
Next: Glancing at the point guard depth this season for the Bulls
However, it’s GarPax who aren’t geniuses by any stretch of the imagination, but at least having this thing steering towards something tangible.