The Sad and Bad Chicago Bulls

January 16, 2020

When is John Paxson going to be held accountable? At the start of the season he said the Bulls would be competitive and make the playoffs. Once again, they are on the outside looking in. The Bulls record is 15-27. They are 1-16 versus teams with .500 records. They can only beat teams with worse records than theirs. Nine of their wins have come against the woeful Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons who are a combined 37-84. Subtract that and they have only won 6 games. Paxon has been in charge since 2003 and has only had success in the Derrick Rose era. Sadly, this was short lived as Rose suffered the first of many injuries in the opening round of the playoffs in his third year.

Rose tried to come back but was let go because he couldn’t co-exist with Jimmy Butler. Butler had made himself a star. He showed considerable growth in talent and ego. He refused to adapt to former coach Fred Hoiberg’s offense, playing his own selfish game. Paxon thought he could turn things around by acquiring past their prime players, Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo. The Bulls did reach the playoffs, facing the Boston Celtics in a best of five series. Rondo spearheaded two upset victories in Boston. He injured his thumb and was out for the remainder of the series. Butler, who thinks he’s a superstar, couldn’t carry the team to one victory even with two home games.

Seeing the Bulls were going nowhere with Butler, Paxson traded the prima donna headache and contract to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In return, they received the seventh overall pick, forward Lauri Markkanen Markkanen seemed to be a really good player. However, it seems he has regressed back to his rookie season. They also obtained guard Zach LaVine. LaVine is a scoring machine   but plays no defense and makes poor decisions. Neither player is capable of elevating the other three on the court.  After the trade, Paxson proclaimed the Bulls were in a rebuild mold to buy him some time.

The following year the Bulls were trying to lose games trying to receive a high draft pick. The Bulls weren’t bad enough and ended up with the seventh overall pick, Wendell Carter Jr. Hurt most of his first year, the Bulls believed he would make major strides this season. Prior to his current injury, there were games when he reached double digits in rebounds and points. With his size, he should get 10 rebounds every game. When you only average 11 points a game, the double-double is nothing to crow about. Part of the problem the numbers aren’t better is because he spends a good portion of the game on the bench in foul trouble. He would be the perfect second string player for a good team. This year, the Bulls found themselves with another inconsequential seventh overall pick. Coby White may have been the best player left and was yet still behind Kris Dunn on the depth chart. With the injuries he has gotten more playing time. He sometimes shoots lights out and times when he’s cold. This will happen to a young player when 90% of his shots are 3 pointers.

Three years into the rebuild and the Bulls haven’t improved one bit. You can’t build a competitive team when your number one pick is seventh overall. Did anyone think Paxson would succeed? Most people who are this incompetent would not keep their jobs. However, there is no better job security than working for the loyalist Reinsdorfs.

Paxon has an abysmal track record when it comes to coaching and things are no different with Jim Boylen. He is the antitheses of a modern NBA coach. He reminds me a of fictional coach Norman Dale in the movie “Hoosiers”. He paces the court and yells at his players. Since Boylen has failed as a college coach and there is no chance in Hell he will be offered another pro job, maybe he can get a high school job. His offense centers on fast pace up the court. This gives him the luxury of not setting up plays. The one play he calls is where LaVine hogs the ball. This is also a bad shooting team and when you miss a lot of shots (especially 3-pointers), it puts pressure on your defense to set up. I know that the Bulls steal balls and force turnovers. If they don’t, the set defense is lousy. They fail to cover up 3 point shooters and don’t communicate. This becomes very apparent when opponents get uncontested lay-ups on pick and rolls. These are things a good coach can improve.

A good coach knows he should be on an even keel, not to get too high or too low. This will help his players do the same. However, Bulls management, players and coach get euphoric with wins over teams like Atlanta, Washington etc. I am also sick and tired of Boylen putting a positive spin on every loss. Paxson can’t see this coach is a mistake? Do he and Ryan Pace hang out? The Bulls need a star that makes his teammates better. My suggestion is do whatever it takes to trade for a top three pick. If it means giving up two number one picks, so be it. Don’t be afraid to include Markkanen or LaVine in a package deal.