Jerry Krause. His banner flies high and proud in the United Center for a reason. He was quite simply the greatest Bulls general manager in the history of the organization. 6 Championships. A legacy that will be hard if not impossible to match. Simply the best. GarPax and the sleuth have something in common. They both have the stigma of “luck” around the most important pieces of their respective teams’ puzzle. Krause didn’t draft Michael Jordan. GarPax only have Derrick Rose due to a highly improbable lottery event. Granted, GarPax did pick Rose over Beasley, but still, the stigma remains. And GarPax have accomplished nothing substantial with their boon. But, all is not lost for GarPax. They still have the chance to perhaps come close to catching Jerry Krause. The question for the Bulls organization and Bulls fans over the next 5 years is the following. Can GarPax accomplish what Jerry Krause successfully did? They both have/had a young, MVP level talent coming off an injury. In fact, Rose became MVP at a younger age than Jordan. Krause took this franchise altering level asset and built a champion out of it. In fact, he did it twice, with 3 titles per build. Damned impressive. This Bulls fan hopes that GarPax can be 1/6th the general manager that Jerry Krause was. At this point, I’d be happy if GarPax could convert the lucky landing of Derrick Rose into one championship. Anything else would be gravy. Go get ‘em boys!
I actually like Gar Foreman. There's been a clear change in the way things have been done since he took over as GM. To the point of paying and keeping (most of) our good young players and even paying the LT. He seems to have convinced The Chairman that it may take investing some $millions of one season's profit to build a championship caliber team. Krause benefitted from uber star Pippen signing a ridiculously long and low paying contract. And being able to sign the best European player of the time to a contract 1/5th the size of Jordan's.
No doubt about that. Back under PaxSkiles, the Bulls seems like an infuriatingly backwards organization. Gar has brought NBA normalcy to the Bulls. For instance, my money is that Nate Robinson gets JR Smithed under PaxSkiles. Let's hope they can successfully do just a little bit of what Jerry Krause accomplished.
I think Gar may actually be a terrific talent evaluator as well. June 25, 2009: Selected James Johnson (1st round, 16th pick) and Taj Gibson (1st round, 26th pick) in the 2009 NBA Draft. July 13, 2009: Signed Jannero Pargo as a free agent. September 30, 2009: Signed Chris Richard as a free agent. January 25, 2010: Traded Aaron Gray to the New Orleans Hornets for Devin Brown. February 5, 2010: Signed Chris Richard to two 10-day contracts, then signed to a contract for the rest of the season. February 18, 2010: Traded Tyrus Thomas to the Charlotte Bobcats for Acie Law, Ronald Murray and a future 1st round draft pick. February 18, 2010: Traded John Salmons, a 2010 1st round draft pick (Larry Sanders), a 2011 2nd round draft pick (Isaiah Thomas) and a 2012 2nd round draft pick (Robert Sacre) to the Milwaukee Bucks for Joe Alexander, Hakim Warrick and a 2010 1st round draft pick (Kevin Seraphin). April 9, 2010: Signed Rob Kurz to a contract for the rest of the season. June 24, 2010: Selected Kevin Seraphin (1st round, 17th pick) in the 2010 NBA Draft. June 24, 2010: Traded Kirk Hinrich, Kevin Seraphin and cash to the Washington Wizards for Vladimir Veremeenko. Chicago also received a trade exception from Washington. July 8, 2010: Traded Hakim Warrick to the Phoenix Suns for a 2011 2nd round draft pick (Charles Jenkins). July 8, 2010: Signed Carlos Boozer as a free agent. July 13, 2010: Signed Kyle Korver as a free agent. July 16, 2010: Signed Ronnie Brewer as a free agent. July 22, 2010: Traded TO_TRADE to the Golden State Warriors for C.J. Watson. July 22, 2010: Traded a 2011 2nd round draft pick (Charles Jenkins) to the Golden State Warriors. July 26, 2010: Signed Kurt Thomas as a free agent. August 11, 2010: Signed Keith Bogans as a free agent. September 27, 2010: Signed Brian Scalabrine as a free agent. September 27, 2010: Signed Kyle Weaver as a free agent. November 26, 2010: Signed John Lucas as a free agent. February 22, 2011: Traded James Johnson to the Toronto Raptors for a 2011 1st round draft pick (Norris Cole). March 3, 2011: Signed Rasual Butler as a free agent. March 20, 2011: Signed John Lucas as a free agent. March 20, 2011: Signed Jannero Pargo as a free agent. June 23, 2011: Selected Norris Cole (1st round, 28th pick), Jimmy Butler (1st round, 30th pick) and Malcolm Lee (2nd round, 43rd pick) in the 2011 NBA Draft. June 23, 2011: Traded Norris Cole, Malcolm Lee and cash to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Nikola Mirotic. December 14, 2011: Signed Richard Hamilton as a free agent. February 14, 2012: Signed Mike James to a 10-day contract. March 14, 2012: Signed Mike James to a 10-day contract. April 5, 2012: Signed Mike James to a contract for the rest of the season. June 28, 2012: Selected Marquis Teague (1st round, 29th pick) in the 2012 NBA Draft. July 16, 2012: Traded Kyle Korver to the Atlanta Hawks for cash. Atlanta also received a trade exception from Chicago. July 19, 2012: Signed Vladimir Radmanovic as a free agent. July 23, 2012: Signed Kirk Hinrich as a free agent. July 24, 2012: Signed Marco Belinelli as a free agent. July 27, 2012: Signed Nazr Mohammed as a free agent. July 31, 2012: Signed Nate Robinson as a free agent. October 1, 2012: Signed Marko Jaric as a free agent. October 1, 2012: Signed Andre Emmett as a free agent. October 1, 2012: Signed Kyrylo Fesenko as a free agent. January 6, 2013: Signed Daequan Cook as a free agent. March 2, 2013: Signed Louis Amundson to a 10-day contract.
