The Bulls held an impromptu team meeting today before their scheduled 10 am shootaround, with Bulls GM Gar Forman expected to hold a press conference with the media prior to the shootaround.
Well, according to KC Johnson, the Bulls were over an hour late to their shootaround and Gar Forman made a statement and dismissed the media before allowing anyone to ask questions.
Bulls shootaround typically ends within 45 minutes to 1 hour. It has been an hour and team hasn’t taken court. Team meeting anyone?
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Here’s the video from the interview, courtesy of Cody Westerlund.
Gar Forman calls Bulls saga unacceptable but doesn’t take questions pic.twitter.com/YtHFDnADsx
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 27, 2017
Forman not answering any question was unbelievable spineless, even for a guy who refuses to admit when he is wrong. But the craziest part about the whole thing is he made his players speak to the media and explain what happened and where they were at with the entire situation. I’m sorry but who is the person that is supposed to be in charge?
I’m sorry but who is the person that is supposed to be in charge? Are you not the General Manager of this team, therefore the person who should be talking to the media and explaining how things were handled with your players? But instead, he sends his players, who he just reprimanded for speaking inappropriately to the media, to explain why they were wrong and how Forman and the Bulls punished them.
After all this, the trio of Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, and Rajon Rondo was made available to the media, with all three producing some seriously tasty nuggets of shade-tastic comments.
Here’s the video from Wade speaking to the media.
Dwyane Wade on Bulls drama pic.twitter.com/5J1FogusTx
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 27, 2017
Wade implied being a leader doesn’t always mean people like you when asked about his and Rondo’s relationship.
Wade: “As a leader, sometimes you can’t be liked. I’m OK with that.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
There was no video of Butler speaking to the media, but his comments were easily the most confusing out of the three, saying things like “He likes controversy” and that he didn’t read Rondo’s Instagram post. Ahh yeah, ok sure, Jimmy.
Butler: “I don’t have any problem with Rajon. He spoke his mind. I spoke my mind. Move on.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Butler: “I think we get better from this.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Both he and Wade were asked about Hoiberg’s coaching, each with some slightly different answers, with Butler admitting he influences coaching decisions while Wade refused to get into Hoiberg’s grasp of the locker room.
Butler said “maybe” when asked if he influences coaching staff. Said if he does, it’s because he wants to win.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Wade on whether Hoiberg has control of the locker room: “You’ll have to ask Fred that.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade were asked who the players they ranted about were with both giving no answer, but Michael Carter-Williams did say he has spoken to both Wade and Butler about his work ethic.
Both Butler and Wade were asked directly who they have issues with and neither named names.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
MCW said he talked to Butler and Wade directly and that they have no issues with his work ethic or care factor, contrary to my reporting.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Both Butler and Wade also implied they were fined, while Rondo let it be known he was definitely fine by the Bulls.
Rondo on if he was fined: “Absolutely!”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
While Rondo explained his Instagram post, saying he wasn’t trying to be the ‘bad guy’ but more venting his frustrations on the whole situation, it seems like the Bulls front office was more upset with the post than either Butler or Wade were. This also brings into questions what Forman would have done had the outburst just come from his two superstars, but regardless of that, Rondo had a lot to say to the media today.
Rondo: “It wasn’t a rant. It was just my thoughts.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Rondo: “I wasn’t trying to be the bad guy but I have a great relationship with the young guys and they had some things to say.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Rondo strongly disagrees with Wade’s assertion that the young guys don’t work hard or care enough
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Rajon Rondo jokes the Instagram post that went public was a third draft.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 27, 2017
Rondo on vibe of team meeting: “No one came in with boxing gloves.”
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 27, 2017
Rondo was also in contact with former teammate and friend Kevin Garnett during the whole fiasco.
Rajon Rondo spoke with Kevin Garnett and received many texts from current teammates in this chaos.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 27, 2017
And this quote from Rondo really made me start to get a feeling of how awkward the Bulls, as an organization, must be like to play for.
Rondo: “When people express feelings, relationships get better.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Nobody is talking or expressing how they are feeling in the locker room, as everyone is keeping their emotions and thoughts to themselves, leading to outbursts the team has had the last two days.
Here’s Rondo’s full interview.
Rajon Rondo on what he meant by coaches being influenced by some players pic.twitter.com/upRMfY4fnC
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 27, 2017
Then, head coach Fred Hoiberg stepped up to the mics and gave somewhat of an expected response to all the obvious questions, while also saying he was going to refuse to accept players acting as they did after their loss to the Hawks.
Hoiberg: “It’s unacceptable to air your grievances through the media.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Hoiberg: “I felt this morning was productive. We got a lot of things off peoples’ chests.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Is this worth it?
Hoiberg: “It’s a job that’s tough … In this league, you know what you’re getting into.”
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 27, 2017
And this was probably the most interesting Hoiberg comment, completely voiding out what Butler had said about 20 minutes prior.
Hoiberg on Rondo’s assertion that Wade and Butler have influence on the coaching staff: “No.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
However, this tweet perfectly sums up the issue I have with today’s press conferences.
Wade talked for 14:29. Rondo talked for 11:10. Butler talked for 10:35. Hoiberg talked for 7:54.
Forman talked for 1:29, took no questions.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
He gave them a minute and a half explanation of what had transpired in the last two days and then threw his players and head coach to the media to try and explain why he did that. It just makes no sense, but nothing outside of Jimmy Butler does with the Bulls anymore.
However, Wade did come to the defense of his GM saying he has “Nothing but respect for him, ” I just don’t see how anyone in his position can refuse responsibility for this whole situation. At this point, I don’t care who gets traded, fired, released, etc. the Bulls are going to be a dysfunctional mess until management changes, which makes you feel bad for players like Butler or Denzel Valentine or even head coach Fred Hoiberg who were just never given a real chance to succeed with such a toxic front office refusing to allow people with different viewpoints to make decisions in their organization.
I’m sorry Chicago, you don’t deserve a basketball team this stupidly pathetic.
