On June 22nd of this year, Chicago Bulls VP John Paxson and General Manager Gar Forman got on the phone with their former Head Coach Tom Thibodeau, whom they fired unceremoniously in 2015.
That phone call ended with GarPax agreeing to trade Jimmy Butler, a three-time all-star and newly anointed face of the franchise, along with the #16 overall pick in the draft to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kris Dunn, Zach Lavine and the #7 overall pick, which the Bulls used to select a Finnish forward by the name of Lauri Markkanen.
June 22nd was the last day of a long era of stable, but fruitless, playoff contention. For the first time under John Paxson’s 15-year watch, the Bulls will spend the season attempting to rack up more ping pong balls than their opponents, rather than trying to beat them.
After a 3-20 start, it appeared as if the Bulls would have no problem pacing the league in losses throughout the season. That could still be the case, but I can’t help but look at this week’s four-game winning streak and wonder if the Bulls have enough in them to accidentally win another 20-25 games, which could be enough to push them out of the top 5 in the draft, making this a completely lost season.
With how bad a few teams in the East are, coupled with the ultra competitive West forcing teams like the Grizzlies and Clippers to consider selling at the trade deadline, does a Bulls team with an improved Kris Dunn, a healthy Zach LaVine, a possibly revamped Nikola Mirotic, the Finnisher, the respected workhouse Robin Lopez and a bench full of young players desperate to prove they belong in the NBA, have a chance to finish this season with only the 7th or 8th worst record in the league? Probably not, but it no longer feels like an impossible feat, especially considering three of the four Bulls losses before their current win streak were by a combined four points.
It’s natural as a fan to applaud a few hard fought wins after a stretch of brutal last second losses, but in times like these it’s important to remember the bigger picture.
Rebuilds in professional sports can be tiresome, and if they fail, infuriating. Losing isn’t fun, that’s why rebuilds are required in the first place, but losing with a plan is palatable.
While Paxson and Forman have deservedly served as the primary lightning rods for criticism of this once proud organization, at least the duo was able to concede their stubbornness this off-season and hit the reset button. Whether or not they have what it takes to make the right moves once/if this team becomes competitive again under their watch is a whole other argument, but for now they are doing the right thing by trying to tear this thing down and start from the bottom.
But first they need to reach the bottom.
Now, I won’t get too dramatic, it’s not as if the Bulls are doomed if they miss out on this year’s #1 draft pick, especially with consensus top prospect Michael Porter Jr. out for the remainder of the season with a concerning back issue.
According to most draft pundits, there is a big drop off after the top four prospects, which include Porter Jr., Marvin Bagley from Duke, Deandre Ayton from Arizona and Luka Doncic who is playing overseas. That’s obviously not to say that all four of those players will turn out to be stars, or that everybody that falls outside of the top four won’t turn into a franchise cornerstone, but it’s important to play the odds.
It’s scary to think of the Bulls current management having to make such a critical decision at the top of the draft, nobody wants to be the guy that drafts Jahlil Okafor over Kristaps Porzingis, or the one that drafts Michael Beasley over Russell Westbrook, or the one that drafts Hasheem Thabeet over James Harden, or the one that drafts Jonny Flynn over Steph Curry…..
Paxson has been on both sides of the coin. He passed up on LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas, but redeemed himself two years later when he drafted Derrick Rose with the #1 pick, a pick they landed in small part because Thomas was on the Bulls, not Aldridge. So based on that small early lottery sample size, there isn’t much we can be certain of in regards to GarPax’s ability to evaluate top draft talent.
One thing we can be certain of is that fear of bad injury luck or missing on a draft pick has no place in NBA rebuilds. This is essential. If the Bulls screw up this years pick, they will likely be right up at the top of the draft in 2019 with a second chance to get it right. As a team that’s accumulated two nice young pieces in the Butler trade to pair with the promising rookie Lauri Markkanen, they should only need to hit on one top draft pick in order to bring the franchise back to relevance.
At the end of the day, the Bulls 7-20 record is the second worst in the league. It’s up to the rest of the league to step up and help the Bulls keep it that way.
