OT: Cowley Accuses Chicago Tribune of Being Puppet for Bulls Organization

[TheStig]

Eh everyone has a moment but I think he's been predominately a company man.

I get that, and the covering for the tie thing on VDN definitely is shades of that. As I said, he's never going to blast the org, but I don't think he views that as his job, and neither do I. He's a reporter, not an editorialist. Typically his job is not to blast the org.

You brought up an interesting point about Cowley. I guess we'll see where he goes with the new FO. Certainly they can't be the devil on day 1 lol. I was very annoyed with GarPax and the Reinsdorf but the new AK/Eversly FO presents a lot of hope and seems to be off to a good start. Even though Billy is probably not my #1. I think they get the chance to institute their system, their team, their picks and then you can evaluate them.

He's already started trashing them:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/bulls/2020/6/19/21296928/bulls-arturas-karnisovas-jim-boylen-coaching-decision

But maybe I'm being hard on Cowley, I read some of his other articles that are recent just for the heck of it, and they're not too damning or negative.

Maybe he is a little more moderate than I remember but he's still much more company man than reporter to me.

Well that was the last vestige of the GarPax Regime! And most fans and players wanted him gone. Again too early to tell.

[dougthonus]

Well that was the last vestige of the GarPax Regime! And most fans and players wanted him gone. Again too early to tell.

That's just the thing, fans want Boylen gone, so he writes an article channeling fan anger, creating a false sense of urgency that doesn't exist, and throws the FO under the bus for not agreeing with his sense of urgency (even though its irrelevant and illogical).

Well a couple months later, it seems pretty stupid to call Karnisovas indecisive, and the timing of when they fired him proved to be completely irrelevant (which was obvious back then too), and the Bulls got one of the guys that wasn't available at the time this article was written (in quite decisive fashion).

[TheStig]

Well that was the last vestige of the GarPax Regime! And most fans and players wanted him gone. Again too early to tell.

That's just the thing, fans want Boylen gone, so he writes an article channeling fan anger, creating a false sense of urgency that doesn't exist, and appealing to fan angst and throws the new FO under the bus.

Well a couple months later, it seems pretty stupid to call Karnisovas indecisive, and the timing of when they fired him proved to be completely irrelevant (and was clearly obviously irrelevant at the time this hit piece was written).

Fans, players, probably the coaching staff, reporters, little children in their nightmares and probably his wife want Boylan gone.

I remember complaining about it too here lol. That being said, I agree, it didn't deserve a column. But we'll see how it goes. It's still early. But if he starts blasting the new FO nonstop, I'll be moving to your side of things. These guys deserve a chance to get things going.

[Ice Man]

Well a couple months later, it seems pretty stupid to call Karnisovas indecisive, and the timing of when they fired him proved to be completely irrelevant (which was obvious back then too), and the Bulls got one of the guys that wasn't available at the time this article was written (in quite decisive fashion).

Sometimes Cowley attacks targets that deserve the criticism, sometimes not. The distinction doesn't matter to him. That's what makes him a troll.

[Michael Jackson]

Well that was the last vestige of the GarPax Regime! And most fans and players wanted him gone. Again too early to tell.

That's just the thing, fans want Boylen gone, so he writes an article channeling fan anger, creating a false sense of urgency that doesn't exist, and appealing to fan angst and throws the new FO under the bus.

Well a couple months later, it seems pretty stupid to call Karnisovas indecisive, and the timing of when they fired him proved to be completely irrelevant (and was clearly obviously irrelevant at the time this hit piece was written).

Fans, players, probably the coaching staff, reporters, little children in their nightmares and probably his wife want Boylan gone.

I remember complaining about it too here lol. That being said, I agree, it didn't deserve a column. But we'll see how it goes. It's still early. But if he starts blasting the new FO nonstop, I'll be moving to your side of things. These guys deserve a chance to get things going.

Cowley is a clickbait whore but well let’s be honest that is how he makes his money. He had an easy target in Jerry and GarPax and he made the most of it. I can’t blame him one bit, but I don’t consider him a good journalist. He is good at selling though for sure.

KC on the other hand definitely plays the other side. While he will jab at the Org he generally errs on the side of keeping them happy so that he has access. Once again part of his job. The game that either of these two play isn’t about pure journalism but is about paychecks and they both have a means to an end pretty much on opposite sides for all intents and purposes. I actually think if the journalist game wasn’t so dirty these days both would be pretty good at their jobs. I just thank my lucky stars Skip Bayless isn’t still writing for the trib. Replacing Linciome with him broke my heart (not that Bernie wasn’t flawed but he did that smarmy thing so much better)

[kingkirk]

And Cowley is a puppet with his sources. Only difference is his are outside of the organisation and typically those who have left the team on bad terms.

[Red8911]

Idk if the tribune is a puppet to the bulls or not but a lot of fans and writers were wrong about that jimmy trade. From what I remember like 85 % of real gm posters were on board with that move and wanted jimmy gone with a rebuild. You guys know who you are. KC had that same opinion and he also was wrong.