Maybe we should make a point to shelf the "GarPax" thing and just talk in terms of what Gar Forman did or didn't do.
Could be. Its still unclear to me what Paxson's role is at this point. I still think he has influence on BB decisions, but I'm not 100% sure.
Krause and Paxson were almost extreme opposites in terms of management style. Jerry took some big, unusual gambles (at the time) that paid off incredibly when Jordan was around. He also took some big, unconventional games after Jordan that crashed and burned. Pax consistently hit singles and doubles, but perhaps didn't possess the type of personality or strategic chutzpah to cash in on franchise changing wins. Gar seems like a good GM to me. Like I stated before, I've been cool with GarPax's moves in the Rose era with the exception of Asik. We shot for the super friends, lost, then recouped and came in a solid 2nd place. Made perhaps the best head coach signing of the last 5-10 years. Have drafted very well in the later rounds. Rip didn't work out, but they get a pass from me since it was a worthwhile gamble at the time. Kirk's looking like a mistake, but Rose and Noah wanted him and he still has time to redeem himself. He looks much better when you judge him by team performance. Losing Asik really stings though. In all seriousness.....what are the chances his 3rd contract is bigger than his second?
Usually a GM will shuffle the roster around to mold it in his own image. I cannot fathom Gar believing it a good basketball and CBA decision to pay Kurt $4M a season. That move has the previous GM's stink on it.
Seriously. $4M putting us at the hard cap (apron). For a guy who's unable to keep a roster spot on any other team for very long. He's going to be our 5th highest paid player next season. Bogans was cheaper and contributed about as much - probably more if you consider defense.
Let me state an opposing view. Forman engineered the Hinrich signing which was actively supported by was Thibodeau and Rose.
Regardless of cost? I would bet dollars to donuts that Thibs would have preferred to keep Asik over landing Hinrich for two years, 4 million per, if that was an option.
I read somewhere that when Forman asked Thibodeau who he wanted to keep from last season's squad, Thibodeau said "All of them." On Asik-Hinrich, I'll bet dollars to donuts that no one in Bulls' management looked at it as an either or thing. As you may recall, the Bulls were pursuing Hinrich before the Rockets offer was known and the speculation was that Hinrich might agree to the taxpayers MLE if the Bulls matched Asik. Wouldn't surprise me if Hinrich-Watson was an either or thing and that Hinrich was preferred for versatility and defensive reasons.
I don't think anyone would have any issue with Hinrich on a Nate Robinson contract. Its the 2 years, 8 million dollar thing that is annoying. So, when Rose said that he'd be excited about playing with Hinrich again, I don't think cost and the impact of that cost was taken into effect. When you have a cheaper team like the Bulls, every dollar that the GM allocates is sacred and should not be wasted.
You don't know what Rose meant when he said that Hinrich was the first free agent he "recruited" to join his team and neither do I. You imagine he meant something that fits your POV and I imagine something that fits mine. My imagination has Rose thinking more highly of Hinrich than yours does. In any case, this "cheaper" team (note for lurkers: I don't believe the Bulls are any level of cheap other than "not cheap") liked Hinrich enough "grossly overpay" him, but as you imply, it seems that for a cheaper team, they're not really all that good at behaving like a cheaper team. Anyway, my imagination tells me that Forman is pleased with what he's seen of Hinrich's game when Hinrich's been healthy, but not so pleased with the number of games that Hinrich's missed.
