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Paxson takes the lead after Bulls season ends

Bulls vice president John Paxson wasted no time putting his spin on the team's disappointing season ended with a victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Paxson and general manager Gar Forman both sat down in front of reporters after the game, but Paxson did almost all the talking. He said he went into the locker room to tell the players the season was not acceptable, the Bulls were good enough to make the playoffs and he wants everyone to start thinking about training camp right away.

"We understand accountability," Paxson said. "We don't run away from it, we accept it. That's on us and we get it. We understand what's at stake. This roster, for whatever reason, we thought they had one more shot to make a real positive run in the playoffs and obviously it didn't play out that way.

"I think that anybody who watched our team this year saw a team that didn't have the collective fight that's needed to battle through diversity. That's the biggest disappointment in all of this. It falls on all of us. We put this roster together. The coaches, the players, we're all in this together."

Paxson wasn't necessarily critical of first-year coach Fred Hoiberg, but he talked about Hoiberg needing to work hard and improve in his second NBA season, much like a first-year player would be expected to do.

"Our vision of how to play is really what the league is getting to, running up and down," Paxson said. "We didn't play that way this year for a lot of reasons.

"That's where Fred and his staff really have to get down to details, so we can play that way because I don't think it's necessarily a personnel issue. If you demand of people and hold accountable, you can get them to do things on the floor. I know that from experience."

Hoiberg may turn out to be a good NBA coach, but one thing this season proved is ex-Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau wasn't holding young players back and wasn't running players into the ground.

The Bulls endured as many injuries as they ever have this season. Thibodeau still managed to get to the playoffs, even reaching the second round, while Derrick Rose was sidelined for most of two seasons.

Before the game, Mike Dunleavy had an interesting perspective on what went wrong this season.

"When I first came here three years ago, we dealt with a lot of adversity," Dunleavy said. "We were really tied together as a group and it's kind of fallen apart a little bit. So we've got to get that back together, we've got to get a better spirit and we've got to play better on the court and win more basketball games."

There never seemed to be any conflict inside the Bulls' locker room, but it was clear players weren't always on the same page. It was a rough transition with Jimmy Butler becoming the team's best player, Joakim Noah sliding into a bench role, while Pau Gasol posted great numbers, but often frustrated teammates with limited defensive effort.

The Bulls went 11-5 against the six teams with the best records in the NBA, but with the playoffs on the line in late March, were blown out on consecutive nights by the lowly New York Knicks. The lack of team character was apparent all season.

"Obviously, we all had very high expectations heading into this season and we haven't lived up to those," Hoiberg said before the game. "I hold myself as responsible as anybody for that not happening.

"It's how I can get our guys ready and come out in training camp with a mindset that we're going to compete every night. It's something (where) I've got to demand more out of our guys and have absolutes that are non negotiable and go out there and perform and get off to a good start."

• The Bulls fell behind 42-18 at the start of Wednesday's season finale, but rallied for a 115-105 victory over Philadelphia to finish the season 42-40. They are the first team to finish with a winning record and miss the playoffs in the East since Cleveland in 2005.

Justin Holiday scored a career-high 29 points, Nikola Mirotic added 32 and Jimmy Butler collected his second career triple-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. The 76ers finish the season a league-worst 10-72.

• The Bulls used their 25th different starting lineup of the season Wednesday - Jimmy Butler, Justin Holiday, Tony Snell, Nikola Mirotic and Cristiano Felicio.

Mike Dunleavy joined the group of players taking a rest, which meant the Bulls had just eight players available for the finale.

• Get the latest Bulls new via Twitter by following @McGrawDHBulls.

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