David Kaplan: There will be meaningful change after this season

[kulaz3000]

I sure hope so. This team is a dumpster fire right now, nothing enjoyable about this team, no players outside of WCJ and Gafford are fun to root for. I want a complete re-haul of a rebuild with another front office running things.


Also, please don't tease me with the Masai Ujiri possibility, no way that happens but my god, if it did.....Toronto under Masai is a talent developing machine, had Kawhi stayed they would repeat as champions Imo.

There is little to no chance we get Masai, it would take a mamoth record breaking deal for a GM for us to get him and knowing Jerry, that is not going to happen. We are likely to go the route of getting an unknown GM, in hopes that the new blood brings a refreshing approach and mindset to the Bulls.

[Repeat 3-peat]

I sure hope so. This team is a dumpster fire right now, nothing enjoyable about this team, no players outside of WCJ and Gafford are fun to root for. I want a complete re-haul of a rebuild with another front office running things.


Also, please don't tease me with the Masai Ujiri possibility, no way that happens but my god, if it did.....Toronto under Masai is a talent developing machine, had Kawhi stayed they would repeat as champions Imo.

There is little to no chance we get Masai, it would take a mamoth record breaking deal for a GM for us to get him and knowing Jerry, that is not going to happen. We are likely to go the route of getting an unknown GM, in hopes that the new blood brings a refreshing approach and mindset to the Bulls.

Yep, which is disappointing. But I'll just be happy knowing GarPax is gone.

[aramada]

I’m ready for Obama

[Daxel]

I believe it when I see it.
If is true why wait until the end of the season ? So the new guy gets the draft duty ? I don't get why wait.
If this is true I wonder if Paxson will fire Boylen just to try to save his own ass.

[The Senator]

I wish I could believe this, outright, but hope isn't something I have deep reserves of, especially pertaining to the Bulls. Not saying it's impossible, or that Kaplan isn't a trustworthy individual, but I'll believe it when I see it when it comes to Paxson.

[Dominator83]

Almost every GM out there has to operate within certain boundaries their owner has laid out. Reinsdorf's not unique in that way. A different guard dog is necessary because the team building lacks creativity and innovation. Unless Reinsdorf is preventing them from making trades/pursuing stars, then he's not the only problem.

The Bulls operate like a mid market team. Knowing that they could be one of the highest spenders out there is disappointing. I will stick forever with my mantra that the Bulls are cheap.

With that said, JR gives his FO a tremendous amount of leeway. He isn't Jerry Jones micromanaging the team. He didn't force the Bulls to hire Hoiberg, Boylen, etc. He didn't demand that they sign Thad Young. Draft Doug Mcdermott. The bad decisions of the past 8 years or so are on Gar and/or Paxson.

Just look at the draft. Here is a team of players that was on the board for Chicago from 2012 to 2017:
PG Malcolm Brogdon
SG Donovan Mitchell
SF Kyle Anderson
PF Draymond Green / Larry Nance
C Jokic / Gobert

Its not realistic to expect a FO to hit on 100% of their picks but they are getting close to hitting on 0% of their picks since Butler/Mirotic. That's not on Reinsdorf.

To add on to that, here's anoter roster that we easily could have built that probably would have made us contenders in the East:

C. J.Collins/Lopez/
PF.Mirotic/Gibson/Portis
SF.Butler/McDermott/Valentine
SG.Moore/Holiday
PG.Dinwiddie/Rondo/Archi

It wasn't the ability to spend that prevented us from having this roster.

To add, as i stated in a different thread: For a team thats cheap, Gar/pax sure have wasted an awful lot of J.R.'s money over the years. $60 million for Ben Wallace. $75 million for Carlos Boozer. 2017-18 was on the hook for a combined $20 million for Wade and Rondo to play for somewhere else. $32 million for Felecio 2 minutes into free agency. Bailing out Washington on Otto Porters insane contract, and even GAVE THEM a 2nd round pick for the honor of doing so. Have paid out more than their share to fired coaches to sit at home. This past summer wasted money on Sato and Thad, guys that don't move the needle at all and probably wouldn't fetch anything in a trade either.

