The Bulls suffered their worst home loss in franchise history 133-77 last night to the Celtics. The Bulls have ranked as one of the worst defensive teams in the league(113.0ppg allowed, 8th worst) in terms of points given up. The images of uncontested lay ups, dunks and jumpers come as no surprise to this writer as this has been the calling card of this team for several years now. No, this was just the latest example of a Bulls team that has been without a vision or plan for the better part of two decades.
Fred Hoiberg was fired as Bulls coach on December 3rd after 3-plus seasons of mediocre basketball that featured only one playoff appearance & one season with a plus .500 record. Hoiberg was hired because he was supposed to be the opposite of Tom Thibodeau. Hoiberg wanted to bring an uptempo style of ball that focused on increasing the number of shots & possessions. He also seemed to be the guy who would go along with whatever vision Gar Forman & John Paxson had in mind. The truth is, as Hoiberg would soon discover, that GarPax have no plan, direction or vision for this team. According to the Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley, Hoiberg was completely caught off guard:
According to one source, Hoiberg believed he would have the the chance to coach a fully healthy team before being evaluated. – Joe Cowley, Sun-Times
The mantra of GarPax is simple – do what we tell you or you will be the fall guy. It seems that every time a Bulls head coach tried to challenge the system then all of a sudden the coach would “lose the locker room”. Look at the following examples:
- Scott Skiles would challenge the make up of his roster to the front office. He implored through the media that he simply didn’t have the roster to match his system. He was soon fired.
- Vinny del Negro attempted to run a similar style to Hoiberg but was met with resistance from the front office. This ultimately led to a physical confrontation between del Negro & Paxson. del Negro was fired after the 2010 campaign.
- Thibodeau was brought in to restore toughness and defense on the court and order in the locker room. He did this but after the injury to Rose the front office did little to change the makeup of the team. Thibs challenged the make up and then whispers started about Thibs running his players into the ground. This was the cause for his dismissal.
- Hoiberg, like del Negro, wanted to bring an uptempo style to the Bulls. The front office promised a roster that would be “younger & more athletic” but was never given such a roster. When the roster in place wasn’t performing to the front office standards, the mantra from the front office was that Fred had lost the team & the team lost its “spirit” even though several players & new head coach Jim Boylen say that wasn’t the case. In what appears to be something out of a dysfunctional soap opera, GM Gar Forman appears to be the catalyst for Hoiberg’s firing due to “trust issues.”
At the end of the day, this team has been unable to put a together a competent team that can compete on a nightly basis. It’s also interesting that Paxson is committed to new head coach Jim Boylen. Boylen has made no secret he intends to run the team in a similar fashion to how Thibs ran it considering Thibs’ hard nosed style of coaching is what got him fired. Save for Butler and Markkanen, the Bulls have been unable to draft and/or trade for real talent and on most nights puts a G-League roster on the floor each night.
The problem is not the coach but the coach always seems to be the fall guy. No, the problem rests with the men running the team – Gar Paxson & John Paxson. These two men are clueless when it comes to running a modern-day NBA franchise. The owner must see this but is too loyal to do the right thing and fire them. The owner also is not interested in actually having to do the leg to find a competent GM & VP of Operations so the story goes on.
Clueless: A Bulls’ Front Office Story will continue to play on Madison until further notice…
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