[jnrjr79]

Ja Morant received 99 out of 100 votes for Rookie of the Year. The other vote was Joe Cowley's.

I don't care if he's right about KC, Cowley is a clueless idiot who shouldn't be allowed to be in the position he's in. Him complaining about others is straight up hilarious stuff.

Sadly, Cowley is right about KC, and Little Nathan is right about Cowley. Ah well, there are some very good basketball writers at the national level.

They're puppets. I don't read any trib articles. They're KC puff pieces behind some stupid paywall. There was a time when I was growing up that it used to be a highlight to read. But now KC and the rest love the org as it all falls apart for their access and Sam Smith (who wrote cutting books) is employed by them.

I always found it bizarre to complain about KC parroting the FO's stance, because he was reporting what the FO said. When did reporting become more about spouting opinion than just delivering information?

KC was closer to true reporting than what Cowley and most sportswriters like SAS and Bayless do. KC's routine at the Trib was pretty simple, he asked Foreman or Paxson directly about X, and reported what they said. It's up to the reader to understand the source here is going to be the org itself.

I mean they are. KC Johnson is puppet master numero uno. He never writes anything controversial to upset his bosses. He;'s now on the TV side so even more org friendly. He's a tool.

But that is not the complaint about KC, or what KC did. Look at the initial tweet. That was, as you write, "spouting opinion," rather than delivering information. KC's tweet was an underhanded slap at Butler as being inadequate to lead a good team, in the guise of being an observed fact.

If KC and the tribune are puppets of the Bulls does that make Cowley Jimmy's puppet? Some of you may not remember but Cowley covered the Whitesox part of the way through Ozzie Guillen's tenor as manager. When Ozzie was saying absolutely idiotic things and taking shots at his boss Kenny Williams publicly who was there to defend it? Good old Joe, he wrote column after column making Ozzie the martyred and aggrieved party. So Joe pot meet kettle.

So basically every reply in this thread is discussing the Cowley tweets as though they are referencing KC Johnson, when in fact they are referencing David Haugh, as noted by Homo in the first post.

Cowley may hold this view about KC as well, but he was slamming Haugh for publishing a column saying trading Jimmy was the right move. And that makes sense because Haugh is a columnist and not a reporter, so he'd be more likely than KC to declare a trade the right thing to do. I doubt KC would have weighed in with a judgment like that in the immediate aftermath of the Butler trade.

Notably, neither guy still writes for the Trib, which is increasingly an empty shell of a newspaper.

[Axl Rose]

Weird example to use as that wasn't necessarily a Bulls line - allot of fans felt the same way. And a rebuild did make sense at the time as the team was dead in the water. Our young "talent" was Bobby Portis, Jerian Grant, Paul Zipser, and Cristiano Felício.

If we had guys like Herro or Bam perceptions may have been different.

[Jcool0]

Idk if the tribune is a puppet to the bulls or not but a lot of fans and writers were wrong about that jimmy trade. From what I remember like 85 % of real gm posters were on board with that move and wanted jimmy gone with a rebuild. You guys know who you are. KC had that same opinion and he also was wrong.

So what is more likely Jimmy Butler is actually one of the top 5 players in the league. He is almost a LeBron level talent that can single handedly lead a team to the finals. Or Jimmy Butler got kind of lucky (nothing wrong with that btw a win is a win) and was able to make a run with a really good Heat team in conditions that will probably never happen again. Most likely in a normal NBA season Miami is out in round two which is what Gar/Pax thought was his ceiling at the time of the trade. Butler is a top 10-12 player in this league. Should the Bulls have gotten rid of him? IDK. But they would of had to probably give him a supermax contract and with how he plays & being over 30 you don't know how many elite seasons he has left. So congrats to him for making the finals, but that doesnt mean people were wrong for thinking the Bulls needed to rebuild.

[the ultimates]

Ja Morant received 99 out of 100 votes for Rookie of the Year. The other vote was Joe Cowley's.

I don't care if he's right about KC, Cowley is a clueless idiot who shouldn't be allowed to be in the position he's in. Him complaining about others is straight up hilarious stuff.

Sadly, Cowley is right about KC, and Little Nathan is right about Cowley. Ah well, there are some very good basketball writers at the national level.

They're puppets. I don't read any trib articles. They're KC puff pieces behind some stupid paywall. There was a time when I was growing up that it used to be a highlight to read. But now KC and the rest love the org as it all falls apart for their access and Sam Smith (who wrote cutting books) is employed by them.

I always found it bizarre to complain about KC parroting the FO's stance, because he was reporting what the FO said. When did reporting become more about spouting opinion than just delivering information?

KC was closer to true reporting than what Cowley and most sportswriters like SAS and Bayless do. KC's routine at the Trib was pretty simple, he asked Foreman or Paxson directly about X, and reported what they said. It's up to the reader to understand the source here is going to be the org itself.