In the case of Sato, IIRC they also gave Washington an additional 2nd round pick in that one too. Long gone are the days when they used to find guys like Nate, Augustin, Bellinelli, off the scrap heap for minimum wage. All of the above were better than Sato here.

When a team is cheap, it can still survive but very difficult. But when your both cheap, AND inefficient in spending, its a deadly combo. Pau gasol for $8 million a year is probably the only real "bang for your buck" free agent signing i recall in their tenure besides the minimum wage guys. Maybe Korver too?

[kingkirk]

Kapman’s likely source is either Michael Reinsdorf or Doug Collins. Neither like Gar. Gar will be demoted. That will be the big move. Maybe Paxson resigns. No one will be fired.

[League Circles]

Coach K as president of basketball ops and head coach for 15 million per year?

[Dresden]

Just saying, it's hard to think of an org that's done a worst job with 3 tank drafts (17-19) and multiple all-stars (14-16).

They've just made an impressive list of players who are out (or soon to be out) of the league the past few years.

The Knicks. The Kings. The Hawks. Charlotte. Orlando. The Suns. Washington. Minnesota. Cleveland since Lebron left. Detroit. BRK.

I'm not saying changing the Bulls front office is a bad move. It's more than time to get some fresh blood and fresh ideas in there. But it's also hard to say they are the worst FO in the league, when there are so many other franchises going nowhere.

[Jcool0]

Coach K as president of basketball ops and head coach for 15 million per year?

He makes more then that at Duke.

[Dresden]

The Bulls operate like a mid market team. Knowing that they could be one of the highest spenders out there is disappointing. I will stick forever with my mantra that the Bulls are cheap.

With that said, JR gives his FO a tremendous amount of leeway. He isn't Jerry Jones micromanaging the team. He didn't force the Bulls to hire Hoiberg, Boylen, etc. He didn't demand that they sign Thad Young. Draft Doug Mcdermott. The bad decisions of the past 8 years or so are on Gar and/or Paxson.

Just look at the draft. Here is a team of players that was on the board for Chicago from 2012 to 2017:
PG Malcolm Brogdon
SG Donovan Mitchell
SF Kyle Anderson
PF Draymond Green / Larry Nance
C Jokic / Gobert

Its not realistic to expect a FO to hit on 100% of their picks but they are getting close to hitting on 0% of their picks since Butler/Mirotic. That's not on Reinsdorf.

To add on to that, here's anoter roster that we easily could have built that probably would have made us contenders in the East:

C. J.Collins/Lopez/
PF.Mirotic/Gibson/Portis
SF.Butler/McDermott/Valentine
SG.Moore/Holiday
PG.Dinwiddie/Rondo/Archi

It wasn't the ability to spend that prevented us from having this roster.

To add, as i stated in a different thread: For a team thats cheap, Gar/pax sure have wasted an awful lot of J.R.'s money over the years. $60 million for Ben Wallace. $75 million for Carlos Boozer. 2017-18 was on the hook for a combined $20 million for Wade and Rondo to play for somewhere else. $32 million for Felecio 2 minutes into free agency. Bailing out Washington on Otto Porters insane contract, and even GAVE THEM a 2nd round pick for the honor of doing so. Have paid out more than their share to fired coaches to sit at home. This past summer wasted money on Sato and Thad, guys that don't move the needle at all and probably wouldn't fetch anything in a trade either.

In the case of Sato, IIRC they also gave Washington an additional 2nd round pick in that one too. Long gone are the days when they used to find guys like Nate, Augustin, Bellinelli, off the scrap heap for minimum wage. All of the above were better than Sato here.

