Most Chicago Bulls fans have strong opinions about Bulls Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson and General Manager Gar Forman, and it’s not positive. But, is it fair? GarPax have been running the Bulls since 2003 with mixed results and plenty of hits and misses. Should Bulls fans give them a break?
If there was one word to describe Chicago sports fans, unquestionably that word would be passionate. If their teams are doing great, you’ll know. When their teams are terrible, you’ll hear about it sooner (and probably louder). The Chicago Bulls front office is no exception to this rule. As the team floundered to a 27-55 record last season, the vitriol towards GarPax has only gotten louder.
Fans point to free agent misses, inconsistent drafts and fighting between the front office and coaching staffs as reasons for their dismay. Despite this, the narrative doesn’t tell the whole story. The Bulls have had success under GarPax, making the playoffs in 11 out of 15 seasons and have hit gold in the draft as recently as last year with Lauri Markkanen. So the questions still remain, do the fans evaluate GarPax fairly? Are the duo even the right targets? Has owner Jerry Reinsdorf accepted enough of the blame?
The perception among fans is that the Bulls front office is cheap. Recent reports that they didn’t want to spend $10,000 for the Global World Camp in Italy this month didn’t exactly paint the Bulls in a good light. It’s difficult to argue against the perception of stinginess, but is that really GarPax’s fault? Are we mad at the right people?
Drafting has had it’s misses, but the Front Office has had plenty of hits
The Bulls, just like any other team, has had their share of draft misses. The worst of this era may have been trading LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas in a draft day trade in 2006. Aldridge has gone on to average 19.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game for his career. Thomas was ineffective in his career and has been considered a bust. The trade of 2 first rounds picks for Doug McDermott is a close second for worst trades under GarPax. Not only did McDermott struggle for playing time with the Bulls and is now on his fourth team, the two draft picks turned into Gary Harris and Jusuf Nurkic. We can only imagine the Bulls with either of those players in the lineup. And don’t even get me started on selling Jordan Bell to the Warriors last June.
The draft hasn’t been all misses for the Bulls. In fact, I could argue the Bulls have been pretty successful with their drafts overall. Under GarPax, the Bulls have drafted Derrick Rose, Markkanen, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and even Bobby Portis is showing promise. Nikola Mirotic finally showed promise this season and was a key factor for the Pelicans after he was traded for a first round pick. Keep in mind, many of the players mentioned were considered reaches at their draft selection. We can’t have a full account of GarPax’s tenure without including the huge successes they’ve had.
Head coaching hires have not really panned out for Chicago
While I think the Chicago Bulls have had more success in the draft than they are given credit for, their history with coaching hires is suspect. Vinny Del Negro was a terrible hire, especially when considering who they passed on. It didn’t get better when Paxson actually choked and punched Del Negro after a game in the United Center. Hey, we can’t fault Pax for a lack of passion can we?
Hiring Tom Thibodeau was a coup, but the front office vs. coaching staff precipitated the current state of the franchise. While I’ve always been more critical of Thibs than most, he was still a good coach for the Bulls during his reign. Now, if only he would have given some of his players a rest here and there. It remains to be seen what type of NBA coach Fred Hoiberg can be. Now that the front office has seemingly settled on a direction, he may have a chance to succeed. This draft and off-season will go a long way in dictating how Hoiberg’s Bulls career will pan out.
This off-season will be a strong indicator for future success
It will be interesting next week to see what the Bulls do with the 7th and 22nd selections. Will they package their picks to jump into the top 5? Should they take on additional salary for the opportunity to nab one of the top prospects like Marvin Bagley, Jaren Jackson or Mo Bamba? Would reaching at 7 for Kevin Knox be disastrous or could he have the highest ceiling in the draft? Anything and everything seems to be in play for the Bulls at this point. With GarPax at the helm, we never know what to expect.
It looks like this summer will not be a big spending one for the Bulls, though we know Paxson hates rebuilding. The Bulls are probably not in the running for any big name free agents this summer, but what they do in the draft could set them up for next summer. In 2019, Kyrie Irving, Butler and Kawhi Leonard could all be free agents.
It’s obvious that GarPax are in no immediate danger of being replaced. Reinsdorf is far too loyal to show them the boot, raising the ire of most fans. Isn’t that the root of the issue though? Bulls fans have shown that they will continue to pack the United Center every season. This gives Reinsdorf little incentive to make swift changes throughout the organization.
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If anything, it appears that the owner has hamstrung his front office. Sure, GarPax has missed on trades, draft picks and struck out on free agent signings, that’s going to happen anywhere. Should GarPax receive the brunt of the criticism, or is the real target hiding in plain sight?