I mean they are. KC Johnson is puppet master numero uno. He never writes anything controversial to upset his bosses. He;'s now on the TV side so even more org friendly. He's a tool.

But that is not the complaint about KC, or what KC did. Look at the initial tweet. That was, as you write, "spouting opinion," rather than delivering information. KC's tweet was an underhanded slap at Butler as being inadequate to lead a good team, in the guise of being an observed fact.

If KC and the tribune are puppets of the Bulls does that make Cowley Jimmy's puppet? Some of you may not remember but Cowley covered the Whitesox part of the way through Ozzie Guillen's tenor as manager. When Ozzie was saying absolutely idiotic things and taking shots at his boss Kenny Williams publicly who was there to defend it? Good old Joe, he wrote column after column making Ozzie the martyred and aggrieved party. So Joe pot meet kettle.

So basically every reply in this thread is discussing the Cowley tweets as though they are referencing KC Johnson, when in fact they are referencing David Haugh, as noted by Homo in the first post.

Cowley may hold this view about KC as well, but he was slamming Haugh for publishing a column saying trading Jimmy was the right move. And that makes sense because Haugh is a columnist and not a reporter, so he'd be more likely than KC to declare a trade the right thing to do. I doubt KC would have weighed in with a judgment like that in the immediate aftermath of the Butler trade.

Notably, neither guy still writes for the Trib, which is increasingly an empty shell of a newspaper.

Cowley long before this has accused some Bulls beat writers of parroting the Bulls narrative. He was talking about Haugh and the article he wrote about Jimmy in this case but it continues a theme Cowley has had with the Bull and Whitesox. Although Joe was a beat reporter many of his articles have the bent of a columnist. A poster mentioned the article about Dunn and how old quotes were clearly misused and the article about how indecisive the Bulls were about Boylen.

[GimmeDat]

Reading between the lines of KC's obvious puppet job is 1000% my informative than Cowley's rubbish he calls journalism.

[exospheer]

Ja Morant received 99 out of 100 votes for Rookie of the Year. The other vote was Joe Cowley's.

I don't care if he's right about KC, Cowley is a clueless idiot who shouldn't be allowed to be in the position he's in. Him complaining about others is straight up hilarious stuff.

wait are you serious that crowley was the one that didn't vote for Ja? What a moron.

[meekrab]

Look at Cowley's last two weeks of puff pieces on the Bulls, someone's lined up a new job as AK's puppet.

[rtblues]

Time for Joe to shuffle off to some other city. His ish is worn out in Chicago...

[transplant]

I think Doug made the comparison of Cowley to Skip Bayless. On point. Both are trolls...Bayless just makes a lot more money doing it. Both were at one time decent writers. Both are playing to their audiences, and make no mistake they have audiences. They cater to those who live their lives in a perpetual state of being pissed off. I have little use for either of them.

[dougthonus]

I always found it bizarre to complain about KC parroting the FO's stance, because he was reporting what the FO said. When did reporting become more about spouting opinion than just delivering information?

KC was closer to true reporting than what Cowley and most sportswriters like SAS and Bayless do. KC's routine at the Trib was pretty simple, he asked Foreman or Paxson directly about X, and reported what they said. It's up to the reader to understand the source here is going to be the org itself.

The danger with Cowley's just speculation and dirt digging is inaccuracy. I mean how accurate was all of this from Cowley:

But the Sun-Times learned this week that even if Karnisovas didn’t like what he would have seen from Boylen, he likely would have been handcuffed from making a change.

According to several sources, there is growing thought that financial concerns the Reinsdorfs have about the 2020-21 season will keep Boylen and most of his staff on the Bulls’ bench.

It seems the ‘‘players first’’ motto Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley were touting several months ago will be pushed aside by money. That would be a small slap to several Bulls players and a large slap to a vocal Bulls fan base.

I liked KC because what he reported was directly from the org, but obviously that's a source biased toward itself.
I still read what Joe says because he reports things that he believes the org doesn't want made public, but since it's second hand who knows it if it's accurate or not. So it has to be taken with skepticism.

I don't think Cowley even has sources for stuff like the above. I think he just made it up because it matches some history and figures he has a good chance to be right and will get a lot of clicks either way.

[Michael Jackson]

I think Doug made the comparison of Cowley to Skip Bayless. On point. Both are trolls...Bayless just makes a lot more money doing it. Both were at one time decent writers. Both are playing to their audiences, and make no mistake they have audiences. They cater to those who live their lives in a perpetual state of being pissed off. I have little use for either of them.

When was Bayless a good writer? His first article about walker drive pissed me off and I never liked him. He was trying to fill Bernie’s shoes and he always came off flat to me. I forget his suggested pick for the year the Bulls chose Curry. He suggested something even more silly than Curry. He has never had good thoughts. His brother though is way yummier.

[ThreeMileAllan]

Cowley is the Sean Hannity of Bulls coverage

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[RedBulls23]

This feels like he may have a personal vendetta against David Haugh. Weird to only single him out when others also covered the team for the Tribune.