As the Chicago Bulls' season faded toward an embarrassing close on Friday night, Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas huddled his team together late in the third quarter and delivered a message. "That's a wrap for these [expletives]!" Thomas exclaimed. He was right. The Bulls mentally checked out of Friday's ugly 105-83 Game 6 loss early, capping what will go down not just as a mediocre season, but a wasted one. As the game ended, chants of "Fire Hoiberg" filled the United Center air from an angry crowd that expected more from a team that never really fought to keep its season going. As frustrated as fans should be toward Hoiberg, who has never really clicked with his players since arriving two years ago, Bulls fans should direct their ire toward the team's front office after this disappointing season. Read more http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/bu...axson-deserve-most-blame-in-lost-bulls-season
I don't think I've ever seen a beat guy go after management like that; rarely with coaching. Anybody think the Bulls make a change this off season?
He is right. They have nothing for a while now. Once Rose went down they were clueless. And during the lasy 4 or 5 years the game has changed. Changed a lot. The front office has not changed.
Word is that JOHN Paxson might be taking the reigns again. This was a guy who really, actually thought that Hinrich/ Gordon / Deng / Nocioni was a potential championship core. Step in the wrong direction. Let's hope the headband rule isn't on the table again.
Ya as I said to such sweet thunder the guys in the FO, all of them, the modern game has passed them by. Hoiberg has at least tried to instill the modern game to the players he has, but the players here do not fit the modern NBA.
If they do not clean house in the FO, what I think should happen is bring back Rondo for next season then after that, make him coach. He knows the modern game. Move fred upstairs, give him a lot of say on what type of players should be here on this team with or without Jimmy. That is better than the status quo
The Bulls lack identity. Their roster was constructed ad hoc and without any notion of how it would play together. The organization's disfunction keeps top tier (no Wade is not top tier, he had few suitors at his price) from signing with us and causes our best players to not give a damn about being here (lip service is just that). If Paxson was a good GM, Wade would have been with the team his entire career. Paxson chose to roll with Hinrich instead. I disagree that Hoiberg is not responsible for the team's performance. In spite of some of the players not being such a great fit for his offense, good coaches adjust their schemes to maximize the players' abilities. Guys who should have been ideal fits for his offense did not flourish. Mirotic, McBuckets, and Portis, are three obvious examples. The deal for the pick to get McBuckets is almost as bad as trading Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas. The two ingredients for championship contention are gone: Rose and Thibs. I don't see any upside for this team for years to come.
You are right. No upside. Ratings dropping. Empty seats at the UC. The glory days are long past. 18 years and counting. Bulls fans are upset that John said they do not plan on trading Jimmy. They take him at his word. Actually He says what any other GM would say. It is code, dont send us a bag of chips or two bags of chips. But dont be fooled. He will trade Jimmy sooner than later. They will not pay him $40 mill a year for 5 years. And they cannot build a contending team around him in time at that. Wade will come back. With or without Jimmy. He is not letting that $24 mill fall by the way side. Next season might be his last huge pay day. So he will strap the team with his contract. He will not hurt the Bulls, but the superstar of the past is not there. Fans need to realize we are not going to rob teams the way Boston did the Nets. That ain't happening. I can see Jimmy going to Philly, or LA, or last but not least Minny. Thibs will not trade Wiggens and that young center they have that comes off of the bench and the #6 pick. No way. I can see Dunn and #6. LA may give us ingram and the pick but that may be the best we can get. Magic wants to get the glory days back. Having Jimmy and maybe even PG the next season to mix with the youth they have could make them a playoff team like Memphis. This FO has kept players too long and have no assets to show for it. As I said in an earlier post, the modern NBA has past them by and they do not know what to do next. Rose was 'gone' when he got hurt two seasons in a row. (he is hurt again) Tragic what has happened to his body the last few years. Yes, they should have kept Thibs. Watch what he does with Minny next season especially if he gets Butler. Hoiberg has his faults, but this team is not a modern NBA team. It is a work in progress.
The Bulls are in a bad place. They have no young players on reasonable contracts who figure to play key roles in their future. Cameron Payne is the key, and from what we've seen, after 2 NBA seasons, he's not ready. That ain't good. Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio are young bigs who look like "journeyman" is their ceiling. Zipser also looks like a journeyman at best, but he was a 2nd-rounder and if he makes it to the j-man level, it's actually a victory for the FO. Jerian Grant and Michael Carter-Williams don't look like NBA players. Denzel Valentine was unimpressive in his rookie season, but if you want to hope for the best, I can't blame you. Paxson talked about how "the young players" need to play this coming season. If I were Hoiberg, I would ask him, "Based on what?" Don't get me wrong, I don't think Hoiberg's anything special as a head coach, but it ain't fair to ask him to win games and play substandard players. Paxson needs to pick a lane. My fear is that we're just on the front end of a slide for the Bulls. I don't like how I feel about the team.
The lane is and has been make the playoffs and keep the team highly profitable. This last season is considered a moderate success in the eyes of the Bulls. We'll see if interest seriously wanes in the next season or two. They are likely not going to have another Rose pick fall into their laps and I'm not sure if Betsy Devos has any head coaching leads for the org. I would bet not.
I personally think your team is in a much better position than ours. Your center that was injured, makes you a good team. In fact in the East, if you were here next season, you would be a top 4 team. No doubt in my mind.