Rozner: Chicago Bulls finally face reality, begin the rebuild

In less than a year, Jerry Reinsdorf has given the green light to a pair of complete, from-the-ground-up rebuilds.

The man who was supposedly too cheap to ever let it happen has allowed both the White Sox and Chicago Bulls to start over.

It is long, it is painful and it is usually costly at the box office.

But the man, for decades, so often accused of being a money-grubbing owner who cared about nothing more than filling the pockets of his partners has now set both of his Chicago sports franchises on the path to rebuilding.

In the time it takes to tweet and delete, narratives die quickly these days.

While the White Sox are well on their way, the Bulls joined the teardown party Thursday night when they sent Jimmy Butler to Minnesota for two young players and the chance to move up from No. 16 in the NBA draft to No. 7, where they got another young player.

Three young athletes who fit Fred Hoiberg's style.

Go figure.

For a rebuild to work, of course, you have to get the right players, but at least they're finally trying after a decade of getting their brains beat in by LeBron James.

And now they're giving themselves the time and opportunity to prepare for the LAL (Life After LeBron).

He's got at least another three or four years of dominating the conference - unless he opts out and heads for Los Angeles in a year - and then the Bulls should be maturing at just the right time, assuming they get the right guys.

Still, to continue to slam their heads against that brick wall was absurd, and they displayed no intention of altering their path.

And then something changed.

There was much talk around the Bulls once the season ended that John Paxson would be getting more involved than he has been the last few years, while the Bulls floundered under Gar Forman.

Paxson was much more vocal at the season-ending news conference and that only furthered the notion that he was taking a hands-on approach again, and now a year after Forman claimed the Bulls would get younger and more athletic - and instead got older and less athletic - it has actually happened.

So maybe it was Paxson who went to Reinsdorf and decided it was time to do the right thing.

Maybe all he had to tell the owner was that the Bulls blew it last summer when they had a chance to trade Butler, and that this would be their final chance.

After next season, Butler would have almost certainly qualified for the supercolossal, ultra-humongous, mega-monster designated exception worth $230 million beginning the year after, at which point Butler would be two years older and have a bad back from carrying the current group.

It's worth remembering that when the Bulls were blown out in Game 6 against Boston, and with the season coming to an ugly close, down 29 they sent out Bobby Portis, Michael Carter-Williams, Joffrey Lauvergne, Paul Zipser and the invisible man, Denzel Valentine, to start the fourth quarter.

Yecch.

As for Dwyane Wade, don't feel too bad for him. He signed here for money and nothing but, so he can collect his $24 million next season and lose a lot of games.

Rajon Rondo, meanwhile, is here for cheap and he happens to be the best coach and teacher on staff, so the Bulls might want to take a little time considering his option for next season.

In any case, the Bulls had a good night. The era of Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler is over and a new one has begun.

There are precisely no guarantees of success, but where there was once no hope at all, there is reason to be optimistic.

Finally.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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