http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-0702-bulls-chicago-20130702,0,5415268,print.story
I wonder if the players will make up some derisive nickname for Forman like the dynasty Bulls did for "Crumbs" Krause.
Not quite sure about the wisdom of this move. Seems to make more sense to keep your top coach in the NBA happy and let his pick his assistants. I would imagine that comments about losing Asik played a role here.
What I know: Ron Adams will find another position as an assistant this year or next if he wants one. Thibodeau would find another head coaching job in minutes if he wants one. Foreman will probably never be a candidate for another general manager position again. And he's arguably made the best drafting decisions of any general manager over the past half decade.
Not only has Foreman been a good judge of draft talent, he's been able to convince The Chairman to open his wallet a little. I think he's the best guy we've had at GM since before Krause. The knock on him, in my view, is his judge of veteran talent. Granted he did go after LeBron and Bosh, etc., but we ended up with Boozer (who you don't like), Rip, Hinrich, let Asik go, signed Taj to a fairly big deal for an older backup. He's averse to making any trades at all. I think the last trade he made was Hinrich to Washington to dump salary. I'm not counting S&T deals he made to get TPE for Korver and the like. Also, he seems to have painted the team in a corner the past two seasons, flexibility-wise. First hard capped by the apron and the stupid signing of Hinrich, and now we can't receive players in S&T deals because of the Dunleavy signing.
There sure seems to be two brands of Bulls news. The mouthpiece version (Tribune), and then there's Dan Bernstein. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/07/03/bernstein-behind-the-bulls-conflict/ Bernstein: Behind The Bulls Conflict By Dan Bernstein- CBSChicago.com Senior Columnist (CBS) Tension upstairs at the Berto Center brings back the good old days of Bulls basketball. Not a day went by on the 1990s beat without the awareness of palpable antipathy simmering between general manager Jerry Krause and head coach Phil Jackson: no outcome or bit of news too small to be evaluated along the lines of their competing agendas and regular, spiteful skirmishing. It was just the Bulls, then, operating at a high-functioning level of dysfunction. So forgive some former reporters a bit of warm nostalgia over the past few days, as the frayed relationship between GM Gar Forman and head coach Tom Thibodeau has come to light after the team abruptly severed ties with veteran assistant coach Ron Adams. There is a similar dynamic recurring, now, that echoes the old discomfort. Sources speaking to WSCR on the condition of anonymity provided a glimpse inside the hallways, painting a picture of two strong-willed men whose friendly cooperation has deteriorated due to both strategic disagreements and personality quirks that have caused familiarity to breed contempt. Some important points, first. There is no question anywhere about Thibodeau’s prodigious tactical skill, or his dedication to his work. All understand that he is a defensive savant, and is able to create gameplans and execute them as well or better than his opposing counterpart on any given night. Also, Forman is indeed a GM in full, with VP John Paxson now elevated above day-to-day operations, while remaining involved in larger-scale franchise decisions. This has been an ongoing process from the day Forman was promoted, but he is in charge of the roster, and not operating as a mere proxy for Paxson. That noted, there are reasons the general manager and head coach have grown apart. Minute-loads on key players in the regular season remain one sticking point. Forman believes he has continually assembled viable bench options, but then waits to see them forced into action by necessity after starters begin to crumble from overuse. He would prefer a deeper rotation employed earlier in the season, serving the dual purpose of familiarizing new players with their rigid, successful defensive concepts and holding off inevitable wear and tear on Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and others. Joking about the frustration, one source said “Ideally, they could let somebody else coach them in the regular season, then let Tom have them once the playoffs start.” Forman is frustrated by what now is a pattern – piling up victories to grab a high Eastern Conference seed, only to send a tired, depleted team out to fight for what really matters. This concern underscores the team’s disappointment in Derrick Rose’s choice to stop his prescribed rehabilitation at the most critical juncture. They were hoping to have 30 games to start to work through the inevitable quarreling over his usage, but that is still to come. Another lingering issue is that Thibodeau is, to put it simply, odd. He maintains no real life outside the walls of the practice facility, essentially living there. He is a constant presence, and his grim, obsessive demeanor weighs on the workplace. His casual interactions with others can be brusque, and he has been described as mostly unconcerned with anything not directly involved with coaching basketball. Advised at one time to take a vacation, Thibodeau planned a week off. He was back at the Berto after one day. Players began to feel so suffocated last year that they were choosing to work out by themselves at a gym less than a mile down the road. Even professional athletes who want and appreciate good coaching need room to breathe, time to let their guard down and not feel watched. Some Bulls had to sneak out to do it. Forman is not exactly a politician, either, and his consolidation of power has brought with it an increasingly Krause-like insularity. Thibodeau – to his credit — has presented a consistent public message about everybody working together to win, and has been disappointed by what he feels have been Forman’s recent, unsolicited admissions of disagreements with coaching decisions. Thibodeau knows that his boss is entitled to opinions, but believes his outward commitment to a united front deserves to be reciprocated. The unexpected ouster of the respected and well-liked Adams was a shot by Forman off Thibodeau’s bow, causing some insiders to believe it is highly unlikely that the coach will see the end of his four-year contract extension. Trying times again in Deerfield, and all-too-familiar feelings for a Chicago franchise. Jerry Reinsdorf must be used to this, by now, with a source explaining that the Forman/Thibodeau situation is less like Krause and Jackson, and “more like Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen, but without Twitter.” Those other cases of famous discord correlated with championships, however. This one may not.
