As the Bulls prepare for the NBA Draft on Thursday night, all eyes are on what they will do with the 7th pick in the draft. And while the Bulls have run into some luck over John Paxson’s tenure leading the basketball operations, now standing at 15 years, the culture, philosophy and player-development techniques make a Bulls fan question whether they can have a glimmer of hope for 2018-19 and beyond.
JUST IN: @vgoodwill is reporting that the Chicago Bulls have inquired about moving up from the seventh spot in the draft to either the third or fourth pick.
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) June 19, 2018
Thursday is not what fans should be worrying about. The Bulls could easily luck into the best player in the draft, as they may have done last season, with the rookie of the year candidate Lauri Markkanen. But it is what they do after Thursday that is vital to continuing their rebuild and model of sustained success.
Now that it has been a decade since the Bulls drafted Derrick Rose, can fans still trust the front office to get the rebuild right, create a successful culture and develop the player who they will draft Thursday night? Recent questionable decisions, culture questions and a history of being behind in eight ball in the NBA, leave fans to all answer with a resounding NO.
The players the Bulls have drafted in recent years have not been the main problem, except Marquis Teague, that’s unforgivable. While there are always going to be ‘misses’ in any sport’s draft, it’s the decisions that come after that fateful night and the culture that is created or not created, that allows teams to get to the top, or sit in basketball hell.
The Bulls have been in basketball hell for the better part of almost two decades, and while there is a buzz around the young core, the organization itself is showing no signs of abandoning their place in purgatory.
Historic Inability To Idenfity Complementary Talent
After an Eastern Conference Finals exit in 2010, the 2011 Bulls, with Derrick Rose, Kyle Korver, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and rookie draft pick Jimmy Butler, signed veteran guard Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton to serve as Rose’s proven #2 guard. The Bulls desperately needed scoring in the shooting guard position, but the team chose a veteran on his last leg, instead of a potential impact player like Aaron Afflalo, Swag Champ Nick Young, or even former Bull and annual sixth-man of the year candidate Jamal Crawford. But the Bulls chose Hamilton, just like they chose Keith Bogans before, and Dwyane Wade 5 years too late, refusing to truly invest in and identify a true scoring threat. They bought on the past and ‘marquee’ name philosophy instead of what was best for a young and growing team. The Bulls relied on Rose like the Cavaliers rely on LeBron to cover up their flaws.
The Bulls were pegged to be an Eastern Conference Finals team every year since they drafted Derrick Rose, but they never built a sustainable core around him to compete, and when he got hurt, they never recovered. They didn’t create a winning or positive culture to attract free agents, striking out on LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and more. They bet on Rose coming back without preparing for a contingency plan for what would be his eventual demise.
Culture Clashes
The tension between the front office and Tom Thibodeau plagued the Bulls, as the poisonous culture, fueled by GarPax, spelled doom for his tenure in Chicago, creating an even more toxic environment for players who were in between the coaches and front office. Not to mention the drama surrounding Jimmy Butler’s eventual exit from the team after claims of the front office spying on players.
This lack of institutional control in addition to GarPax’s absence when Butler publically criticized his next head coach Fred Hoiberg, allowed fans and media to truly question the Bulls’ culture. Nobody was taking responsibility for a deteriorating situation.
Over-Valuing Their Own
The Bulls were clearly a lower-tier yet always playoff-eligible Eastern Conference team in the 2015-2016 season. When key player decisions needed to be made that year, instead of understanding what it took to succeed in the NBA by getting younger, faster and more athletic, they made sure the media and fans knew that Pau Gasol was part of the Bulls’ core moving forward. He was 35 at the time.
The Bulls were backward both in basketball philosophy and building a successful organizational culture and that trend continues today, leaving little hope that it will change.
This futile and frustrating history has helped point out 3 key moments over the past year that show that the Bulls trajectory will continue to be anything but up depsite good draft position.
What’s $3.5 Million Worth To You?
The first moment is the trading of Jordan Bell (now an NBA Champion) on draft night in 2017. Whether you like Jordan Bell or not is not what the problem is with the trade. It is the fact that in a rebuilding year when the goal was to stockpile young talent, the Bulls traded away potential for cash.
Jordan Bell getting Henny from a fan, only in the Bay. pic.twitter.com/02GFwcNyVD
— Paco (@LagunitasPapi) June 12, 2018
If the Bulls and the NBA are one thing, they are flush with cash. This isn’t the NHL where salary dumps and head-scratching deals are made daily. This is the league where Harrison Barnes can get $94 million dollars guaranteed.
The Bulls went against the philosophy of accruing young talent and instead took the fast cash. How can a fan trust an organization that operates like that to continue to stick to their plan to rebuild the Bulls the right way? Or will they put their foot on the gas pedal and accelerate the rebuild into the ground?
International Scouting, Who Needs It?
The second moment is more recent, as the NBA introduced the first Global Camp, showcasing the world’s best talent in a combine-style setting. The entry cost was $10,000 and the only team to not attend was YOUR Chicago Bulls.
Again the question of value comes into play. What is more important, the $10k or a trip to potentially find the next Tony Parker, Manu Ginboli or Giannis Antetokounmpo? Are the Bulls choosing money over talent again? In all honesty, I cannot imagine the Bulls would not have been willing to spend the $10k to go, but the optics look terrible and are too similar to the Jordan Bell case.
The Bulls squandered a chance at proving they are committed in every way to this rebuild. There is NO reason the Bulls should have skipped the camp. They gave up an opportunity to potentially find the next best international super-star for what? The need for one more day in the draft room scouting domestic talent that every other team will also do before and after the trip? How can Bulls fans trust this managment regime if they are choosing to not attend events showcasing the next wave of young players for the NBA? The goal is to try to win a championship right?
Players Don’t Want To Be Here
The third key moment is about fan-favorite Paul Zipser, who recently said he expects the Bulls not to retain him moving forward. After coming on in 2016, Zipser saw his time on the floor limited the following season as the Bulls tried to tank.
Zipser says that the rotations and playing time changes were not communicated to the players properly and that the ‘fun’ of the game was taken away from him. While we all know the Bulls didn’t tank right from a fan’s perspective, it’s clear they weren’t even telling the players exactly what to expect this past season.
During a rebuild, front offices and coaches need to be transparent within the organization, just like they do outside of it. It appears this was not the case. And while a team cannot tell players to lose intentionally, they had to have to made sure everyone was on the same page throughout the season about what 2018 meant for the Bulls organization moving forward.
The lack of communication is just one more example of the dysfunctional Bulls organization.
Could the Bulls strike gold Thursday night and get the next Superstar? Sure they could. But that player will clearly understand what the Bulls are all about, and promptly leave once his contract is up. The Bulls are sadly an unhealthy and flawed organization. That is something the NBA draft simply cannot hide.
