Gar Fired, Paxson moved to Senior advisory role

[Michael Jackson]

Not sure I have ever heard of an organization where the VP/GM of a team in complete turmoil basically has to beg the owner to find someone else to do his job. Everywhere else when you fail you are dumped. Again it comes down to the Reinsdorf’s valuing personal relationships over actually winning games. I hope this new guy is the answer because he has likely has a job for the next 15 years regardless of performance.

this is true, he does have to be the right guy because Reinsdorf gives plenty of rope. That is both a good and a bad thing. Better than Dolan who no one would want to work for because he throws people under the bus but also frustrating when a change is clearly apparent needed to be made. AK is going to have his shot for sure, for better or for worse. If we aren't over .500 the first ten games next season, I expect plenty of Fire AK threads! I am actually already starting a go fund me for the fire AK billboard! Jerry is not a dolt though. Williams was a good GM until he wasn't, same with Krause and Paxson. His hires weren't bad he just held on too long in all those cases. Michael to me seems like a dolt, this is his show now lets see how this goes forward. It literally can't be any worse than what it is. Even the 99 season wasn't this painful.

[JohnnyKILLroy]

Props to Pax for wanting to step down but Boylen has to go...

I think in my head that Pax maybe hired him on purpose to get Reinsdorfs attention.

I think he hired him because he had a mandate to spend no money on coaching after firing Hoiberg when the Bulls were already a disaster, but maybe they actually believed in him. I will say he fits the Bulls haven't been amazing with coaches under Paxson. Perhaps his absolute worst area.

I feel like Boylen was Pax trying to recreate the culture change that Skiles brought, but where it blew up in his face is that Skiles is 10 X the coach.

[JohnnyTapwater]

Gar being gone is good... That was the cancer.

I always felt Pax got a bad wrap and was linked to Gar unfairly., so I'm happy he has been reassigned.

Pax elevated him into the GM position and signed off on allowing his subsequent behavior. It's not an unfair link.

Gar was the cancer and was the cantankerous, unlikable figure.

Unfair.

[JohnnyTapwater]

Gar being gone is good... That was the cancer.

I always felt Pax got a bad wrap and was linked to Gar unfairly., so I'm happy he has been reassigned.

he choked a head coach....

So. Maybe he deserved it.

[Mech Engineer]

Props to Pax for wanting to step down but Boylen has to go...

I think in my head that Pax maybe hired him on purpose to get Reinsdorfs attention.

I think he hired him because he had a mandate to spend no money on coaching after firing Hoiberg when the Bulls were already a disaster, but maybe they actually believed in him. I will say he fits the Bulls haven't been amazing with coaches under Paxson. Perhaps his absolute worst area.

I feel like Boylen was Pax trying to recreate the culture change that Skiles brought, but where it blew up in his face is that Skiles is 10 X the coach.

Pax being the 3 pt shot maker in the NBA finals and built some kind of decent team after Krause completely lost it has made him look more valuable than he is. The Baby Bulls even without the championship history is more like what many teams do with a whole lot of high picks. Paxson is equally or more responsible as Gar for the Bulls being an average to mediocre franchise for the last 2 decades. Only the Thibs years were a little different and I give majority of the credit to Rose, Thibs.

This franchise had lost me for the last 5 years....hopefully. I can appreciate Bulls basketball again.

The bottom line is this...Paxson was not a good GM compared to good NBA GMs. He was good in certain circumstances a few years but overall as a GM, he was not.

Gar scouted and drafted Jimmy Butler...that's the best Bulls pick after Scottie in terms of value. But. these one time events don't make them good GMs for the things they have done to mess up this franchise...that list is endless.

[chicago paxsons]

Gar being gone is good... That was the cancer.

I always felt Pax got a bad wrap and was linked to Gar unfairly., so I'm happy he has been reassigned.

he choked a head coach....

So. Maybe he deserved it.

If i remember correctly, it was about vinny del negro going over the minutes restriction on joakim noah after he just came back from injury. Del negro was an idiot for that, but paxson clearly overreacted.

[Payt10]

Gar is gone, which is good, but Paxson still lurking in the shadows is not a good thing. What does the guy have to do to be fired?

I don't want him in a consulting role. I don't want AK having conversations with a failed general manager who was dumb enough to hire the worst head coach in the franchise's history, and doubled down on that support despite all the evidence to the contrary that it was a catastrophically bad decision that everyone could see almost immediately.

[jnrjr79]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Pax been wanting to step down for years but jerry wouldnt let him lol

Everyone begging Paxson to fire himself got their wish.

[NecessaryEvil]

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i remember saying years ago on here other front offices didn't want to work with us

Again... right

[Proven_Winner]

Gar is gone, which is good, but Paxson still lurking in the shadows is not a good thing. What does the guy have to do to be fired?

He’s basically pip with slightly more power now right? I’m not mad at that pax as a figure had probably isn’t bad just don’t let him make decisions. And so far it feels like they like AK making all decisions and Pax can kick back and only get involved when they call for him.

[KeithBoothfan]

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Read on Twitter

Pax been wanting to step down for years but jerry wouldnt let him lol

Everyone begging Paxson to fire himself got their wish.

I do find it pretty remarkable that it (apparently) really took the top guy going to the owners and demanding that they fire him for it to actually happen.

I'm fine with Pax staying around on the periphery. Never had nearly as much of a problem with him as with Gar. Pax has his flaws, but he's a straight shooter and a decent talent evaluator. And as much criticism as he got for not making any big home run trades, he did have a knack for extracting some value when he corrected/traded his mistakes. Given the shaky condition of this rebuild, AK and his team may decide to correct some mistakes in the next couple years. Having Pax in the room for those discussions could be helpful.

