Bulls GM speaks, people listen
Bulls general manager Gar Forman is a genius for at least a few more months.
This is obvious because Thursday night's NBA draft doesn't matter much around here, a signal that the Bulls do matter for a change.
The Bulls have two picks at the bottom of the first round and another in the second round. Forman said Tuesday that he doesn't expect to acquire an impact player with any of those late picks.
I listened intently, which will tell you just how far the Bulls have come. A year ago I wouldn't have driven to the Berto Center to hear Forman play “God Bless America” on the ukulele, as entertaining as that would have been.
This year I wouldn't have missed Forman's predraft briefing.
That's how it goes when a GM's basketball team suddenly compiles 62 victories and the NBA's best regular-season record.
Even though the Bulls didn't really win anything — being eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals — what Forman says is must-hear stuff now.
So there I was at 11 a.m. listening to the man's view of the draft instead of back home watching Jerry Springer.
To be honest, it's hard to tell exactly who made the final decisions that made the Bulls contenders last season.
The NBA community didn't seem to either, considering that Forman was voted Executive of the Year and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson finished third.
It doesn't matter anyway. When either of them speaks, or head coach Tom Thibodeau does, people listen now.
Instead of assuming whatever move the GM makes will be wrong, the assumption becomes that this guy just might know what he's doing.
It's like if the general manager of a bad team drafts the next Michael Jordan, the reaction might be that the kid will become the next nobody.
But if the GM of a 62-victory team drafts a 5-foot-3 center from Lilliputia, the reaction might be, “Hey, he must know something the rest of us don't.”
So when Forman said Tuesday that shooting guard Keith Bogans did a lot of good things for the Bulls …
Well, we must have missed something.
When Forman mentioned that Carlos Boozer's stats were good and that he should be better if healthy next season …
Well, I nodded and thought how interesting that is.
When Forman expressed anything about any basketball matter from Bulls personnel to the NBA trade climate to the league's labor situation …
Well, it felt like being briefed by Ike on D-Day.
Winning sure does change impressions, though it also inspires demands that the encore better be a championship.
The most relevant question about this relevant basketball team today is whether last season was more the beginning of an era than the end.
After all, Forman did concede that Miami would continue to contend the next few years with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
However, Forman didn't concede to the Heat. Instead he noted that the Bulls will improve if only because Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and other youngsters on the roster will continue maturing.
How accurate that assessment is will go a long way toward determining how must-hear Gar Forman's predraft media briefing will be next year.
Genius is year to year, if not day to day, in sports these days.
mimrem@dailyherald.com