Chicago bulls : What is the plan?

[thomas1897]

Do the Bulls have a purpose? Is there a plan? Who is the leader of this group? Does management have an agenda, or do they care about the team culture? Does anyone have an answer? I am confused.

[League Circles]

Do the Bulls have a purpose? Is there a plan? Who is the leader of this group? Does management have an agenda, or do they care about the team culture? Does anyone have an answer? I am confused.

Like the other NBA teams, the Bulls want to win games and championships and make a lot of money entertaining fans in that process.

Michael Reinsdorf is the leader of the organization.

AK is the leader of the basketball operations.

Billy Donovan leads the team as a coach.

Coby White is probably the biggest leader among the players.

What is confusing for you?

[SalmonsSuperfan]

win 40 games a year, continue to sell out the united center, continue to sell michael jordan jerseys...every couple of years release some special merchandise about how good the team was 30 years ago...maybe make a documentary.

[GoBlue72391]

I'm not trying to be a doom and gloomer with this comment, but since the end of the Jordan era the plan has always been to remain within the top 5 in attendance and merchandise sales. This is usually accomplished with a roughly .500 record and play-in or late seed playoff appearance. It doesn't matter who's running the FO, this is and always has been the primary goal.

This is a business after all and the way the Reinsdorfs and co. run this organization is optimized to maximize profits above everything else, even winning.

What they don't seem to realize is investing in winning will pay for itself in the long run; look at how profitable we are still coasting off the Jordan era despite having maybe 2 notable seasons since that era ended. Without all that winning we did in the 90s we wouldn't be the money printing machine we are now.

Don't take my word for it. Jerry Reinsdorf has infamously made comments like "strive for 2nd place" and has told his family to sell the White Sox and keep the Bulls after his passing due to the Sox being his passion and the Bulls being a business.

Or just look at how roster management is handled; this organization has paid the luxury tax once in its entire existence and has never been a big player in major free agency pursuits.

These are not the words and actions of anyone who is serious about winning.

The goal is to continue lining the Reinsdorfs and minority owners pockets. How we get there and how many games we win in pursuit of that goal is just the window dressing.

[DuckIII]

I’ll try to answer what I think they intend the current plan to be:

1. Resign Giddey, make him the primary ball-handler and playmaker and build a team that considers his strengths and weaknesses.

2. Hope Matas is a franchise player.

3. Develop Essengue as an important part of step 1 above.

4. Give Coby to the deadline and decide what to do at that point.

5. Try to move Pat.

6. Don’t make any significant “win now” moves and treat this season as an experimental and developmental year to try to keep a reasonably good draft pick for next year in a strong draft.

7. After making that pick, put the pedal to the metal immediately and get as good as you can as fast as you can (which would be a mistake unless we clearly see some contending type talent emerging quickly).

Reading the tea leaves, this appears to be the basic plan for now.

[ChettheJet]

There's no plan, the team is run by fools who don;t have a clue about basketball o money or message board gurus. That's what you want t hear. They sign Yuki to a two way contract to distract you and so many others from what's really going on.

Yeah there's a plan in the building, they understand where the other 29 teams stand, how much money they have and the other 29 teams have. They can't just call anybody, tell them to chack the trade machine link and have them agree to a a Vucevic trade with no concern about where they end up.

Almost every team has backed themselves into a financial corner and whether they're trying to git the the Finals or tanking, they have pieces in places and can't do much that's substantially going to change things. Plenty of teams, like the Bulls, have a lot of expiring contracts for next summer and don't want to make a trade right now for the sake of making a splash and totally screwing up what they have laid out for next summer.

[Hangtime84]

Do the Bulls have a purpose? Is there a plan? Who is the leader of this group? Does management have an agenda, or do they care about the team culture? Does anyone have an answer? I am confused.

Like the other NBA teams, the Bulls want to win games and championships and make a lot of money entertaining fans in that process.

Michael Reinsdorf is the leader of the organization.

AK is the leader of the basketball operations.

Billy Donovan leads the team as a coach.

Coby White is probably the biggest leader among the players.

What is confusing for you?

I think they missed the point of doug thread. But yes this covers it all.

[DuckIII]

I'm not trying to be a doom and gloomer with this comment, but since the end of the Jordan era the plan has always been to remain within the top 5 in attendance and merchandise sales. This is usually accomplished with a roughly .500 record and play-in or late seed playoff appearance. It doesn't matter who's running the FO, this is and always has been the primary goal.

This is a business after all and the way the Reinsdorfs and co. run this organization is optimized to maximize profits above everything else, even winning.

What they don't seem to realize is investing in winning will pay for itself in the long run; look at how profitable we are still coasting off the Jordan era despite having maybe 2 notable seasons since that era ended. Without all that winning we did in the 90s we wouldn't be the money printing machine we are now.