[JohnnyKILLroy]

I think he hired him because he had a mandate to spend no money on coaching after firing Hoiberg when the Bulls were already a disaster, but maybe they actually believed in him. I will say he fits the Bulls haven't been amazing with coaches under Paxson. Perhaps his absolute worst area.

I feel like Boylen was Pax trying to recreate the culture change that Skiles brought, but where it blew up in his face is that Skiles is 10 X the coach.

Pax being the 3 pt shot maker in the NBA finals and built some kind of decent team after Krause completely lost it has made him look more valuable than he is. The Baby Bulls even without the championship history is more like what many teams do with a whole lot of high picks. Paxson is equally or more responsible as Gar for the Bulls being an average to mediocre franchise for the last 2 decades. Only the Thibs years were a little different and I give majority of the credit to Rose, Thibs.

This franchise had lost me for the last 5 years....hopefully. I can appreciate Bulls basketball again.

The bottom line is this...Paxson was not a good GM compared to good NBA GMs. He was good in certain circumstances a few years but overall as a GM, he was not.

Gar scouted and drafted Jimmy Butler...that's the best Bulls pick after Scottie in terms of value. But. these one time events don't make them good GMs for the things they have done to mess up this franchise...that list is endless.

Ok whatever dude.....thumbs up.

[BeatDaCavs420]

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1. Why is Joe Cowley not a verified blue check?
2. What is Joe Cowley going to do now that there'll be no dirt or incompetence to report on?

1. Cowley not being verified is kind of fitting

Can't believe people still say this about Cowley when he's almost always right and post the truth 9 times outta 10

[Indomitable]

I'd rather they fire Pax too, but I can't complain when the words "Bulls fire Gar Foreman" are scrolling across my Twitter feed

There was almost no chance with JR still around.

[Indomitable]

How am I supposed to feed my kids now? Shame on all you.

Stick a fork in him now.

[musiqsoulchild]

And thats already making the point that I am making. I'll go check on Polk. Didnt know that happened.

If they are bringing in more Finance folks under Arturas side of the organization then thats a signal that he has been given the power needed to actually make a difference.

In that case, this isnt just a regime change - its also a change in ways of doing business.

Not sure if you've just not been paying attention, but all the articles indicate the Bulls are going to build out a much larger front office than before and implying there would be full departmental areas under AK which sounds like what you're discussing.

I have read bits and pieces. Something about bringing in more diversity and then an article about looking at another Seton Hall alum ( Adrian Griffin).

The Polk thing and the large expansion of the FO are really positive things though. We have needed to modernize for a long time now. And any new transition begins with increasing head count.

[Indomitable]

To be fair - he deserved it.

did he sleep with pax wife or something? nahhhh he played noah over his alotted minute restriction

that doesn't mean you have the right to put your hands on someone at work.

No one is saying that what he did was ok. Just that it doesn't really say much about what kind of a job he did as a GM. As I pointed out earlier, MJ once slugged Steve Kerr because he didn't make the right play in a practice. That was unacceptable as well. But no one every brings that up as a reason to judge MJ as a basketball player (unless it is to highlight how competitive he was, which can also be said of Paxson).

Stop with the redirect. The poster just before him said he deserved it.

[Indomitable]

I like Paxson and I think the Bulls are better having him in the organization in some limited fashion, but thank god Gar Forman is gone.

I don't like Paxson. I really don't. I have absolutely no problem with him being on the payrol though. If Jerry wants to cut him a check out of loyality, so be it. Gar was a cancer, I think Paxs wasn't but he really didn't want the job and it showed. Him in the building is fine but it is damn clear it isn't his show and that is all that matters.

This pretty much summarize my feelings. Excellent post!

[musiqsoulchild]

The type of guys in the Bulls finance department would be the cap management guys. That's what Polk seems likely to be doing, but Irwin Mandel had that roll for a long time, and I assume they replaced him with someone when he retired in 2016.

And thats already making the point that I am making. I'll go check on Polk. Didnt know that happened.

If they are bringing in more Finance folks under Arturas side of the organization then thats a signal that he has been given the power needed to actually make a difference.

In that case, this isnt just a regime change - its also a change in ways of doing business.

Educate me. Wouldn't the Finance Department be responsible for managing assets (facilities, bank accounts, investments, etc), benefits and payroll for employees, and performing internal audits on the organization? They wouldn't have anything to do with operations, no? I know "salary cap" sounds like a finance responsibility because it involves money, but wouldn't this be strictly hoops operations?

Maybe if the team needed to upgrade its state of the art training facilities, the finance guys will have to step in to find the optimal way to finance it and be some sort of controller to ensure a gc isn't robbing them. But where else would the Finance Department actually overlap with operations. Especially if Jerry makes the call on the payroll budget for players and coaches.

Sure thing.

So let's say that there is a Finance organization which is headed by Ram Padmanabhan now. He has say 20 people reporting to him.

If that number reduces and some of that head count is placed under Arturas....that would imply that there are several layers of decision making that dont have to involve the larger Finance department at the earlier stages.

For example, say that Arturas gets a Financial Analyst AND a Cap Expert.

Then when Arturas goes into his meetings with Finance to get an OK on a TPE or a Trade or a buyout....ALL the paperwork and presentations are already set in place to HELP the basketball operations side of the business to make a BETTER case to their Finance counterparts.

At that point, getting the final nod on an operations decision is a lot more likely.

[gardenofsound]

Gar being gone is good... That was the cancer.

I always felt Pax got a bad wrap and was linked to Gar unfairly., so I'm happy he has been reassigned.

he choked a head coach....

And MJ coldcocked a team mate.

What?