Chicago Bulls management deserves no credit for the team’s recent success. Their team is Derrick Rose and they only got him because a 1.7% uber-longshot came out in their favor. They were lucky…nothing more, nothing less. I keep reading stuff like this and it's beginning to bug me. It's not that I have any dispute with the fact that the Bulls were lucky to get Rose, they clearly were, but do these fans actually think that luck hasn't played a HUGE part in virtually every NBA champion? The Spurs? Check out how they were able to draft Duncan. They had a VERY good team led by David Robinson, but Robinson blew out his knee, they dropped from like 59 wins to 20, and then beat the odds with the lottery balls. The Lakers? Not only did Kobe Bryant last until the 13th pick of his draft, but the Lakers didn't even draft him...Charlotte did. They traded Vlade Divac for him. Brilliant! Yeah, and lucky. They also got Gasol for a song...Kwame Brown's expiring contract was the freakin' centerpiece of that deal from the Lakers side. Pure genius...right. Oh wait, there's the Celtics. Celt fans thought Danny Ainge was a stone cold idiot. Then he caught two teams in full-blown salary-dump mode. Got KG for Jefferson and Allen for Jeff Green. No luck there. And does anyone really believe that Pat Riley deserves a lot of credit for assembling "the Heatles?" You know who deserves the credit? Joe Dumars and the Detroit Pistons. Without the Pistons going brain dead and taking Darko Milicic with the 2nd overall pick, the Heat don't get Wade with the 5th pick. Without having Wade, they don't get Lebron. Without Lebron, they don't get Bosh. And oh yeah, it was no accident that Lebron said he was "taking his talents to South Beach." It's a very cool place for single guys, but has nothing to do with front-office genius. If you don't like the Bulls FO, fine, but don't pretend that they're the only FO that has built a contender through good fortune. The truth is that luck has played a part in every contender's path to contention.
Meh. p.s. I don't see how whether Lakers trading for the 13th pick or earning it due to W/L has much to do with anything. They did a great job getting Kobe while cutting payroll.
The Bulls were lucky to draft Rose, but that's not a meme I've heard put around too much. Maybe I'm out of the loop. The Bulls have done a good job building around Rose. On a related note, I think I like Gar Forman a tad more than I like Pax as a GM. Similar basketball philosophy, but just a tad more in-control and analytical.
How can you separate the two? I have no idea if Gar is running things or running to get Pax his coffee. I think it's somewhere in between
Well, it's been 13 years since they blew up the championship team. Hardly a 5 year plan, and hardly proves that organizations win championships. You can contrast our team with the Mavericks, who went 19-31 the year after PJax left for LA, and have won 50+ games 10 straight seasons, and 60+ in 3 seasons. Granted, the Mavericks haven't won a championship, but you cannot argue that they didn't try every season.
I have no idea who does what over there now. Where does Gar end and Pax begin? Getting the #1 pick was lucky. But picking Rose over Beasley was a great move. Noah was a great pick. Boozer looks to be a solid use of Cap Space. Brewer, Omer, Korver(maybe), Watson, Thomas all look to be solid role players. Thibs was a sound pick as coach. Whoever is running things over there has been doing a good job since landing that #1 pick. Of course, getting a guy like Rose is a great deodorant.
When Pax was solely in charge he seemed like he was a little wet behind the ears and struggled to align the realities of running an NBA team with his own purist sensibilities. He also seemed emotionally invested in a way that was not conducive to clear thinking. You guys remember the locker-room outbursts and the fist-fight with Vinnie, right? Gar at least seems to be more methodical and his back room experience seems like a plus.