Don't take my word for it. Jerry Reinsdorf has infamously made comments like "strive for 2nd place" and has told his family to sell the White Sox and keep the Bulls after his passing due to the Sox being his passion and the Bulls being a business.

Or just look at how roster management is handled; this organization has paid the luxury tax once in its entire existence and has never been a big player in major free agency pursuits.

These are not the words and actions of anyone who is serious about winning.

The goal is to continue lining the Reinsdorfs and minority owners pockets. How we get there and how many games we win in pursuit of that goal is just the window dressing.

As Bulls fans we all understand the sometimes-frustrating financial restrictions we have to deal with. But I do believe you are overstating some things.

Paxson, I think 3 different times, blew up the team lost-dynasty to get worse and he wanted to do it a 4th time after the Rose injury but was reportedly shot down by Gar and Michael.

Moreover, AK has now in two different seasons publicly stated he had the “green light” to completely blow it up and rebuild, but didn’t want to.

The Bulls have an established record of being willing to get bad to get good. Just not under AK.

[GoBlue72391]

I'm not trying to be a doom and gloomer with this comment, but since the end of the Jordan era the plan has always been to remain within the top 5 in attendance and merchandise sales. This is usually accomplished with a roughly .500 record and play-in or late seed playoff appearance. It doesn't matter who's running the FO, this is and always has been the primary goal.

This is a business after all and the way the Reinsdorfs and co. run this organization is optimized to maximize profits above everything else, even winning.

What they don't seem to realize is investing in winning will pay for itself in the long run; look at how profitable we are still coasting off the Jordan era despite having maybe 2 notable seasons since that era ended. Without all that winning we did in the 90s we wouldn't be the money printing machine we are now.

Don't take my word for it. Jerry Reinsdorf has infamously made comments like "strive for 2nd place" and has told his family to sell the White Sox and keep the Bulls after his passing due to the Sox being his passion and the Bulls being a business.

Or just look at how roster management is handled; this organization has paid the luxury tax once in its entire existence and has never been a big player in major free agency pursuits.

These are not the words and actions of anyone who is serious about winning.

The goal is to continue lining the Reinsdorfs and minority owners pockets. How we get there and how many games we win in pursuit of that goal is just the window dressing.

As Bulls fans we all understand the sometimes-frustrating financial restrictions we have to deal with. But I do believe you are overstating some things.

Paxson, I think 3 different times, blew up the team lost-dynasty to get worse and he wanted to do it a 4th time after the Rose injury but was reportedly shot down by Gar and Michael.

Moreover, AK has now in two different seasons publicly stated he had the “green light” to completely blow it up and rebuild, but didn’t want to.

The Bulls have an established record of being willing to get bad to get good. Just not under AK.

Yeah but the thing is, we were still at or near the top in attendance and merchandise sales even during those blow ups. As long as we're still highly profitable, the people at the top don't care what's happening with the on-court product. And that's where the problem lies.

I believe the only time we saw a notable decrease in attendance, sales, etc. was during the end of the GarPax era with the whole ASG and fire GarPax billboard fiasco. What happened? Ownership fired the FO and brought in new people and guess what, those attendance and sales numbers are right back where they need to be.

My point is, what happens on the court is irrelevant as long as they're making money. Winning or losing doesn't really matter that much to those in charge.

[Chi town]

I’ll try to answer what I think they intend the current plan to be:

1. Resign Giddey, make him the primary ball-handler and playmaker and build a team that considers his strengths and weaknesses.

2. Hope Matas is a franchise player.

3. Develop Essengue as an important part of step 1 above.

4. Give Coby to the deadline and decide what to do at that point.

5. Try to move Pat.

6. Don’t make any significant “win now” moves and treat this season as an experimental and developmental year to try to keep a reasonably good draft pick for next year in a strong draft.

7. After making that pick, put the pedal to the metal immediately and get as good as you can as fast as you can (which would be a mistake unless we clearly see some contending type talent emerging quickly).

Reading the tea leaves, this appears to be the basic plan for now.

Which I believe will turn into the Bulls playing .500 ball and a big trade at the deadline for a playoff push.

[League Circles]

I find it humorous that anyone thinks the Bulls don't want to win and/or are unaware how profitable that would likely be long term.

This isn't baseball. You can't buy a winner. Many of the teams that try to, with deep pockets, end up shooting themselves in the foot.

I think "making the playoffs" every year is an absolutely reasonable and wise goal. I don't think the org has done a good job of doing that, but only a child in a 30 team world class league would think that winning championships is a sensible primary goal.

[prolific passer]

There's a plan?

[drosestruts]

You know it's funny, I was listening to the Zach Lowe pod yesterday and he's very optimistic and complimentary of franchises like Portland and Memphis, but does seem rather negative about the Bulls.