blogabull is brutal toward management: http://www.blogabull.com/2013/7/2/4485682/chicago-bulls-nba-free-agency-derrick-rose-mike-dunleavy In 2013, Bulls fans are smart enough to recognize a pattern when they see one. Whether it's losing assets in Ben Gordon and Omer Asik for nothing, whiffing on big name free agents like they did in the summers of 2000 and 2010 or failing to complete trades for superstars that seem like they want to come to Chicago, the Bulls deserve something close to full responsibility for turning their fanbase into a group of jaded jerks. They do not get the benefit of the doubt from their most dedicated, cynical observers, and even after an overachieving, almost feel good season it's hard to argue they deserve it. ... For the Chicago Bulls, this is a familiar story. Go through Sam Smith's great "The Jordan Rules" and it's astounding that era ended with Michael, Scottie and Phil each wearing six rings. The book documents the 1991 season and the run-up to the first championship after years of playoff disappointment against the Detroit Pistons. The most jarring thing, even ahead of Jordan's outright dickishness, is how much everyone hated each other. Jordan hated Jerry Krause and so did Pippen, Jordan hated his teammates, the teammates hated Jordan. Almost all of it stemmed from two things: a) Jerry Reinsdorf's cheapness, and b) Jerry Krause's shadiness. It's hard not to draw parallels to today's team. Forman ascended the ranks in large part because he's every bit the mystery man Krause was. The Bulls still don't like spending money. And there remains these dumb little stories that should be avoidable if everyone involved wasn't so tone deaf and unpersonable.
Source: Trib Article I guess I understand why Forman has essentially told fans and media that it's none of our damn business why he fired the very popular Thibodeau's talented and well-respected right-hand man. The problem, of course, is that if you fail to provide straight answers, folks will make up their own. In this case, the storyline that seems to be gaining the most traction paints the picture of Forman as a thin-skinned and insecure manager who is intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. It doesn't really matter whether this portrayal is accurate. It fits the facts well enough and there's nothing credible out there to challenge it. It's even worse for Forman because most Bulls fans have yet to form a strong opinion of what kind of cat Forman is. For many, the Adams episode will be used to form the foundation for their POV regarding Forman. At least to this point, this has been botched by Forman IMO.
You have Gar and you have whistleblowers. Those infamous unnamed sources within the organization. Bernstein seems to be pretty good at getting people in the organization to talk beyond the company line.
Well, at face value this seems like a really dumb move. It makes perfect sense to let your head coach choose his own staff, and it sounds like Ron Adams was pretty close to the players as well. No need to pre-emptively piss off the Thibs/Rose alliance unless there's a really compelling reason to do so. If this is merely a power play I'm highly disappointed in Gar, who I think has done a very good job so far, in large part due to his (perceived) level headedness. If this reflects some larger organizational dysfunction that's rotted pretty deeply, well......I'm just disappointed.
Yeah, I thought more of Gar until this. Watch Thibs end up coaching the Lakers to 6 more championships before he's through.
Okay Denny, I slept on this, and I'm ready to change my stance. The grumblings seem to insist that Thibodeau and Foreman are at odds over minutes. At some point in time we have to decide what to make of Thibodeau. If he keeps running his players into the ground so they're dead come playoff time what difference does it make how well they perform in the regular season, and how hard the fight in the playoffs, given injuries. Thibodeau might not be the right coach for this team. Noah has foot problems; Rose played dumb minutes before he was finally sidelined with an ACL tear; Deng is a walking disaster. If Thibs can't learn to rest his players like Popovic all of the rest might not even matter. So what does that leave us with? One of the best, if not the best, drafting GM in the league. That's a hell of place to start. Indeed, If there is a criticism to be had over the front office's maneuverings it's that they haven't traded talent for picks in the past. Foreman appears to have the ability to turn picks into very useful, cheap players and with the new CBA, that ability is paramount. I'd be totally committed to this viewpoint if the front office wasn't so damn weird.
This is most definitely the silver lining in the situation. Thibs is great, but everyone seems to agree that the minutes need to be tapered down. If management keeps meeting with the guy, they come to an agreement about how to handle things, and then Thibs just goes off and keeps running players into the ground some more as if it never happened, at some point the levee is going to break. That still doesn't shed much light on the particulars of Adams being fired, but it makes the disagreement between management and coach a little more palatable. I don't find it difficult to imagine Thibs being a difficult personality to deal with. In fact, I'd be surprised if he wasn't a few steps to the right of normal. Perhaps the issue is that his oddities are also what make him so great, so you have to decide whether or not it's worth living with.
Did the Bulls seem "dead" this year at playoff time? That's not what I saw going on out there. I saw an undermanned unit (due to lack of personnel) gutting out some tough wins against teams with much more talent, but I didn't see a dead team.
No, it doesn't, unless Forman had told Thibodeau, "if you don't take it easy with some of the guys' minutes, I'm gonna take Adams away from you." Doesn't work for me.
