Give Paxson credit for taking a shot

If it's better to be lucky than good, it's about time John Paxson was some of both.

The Bulls GM has had about as bad a few years as a team boss can have, but he appears to have stumbled - forward, this time - into something amazing.

He's taken his lumps in this space, to be sure, but now he has a chance in the span of a few days to build himself a dynasty and change forever the perception of him as a basketball executive.

That's not a bad idea because as a GM he's probably best known around basketball for attacking his coach, not to mention falling in love with his players, and falling asleep at the wheel when players like Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol were available.

He's done a poor job evaluating his own players, and he waited far too long to consider dealing players like Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas, to name just a few.

But for all the things that have gone wrong, suddenly some very big things have gone his way.

First, a ping-pong ball took a stunning bounce, NBA style - some would say, Patrick Ewing style - handing Chicago a star in Derrick Rose.

And Ben Gordon refused an extension, after Paxson overpaid Hinrich and Deng. With Gordon on the books, much of what the Bulls now intend to do wouldn't be possible.

But the biggest shock may have been the Cavs' loss to Boston in the playoffs some seven weeks ago, which may have done more for the Bulls' chances of stealing LeBron James than anything else.

Paxson, meanwhile, finally admitted to himself and everyone else that the contracts for Hinrich and Deng were a mistake, and that his pet players will never measure up to his lofty projections.

So after years of messing up just about everything he touched, from bad coaching hires to bad personnel decisions, Paxson made the biggest move of his time with the Bulls:

He unloaded Hinrich.

That gave the Bulls room for two full-boat contracts and it may be the very reason they land LeBron James.

And with James, another huge free agent, Rose and Joakim Noah, the Bulls can truly dream of multiple titles.

The surprise is that Paxson - through a trade - finally admitted the rush to sign Hinrich was a mistake, and he's even tried hard to trade Deng over the last few weeks.

This is a big change for Paxson, who suffered great humiliation over the Vinny Del Negro hiring, firing and confrontation over Noah's playing time with plantar fasciitis.

Maybe in the midst of that embarrassment Paxson took a look at what he's accomplished here so far and realized it was time to try something bold, that having only enough money for James wasn't enough, and that his resume as a conservative GM was thoroughly unimpressive.

But if this all works the way the Bulls hope, the moment to remember will be the one in which Paxson tricked Washington into taking Hinrich, leaving the Bulls with enough money to buy their way into the NBA Finals.

Even if it doesn't work, if LeBron never shows, Paxson at least did all he could to make it happen, and if LeBron stays home or goes elsewhere, it won't be Paxson's fault.

There won't be anyone to blame. It will simply be LBJ's choice.

So for a change, John Paxson has done it right.

And he might be on the verge of getting more credit for it than he could have ever imagined.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.