Portland's end of season run is a reason for optimism, ours is a mirage

Memphis traded away Bane, Zach mentions there plans is to just be generally good and hope for a break (crawford or someone else young stepping up) and seemed to indicate that was a smart plan. Is that not the Bulls plan?


The Bulls plan is largely the same as most teams plans. Collect good players and win games.

Every team with this plan, on some level, benefits from luck. This idea of genius GMs is more of a mirage than our end of season record.

One thing I have liked recently is we seem to be doing better a team that fits, rather than just assembling talent which is what we did when AKME first got here.

AKME Attempt 1 - we were less than the sum of our parts (also we had key impactful injuries)

AKME Attempt 2 - can we be more than the sum of our parts? TBD.

[League Circles]

I also think it's really silly to have a "plan". The team building rules are so constraining that it's best to just continuously analyze your situation and look at how all possible moves affect your 5 year outlook, and be ready to pivot at any moment to a variety of different rosters. I've never understood the notion that in order to win you need some grand narrative tale or vision to unfold over the course of years.

[jnrjr79]

I'm not trying to be a doom and gloomer with this comment, but since the end of the Jordan era the plan has always been to remain within the top 5 in attendance and merchandise sales. This is usually accomplished with a roughly .500 record and play-in or late seed playoff appearance. It doesn't matter who's running the FO, this is and always has been the primary goal.

This is a business after all and the way the Reinsdorfs and co. run this organization is optimized to maximize profits above everything else, even winning.

What they don't seem to realize is investing in winning will pay for itself in the long run; look at how profitable we are still coasting off the Jordan era despite having maybe 2 notable seasons since that era ended. Without all that winning we did in the 90s we wouldn't be the money printing machine we are now.

Don't take my word for it. Jerry Reinsdorf has infamously made comments like "strive for 2nd place" and has told his family to sell the White Sox and keep the Bulls after his passing due to the Sox being his passion and the Bulls being a business.

Or just look at how roster management is handled; this organization has paid the luxury tax once in its entire existence and has never been a big player in major free agency pursuits.

These are not the words and actions of anyone who is serious about winning.

The goal is to continue lining the Reinsdorfs and minority owners pockets. How we get there and how many games we win in pursuit of that goal is just the window dressing.

As Bulls fans we all understand the sometimes-frustrating financial restrictions we have to deal with. But I do believe you are overstating some things.

Paxson, I think 3 different times, blew up the team lost-dynasty to get worse and he wanted to do it a 4th time after the Rose injury but was reportedly shot down by Gar and Michael.

Moreover, AK has now in two different seasons publicly stated he had the “green light” to completely blow it up and rebuild, but didn’t want to.

The Bulls have an established record of being willing to get bad to get good. Just not under AK.

Yeah but the thing is, we were still at or near the top in attendance and merchandise sales even during those blow ups. As long as we're still highly profitable, the people at the top don't care what's happening with the on-court product. And that's where the problem lies.

People say this all the time. I don't think it's true in the way people say it, but I agree the Bulls want to be profitable and put financial constraints on the team that can hinder progress. I also think they're just old-fashioned. Where I don't agree - I just don't think it's true Michael Reinsdorf is actually ambivalent about winning. He wants to win, but only at a certain price, and is never going to have the Bulls be a state-of-the-art organization.

I believe the only time we saw a notable decrease in attendance, sales, etc. was during the end of the GarPax era with the whole ASG and fire GarPax billboard fiasco. What happened? Ownership fired the FO and brought in new people and guess what, those attendance and sales numbers are right back where they need to be.

Pax stepped down a month after COVID shut down the NBA season. The attendance numbers looked pretty much fine. The Bulls were 3rd in attendance at the point.

My point is, what happens on the court is irrelevant as long as they're making money. Winning or losing doesn't really matter that much to those in charge.

I think this overstates it, but it's true Bulls ownership won't spend like a billionaire owning a team for fun would. They are a for-profit business, first and foremost.

[sco]

I’ll try to answer what I think they intend the current plan to be:

1. Resign Giddey, make him the primary ball-handler and playmaker and build a team that considers his strengths and weaknesses.

2. Hope Matas is a franchise player.

3. Develop Essengue as an important part of step 1 above.

4. Give Coby to the deadline and decide what to do at that point.

5. Try to move Pat.

6. Don’t make any significant “win now” moves and treat this season as an experimental and developmental year to try to keep a reasonably good draft pick for next year in a strong draft.

7. After making that pick, put the pedal to the metal immediately and get as good as you can as fast as you can (which would be a mistake unless we clearly see some contending type talent emerging quickly).

Reading the tea leaves, this appears to be the basic plan for now.

Very well said Duck!

I think AK as an anti-tanker is trying to build a team that is a superstar away from contending and is trying to have enough assets to go all-in should the right guy become available down the road a year or two.

