Why Bulls are one of NBA's biggest disappointments
Hey it's not Freddie's fault! That's what I'm hearing about the trials and tribulations of the 27-26 Chicago Bulls.
Last year it seemed everything was head coach Tom Thibodeau's fault, from injury to game pace, to upper management bickering. All blamed on Thibs and the philosophy was with him gone, all would be good.
So when I hear the new coach, Fred Hoiberg, isn't the reason for the disappointing season, I only partially agreed because he does have to be considered as one of the reasons. Jimmy Butler said earlier in the season that their coach had to get tougher, so let's knock off the nonsense that he's blameless.
Remember Butler flourished under Thibs' reign and was obviously comfortable with the former coach's style. And just a side note, Butler has been playing around the same amount of minutes this year (37.9) as last year (38.7), so please folks let's not let the Bulls organization buffalo us.
If the Bulls faithful want to know who's to blame for the unimpressive play, well there are a number of candidates. There are rumors Vice-President of Basketball Operations John Paxson and General Manager Gar Forman aren't exactly water cooler buddies at the moment.
Hey who knows what's true and basically who really cares? This debacle has been engineered by Paxson, Forman, Michael Reinsdorf and the players.
It's simple: Thibs should still be here. Was he loved by the players? Probably not, but the team played well under his tenure, and I think the NBA would be moving into dangerous territory if teams only hired coaches the players liked. That could lead to disaster. The players might like Hoiberg, but so far the results haven't proved that makes a difference.
Look - everyone knows I am a Jerry Reinsdorf guy and I like Paxson, but they have to shoulder some blame here. I wish the Bulls were winning every game, but with the new coach, the injuries, the chemistry issue, the difficult style and the older roster, it's not working. I think the Bulls have been one of the three biggest disappointments in the NBA this season.
The Houston Rockets and maybe the New Orleans Pelicans are the others. It was one of the easiest calls I've ever made when I said the Bulls would not be as good this year. I do wonder why the Bulls brass didn't know what most of the fans and some of the media knew.
OK so what happens at the end of the year? I do know this - the Bulls should definitely chase after Kevin Durant and try to move Derrick Rose. Remember him?
It doesn't matter the Bulls might still be in line for the playoffs; if they were able to hang on, would they even make it past the first round? Doubtful.
The Bulls organization from top to bottom caused this mess. My question is: how are they going to get us out of it?
Program notes:
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