The Bulls under Paxson and Forman draft all these blue-chippers and can’t help themselves from ruining it all every single time. Has any team but the Wizards had more players-only meetings over the past decade? Has any team had more interim coaches who immediately clash with top players? The parade of failed coaches who somehow all leave as sympathetic parties in the divorces is legion. The team’s history of mismanaging injuries and illnesses is, well, historic. They have often been on the bad end of a trade. Just wear protective eyewear when you do there’s bound to be some shrapnel.) The Bulls’ boys can’t make a smart free agent decision to save their lives. It’s just that almost everything else Paxson and Forman have done in charge of the Bulls has constituted professional malpractice.īulls players to form itty-bitty lead-y committee to negotiate with head coach Whoops.) But overall, that’s an excellent, excellent draft record. (Chicago traded the rights to pick LaMarcus Aldridge to the Blazers for Thomas and Viktor Khryapa. There are a few misses since Paxson arrived in the Bulls front office in 2003, most notably the Tyrus Thomas debacle in 2006. Even smaller victories - Tony Snell at No. He won a Defensive Player of the Year award, two All-Star nods, a first team All-NBA honor, and finished fourth in MVP voting in 2014. Joakim Noah wasn’t an obvious frontline NBA player when the Bulls took him in the top 10 in 2008. The following year, after struggling to figure out how to tank properly (how hard could it be?), the Bulls took Carter, who fits perfectly with The Finnisher and looks like the steal of the 2018 lottery outside the top three. When it was time for Jimmy to leave Chicago, the Bulls swapped picks with the Timberwolves so they could draft Lauri Markkanen, who looks like an absolute gem. He has four all-star nods, two All-NBA honors, four All-Defense teams, and a Most Improved Player trophy to his name. In 2011, Paxson and Forman took Jimmy Butler at No. 1 pick in 2008, Paxson and Forman drafted Derrick Rose, who would become the youngest MVP in league history within a few years. Going back to Luol Deng in 2004 and up through Wendell Carter this past draft, Chicago has consistently pulled good value and good players no matter where it picks. The Bulls under Paxson and Forman have been one of the best teams in the NBA at drafting amateur and international players. So why then have Paxson and his deputy Gar Forman stuck around? Why have the Bulls been decent or even good at different times during their tenures? Why doesn’t Chicago have some Kingsian playoff drought and a huge international target for ridicule in its logo? For the past decade of Paxson’s reign over the Chicago front office, it’s been embarrassment after embarrassment for the franchise. 2017: Bobby Portis punches Nikola Mirotic in the face during a practice, both stay on rosterĪs Ricky O’Donnell wrote with a scalpel and a blowtorch at Blog-a-Bull, this is not new for John Paxson’s Bulls. 2017: Bulls players suspect an assistant coach is actually a front-office mole 2017: Toxic relationship between Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, and Rajon Rondo spills out on Instagram.įeb. May, 2015: Bulls announce Tom Thibodeau’s firing in mean, direct press release May, 2015: Bulls assistants suspected Tom Thibodeau was being spied on May, 2013: Bulls downplay severity of Luol Deng’s spinal tap procedure Here are just a few recent examples of Bulls dysfunction under John Paxson and Gar Forman:Īpril, 2010: Paxson choked then-coach Vinny Del Negro after Joakim Noah went over his minutes limit John Paxson’s reign of terror Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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