[sco]

I also think it's really silly to have a "plan". The team building rules are so constraining that it's best to just continuously analyze your situation and look at how all possible moves affect your 5 year outlook, and be ready to pivot at any moment to a variety of different rosters. I've never understood the notion that in order to win you need some grand narrative tale or vision to unfold over the course of years.

Fair point. AK strikes me more as tactician than strategist. Last offseason/season what about getting value for Zach and Caruso. IMO this season will be about putting Giddey and Matas in positions to improve, test Coby before writing a big check, and getting value from Vuc. I also think he wants to come away with at least one meaningful piece via trade of some of our expirings.

[KissedByaRose1]

I’ll try to answer what I think they intend the current plan to be:

1. Resign Giddey, make him the primary ball-handler and playmaker and build a team that considers his strengths and weaknesses.

2. Hope Matas is a franchise player.

3. Develop Essengue as an important part of step 1 above.

4. Give Coby to the deadline and decide what to do at that point.

5. Try to move Pat.

6. Don’t make any significant “win now” moves and treat this season as an experimental and developmental year to try to keep a reasonably good draft pick for next year in a strong draft.

7. After making that pick, put the pedal to the metal immediately and get as good as you can as fast as you can (which would be a mistake unless we clearly see some contending type talent emerging quickly).

Reading the tea leaves, this appears to be the basic plan for now.

Sounds perfect to me. You're hired.

[DuckIII]

I’ll try to answer what I think they intend the current plan to be:

1. Resign Giddey, make him the primary ball-handler and playmaker and build a team that considers his strengths and weaknesses.

2. Hope Matas is a franchise player.

3. Develop Essengue as an important part of step 1 above.

4. Give Coby to the deadline and decide what to do at that point.

5. Try to move Pat.

6. Don’t make any significant “win now” moves and treat this season as an experimental and developmental year to try to keep a reasonably good draft pick for next year in a strong draft.

7. After making that pick, put the pedal to the metal immediately and get as good as you can as fast as you can (which would be a mistake unless we clearly see some contending type talent emerging quickly).

Reading the tea leaves, this appears to be the basic plan for now.

Which I believe will turn into the Bulls playing .500 ball and a big trade at the deadline for a playoff push.

Absolutely could happen given AK’s preferences. I just don’t think that’s the plan when I look at the whole picture.

But plans change. And we all know the more the Bulls win - no matter how meaningless those wins are to actually being a contender - the faster AK will move to bring in guys “who can contribute right away.”

[GoBlue72391]

As Bulls fans we all understand the sometimes-frustrating financial restrictions we have to deal with. But I do believe you are overstating some things.

Paxson, I think 3 different times, blew up the team lost-dynasty to get worse and he wanted to do it a 4th time after the Rose injury but was reportedly shot down by Gar and Michael.

Moreover, AK has now in two different seasons publicly stated he had the “green light” to completely blow it up and rebuild, but didn’t want to.

The Bulls have an established record of being willing to get bad to get good. Just not under AK.

Yeah but the thing is, we were still at or near the top in attendance and merchandise sales even during those blow ups. As long as we're still highly profitable, the people at the top don't care what's happening with the on-court product. And that's where the problem lies.

People say this all the time. I don't think it's true in the way people say it, but I agree the Bulls want to be profitable and put financial constraints on the team that can hinder progress. I also think they're just old-fashioned. Where I don't agree - I just don't think it's true Michael Reinsdorf is actually ambivalent about winning. He wants to win, but only at a certain price, and is never going to have the Bulls be a state-of-the-art organization.

I believe the only time we saw a notable decrease in attendance, sales, etc. was during the end of the GarPax era with the whole ASG and fire GarPax billboard fiasco. What happened? Ownership fired the FO and brought in new people and guess what, those attendance and sales numbers are right back where they need to be.

Pax stepped down a month after COVID shut down the NBA season. The attendance numbers looked pretty much fine. The Bulls were 3rd in attendance at the point.

My point is, what happens on the court is irrelevant as long as they're making money. Winning or losing doesn't really matter that much to those in charge.

I think this overstates it, but it's true Bulls ownership won't spend like a billionaire owning a team for fun would. They are a for-profit business, first and foremost.

What? The bolded is just blatantly false.

For the 2019-20 season, the Bulls plummeted to 11th in attendance after having never been lower than 2nd over the previous decade. They were 1st from 2010-11 all the way up to 2018-19 where they barely dropped to 2nd. Then in 2019-20 they plummeted to 11th. That's a ton of profit lost and a new FO was brought in, and since then we've been in first place outside of AKME's first year where we improved from 11th to 7th during that weird COVID year with limited crowds.

And I'm going off average attendance per game, because during those two COVID seasons some teams had played more home games than others, so naturally their overall total attendance would be higher.

I only went back to 2010. I could go back further but I'm too lazy ATM.