Imrem: Chicago Bulls fail to launch their decision-makers
Congratulations to GarPax for clarifying the state of the Bulls on Wednesday morning.
Of course, it did take awhile to wade through the gibberish during the Bulls' season-ending media briefing.
In the end, Gar Forman, the general manager, and John Paxson, the executive vice president, did confirm what needs to be done without saying so.
For starters, if this were a serious NBA franchise, Forman would fire head coach Fred Hoiberg.
Then Paxson would fire Forman, club president/COO Michael Reinsdorf would fire Paxson, club chairman Jerry Reinsdorf would fire Michael and Bulls fans would storm club headquarters and fire Jerry.
All the decision-makers would be gone.
FredBerg, gone. GarPax, gone. MikeJerr, gone.
All-star guard/forward Jimmy Butler gets to stay. Equipment manager John Ligmanowski stays. A few marketing and public-relations people stay.
Everyone else, gone.
Think about it: That's what would happen if any other team in professional sports had been this futile for this long.
A purge would happen at Sacramento in the NBA, at Jacksonville in the NFL, at Tampa Bay in MLB, at any icy last outpost in the NHL.
Let's put it another way: If Jerry Reinsdorf's group sold the Bulls, would the new owners retain any of the current people in their current positions?
No, a new owner would look at the Bulls and wonder what any of these guys have done to still be employed.
This isn't personal. Each of these men from the Reinsdorfs to GarPax to FredBerg might be an OK person. But sports are the ultimate meritocracy and this is about results.
Paxson took over basketball operations in 2003. Forman was promoted to GM in 2009. Michael Reinsdorf arrived in his capacities in 2010. Jerry Reinsdorf has been chairman through all that.
The Bulls haven't won anything significant in nearly two decades, not a conference championship much less an NBA title.
Yet no major organizational alterations have been made in 14 years.
This would be understandable if this were Paducah, or Saskatoon, or San Juan.
But this is Chicago.
The Bulls have all the resources afforded a big market, primarily NBA-leading attendance and large radio-TV audience pools.
But the Bulls draft poorly. Franchise players like Isaiah Thomas and James Harden are traded, but not here. Premier free agents sign elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Bulls' movers and shakers remain in place, as if beating their heads against the Advocate Center walls is going to make things better.
So, Paxson says he's responsible for team culture and that the culture has to change even though the current culture is the culture for which he's responsible.
So, the flawed Hoiberg is permitted to keep learning on the job as if Chicago was an entry-level boondock.
So, the organizational structure remains with Forman reporting to Paxson and Paxson to the Reinsdorfs and the Reinsdorfs pretty much to each other.
GarPax preach patience and discipline, which means fans should continue paying exorbitant ticket prices for an excruciating product.
Maybe in a few years the Bulls will get lucky in the draft or persuade a prime-time free agent to sign here.
Or not.
Regardless, FredBerg and GarPax and the MikeJerr figure to still be here.
mimrem@dailyherald.com