When a team is cheap, it can still survive but very difficult. But when your both cheap, AND inefficient in spending, its a deadly combo. Pau gasol for $8 million a year is probably the only real "bang for your buck" free agent signing i recall in their tenure besides the minimum wage guys. Maybe Korver too?

None of those moves you mentioned were really horrific, compare to some of the signings we see today (a max contract for Tobias Harris, Blake Griffin being owed 75 mil over the next 2 years and on and on). Boozer was a useful player, Ben Wallace deal we were able to get out from under, Felicio is a terrible deal but it's not that much money. And Otto Porter's money would not be bad at all if he can get healthy and play the way he was playing last year. This board was almost unanimous in it's praise for that deal, until this season. The NBA is a high stakes game and I'd say the Bulls have gambled a lot less than most other teams, and consequently have been burned much less as well.

[TheFinishSniper]

Ill believe it when I see it. And I dont expect much. This front office needs to be burned to the ground and everyone on top fired completely. Not moved in different roles, no reassignements, no internal hirings and promotings. Completely burn it down. And build a new one with new fresh faces, hired outside of this organization and hired from good organizations.

Otherwise cancer out of this management and front office will continue. And it will take no less. That's where we are. In ideal world we would get new owner too but we are not that lucky.

In reality we will get Doug Collins promoted to GM, Gar fired or moved to scouting, Pax will be officially removed from his role, but he will stay in organization as advisor and right hand to Doug for several years because of lack of his experience. And we will continue write posts on this board in misery as we are now with no hope.

That will be our change...

[Moon]

Unless you clear all the stink including Michael Reinsdorf, Pax, Gar, and Boylen its the same stuff a different day. Adam Silver give us a real franchise in Chicago. Trying to pass a G League team as a professional franchise is killing a fan base.

[Payt10]

Kapman’s likely source is either Michael Reinsdorf or Doug Collins. Neither like Gar. Gar will be demoted. That will be the big move. Maybe Paxson resigns. No one will be fired.

I thought Michael was the one that really liked Gar?

[drosereturn]

To add on to that, here's anoter roster that we easily could have built that probably would have made us contenders in the East:

C. J.Collins/Lopez/
PF.Mirotic/Gibson/Portis
SF.Butler/McDermott/Valentine
SG.Moore/Holiday
PG.Dinwiddie/Rondo/Archi

It wasn't the ability to spend that prevented us from having this roster.

To add, as i stated in a different thread: For a team thats cheap, Gar/pax sure have wasted an awful lot of J.R.'s money over the years. $60 million for Ben Wallace. $75 million for Carlos Boozer. 2017-18 was on the hook for a combined $20 million for Wade and Rondo to play for somewhere else. $32 million for Felecio 2 minutes into free agency. Bailing out Washington on Otto Porters insane contract, and even GAVE THEM a 2nd round pick for the honor of doing so. Have paid out more than their share to fired coaches to sit at home. This past summer wasted money on Sato and Thad, guys that don't move the needle at all and probably wouldn't fetch anything in a trade either.

In the case of Sato, IIRC they also gave Washington an additional 2nd round pick in that one too. Long gone are the days when they used to find guys like Nate, Augustin, Bellinelli, off the scrap heap for minimum wage. All of the above were better than Sato here.

When a team is cheap, it can still survive but very difficult. But when your both cheap, AND inefficient in spending, its a deadly combo. Pau gasol for $8 million a year is probably the only real "bang for your buck" free agent signing i recall in their tenure besides the minimum wage guys. Maybe Korver too?

None of those moves you mentioned were really horrific, compare to some of the signings we see today (a max contract for Tobias Harris, Blake Griffin being owed 75 mil over the next 2 years and on and on). Boozer was a useful player, Ben Wallace deal we were able to get out from under, Felicio is a terrible deal but it's not that much money. And Otto Porter's money would not be bad at all if he can get healthy and play the way he was playing last year. This board was almost unanimous in it's praise for that deal, until this season. The NBA is a high stakes game and I'd say the Bulls have gambled a lot less than most other teams, and consequently have been burned much less as well.

