Earlier today, ESPN released their rankings for the best to worst front offices in the NBA. Each team’s owner, GM/President and coach is scored on a 0-10 scale for their job performance this season. Throughout the back half of the week, ESPN’s NBA staff will give their in-depth breakdowns of the individual scores for all aforementioned parties across the league. (Gee, I can’t wait to hear what everyone has to say about Gar Forman!) In the meantime, they released the compiled scores for each team.
Unsurprisingly, the always-contending San Antonio Spurs finished with the highest rating in the league at 9.62 on a 10 scale. Golden State, Boston, Houston and Miami rounded out the top five. Where did the Bulls finish, you ask?
Not Quite Dead Last
…all the way down at #28. Chicago’s score of 3.71 only bested Sacramento (2.69) and the Knicks (2.20). That seems accurate. The Bulls are a mess. The front office made questionable decisions to sign aging veterans Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo last summer. They clearly lost the trade with Oklahoma City at the deadline and their “plans” for the future are maddeningly inconsistent. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf appears disinterested and too loyal to his incompetent front office employees. Head coach Fred Hoiberg hasn’t shown his bosses anything that would suggest he’s capable of running an NBA team on the court or in the locker room.
Hence the 3.71 out of 10.
Thank goodness for the even more inept organizations in Sacramento and New York. The Kings’ handling of the DeMarcus Cousins trade makes Chicago’s trade with the Thunder look infinitely better. Phil Jackson’s sparring with Carmelo Anthony is proof that however Jimmy Butler and his employers are getting on right now, it could definitely be worse. Think Hoiberg is frustrated by his roster’s inability to play his pace and space style of basketball? Ask Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek (or former Bulls star Derrick Rose) how the triangle is coming along at The Garden. Hint: it’s not.
So there you have it, Bulls fans. The front office has been put in their rightful place. Again. Unfortunately, I’d put my life on the fact that Reinsdorf cares exactly 0% about how outsiders are evaluating the managerial effectiveness of his organization.