No Boozer was a terrible as well as Felicio's deal since these guys never belonged in the NBA in the first place.
He was already past his prime after getting boosted by Deron Williams in Utah.
When the Bulls signed Boozer, I already predicted the potential championship was already over and didnt even look like a consolation prize at all. It was more of a desperation from a garbage franchise that begged crappy players to take their money to save face.
They had to sign someone like Pau that year after failing to acquire Bosh but it was over when they got him and Keith freaking Bogans.

[CBS7]

The team needs a full reboot again and they are starting with virtually no assets. It might take a new GM a looooooooong time to fix this.

All of our picks, no bad long term contracts, and the youngest team in the league.
Not sure its as bad as you say. Could be better, sure, but also could be a lot worse. The reason we have a bleak outlook is our management/ownership/coaching, less so the players.

yea but ask knicks fans: players come and go, but **** management makes the players irrelevant.

Short of lucking into a Derrick Rose level impact draft pick I don't see how GarPax leads the Bulls to anything but mediocrity at best.

I'm not disagreeing with that, I'm disagreeing that it would take a long time for a new (good) GM/Management to make us relevant again. At worst if we get a new GM we are at square zero, with no bad long term contracts, all of our future picks, and an super young team.

[Hold That]

If true there’s no reason Masai shouldn’t be #1 on our list. Bulls are a global brand and would be a nice backing for Masai programs in Africa. And this franchise doesn’t put the boom or bust pressure on you like the knicks.

But it all depends on what Reinsdorf if willing to spend on someone he think is capable of a quick turn around. Reinsdorf is old, his next hire definitely has to be someone he believes can change things quickly.

[johnnyvann840]

Kapman’s likely source is either Michael Reinsdorf or Doug Collins. Neither like Gar. Gar will be demoted. That will be the big move. Maybe Paxson resigns. No one will be fired.

I know Doug Collins isn't a big Gar fan, but MR? I thought they were thick as thieves. I know their wives are best friends and I thought Michael and Gar were tight. Where did you hear that MR doesn't like Gar?

[GetBuLLish]

If true, why wait? Someone explain to me the benefits of waiting until the end of the year?

I'd think letting the new GM (or whatever the leader is) see now things are running and evaluating the current regime the rest of the year would be valuable. There are likely good people employed right now. Let the new executive come in and evaluate the culture, employees and players BEFORE the offseason.

I don't think there are any benefits. The Reinsdorfs really like Gar and Pax. Both personally and as far as how they manage the team to squeeze out dollars while deflecting fan interest towards the 2047 plan. They are likely going to give it until the end of the year to see if things turn around.

You didn't address BigUps' points, which are valid. There are certainly benefits to a new regime taking over now versus waiting until the summer. Getting them now gives them more time to evaluate, up close, the team personnel, the coaching, and the organization as a whole. And it's also possible that by waiting until summer we may lose out on one of the better GM prospects.

There's actually no benefit to waiting until the summer, except in the event that the primary target is not available until then.

[drosereturn]

If true there’s no reason Masai shouldn’t be #1 on our list. Bulls are a global brand and would be a nice backing for Masai programs in Africa. And this franchise doesn’t put the boom or bust pressure on you like the knicks.

But it all depends on what Reinsdorf if willing to spend on someone he think is capable of a quick turn around. Reinsdorf is old, his next hire definitely has to be someone he believes can change things quickly.

Why on earth would Masai even consider the Bulls when they arent offering him free reign and ownership?
Same reason why he wont touch the Knicks since these teams dont even want to go beyond the lux tax.
Its hard to beat out teams that spend 20mil+ on average regardless of how creative you are within the financial constraint.

If Bulls want to be relevant Mike needs to clean house and stop interfering what the FO/mgt is doing.
All he needs to do is financial support and just collect his paycheck at the end of the year.