This past NBA season saw the Chicago Bulls finish with a record of 42-40. But in spite of the Bulls possessing a winning record, they failed to qualify for the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 2008. The past few years have seen the Bulls as one of the upper echelon teams in the Eastern Conference, but they have been unable to reach the NBA Finals as injuries and LeBron James have done them in. Now the Bulls have to answer several questions over the summer within their organization with one of them being whether or not is it time for them to start over.
The problems for the Bulls began last spring when Tom Thibodeau was fired as their head coach. Thibodeau had been the head coach of the Bulls since 2010, and he took Chicago to the postseason in each of the six seasons that he was with the team. But Thibodeau and Bulls general manager Gar Forman had a strained relationship at best which reached a breaking point last spring.
Fred Hoiberg
Forman would maintain his position with the Bulls, and he would hire Fred Hoiberg to replace Thibodeau. This past NBA season wasn’t an easy one in Chicago as Hoiberg was attempting to implement his system which concentrated on opening up the Bulls offense as opposed to Thibodeau’s style that focused more on defense. The end result was attempting to put a square peg into a round hole which resulted in the Bulls missing the playoffs.
Point guard Derrick Rose was the first overall pick of the NBA Draft by the Bulls in 2008 and he has been a solid player which included him being named as the league’s MVP in 2011. But Rose suffered a torn ACL to start the 2012 NBA Playoffs, and that along with several knee injuries since then have taken away from his effectiveness. This past season saw Rose appear in 66 games for the Bulls as he averaged 16.4 points and 4.7 assists. However next year will mark the final year of Rose’s contract with the Bulls, and even at the age of 27, you have to wonder if the team is ready to move on from him?
Like Rose, center Joakim Noah has been a staple of Bulls basketball in recent years. Noah was the Bulls first-round pick in 2007, and he has been the heart and soul of the team since then. Noah was the embodiment of the Bulls under Thibodeau as he was a defensive presence which was highlighted by him being named as the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2014. However injuries have begun to take their toll on Noah as he has missed 68 games over the last two years. Noah is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and as the team has had a change in philosophy, I doubt that he will continue to call the Windy City home. And along with Noah, center Pau Gasol will more than likely opt-out of his contract as he has been a frustrated player in Chicago.
Jimmy Butler
However as Rose’s star he begun to fade in Chicago and the Bulls are no longer one of the better defensive teams in the NBA, the stock of small forward Jimmy Butler has taken off as he has become the new face of the franchise. Butler was a diamond in the rough as he wasn’t selected until 30th overall in 2011. Butler’s numbers have increased in each of his five NBA seasons and he is turning into one of the better two-way players in the game. Butler made the NBA’s All-Star team in each of the last two years, and it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that he could one day be the MVP of the league.
But with the Bulls currently as the crossroads, they have to make a decision as far as completely starting over, or building around Butler. If the Bulls wanted to trade Butler, a player with his caliber could command a ton in return to Chicago if the team were willing to part with him. However being that the Bulls became such a down trodden franchise after the Michael Jordan era team was dismantled in 1998, I don’t see the team willing to start over from scratch like that again which means that they must find the right players to put around Butler. Aside from Butler, the Bulls do have quality players on their roster in small forward Doug McDermott, power forward Nikola Mirotic, and reserve forward Taj Gibson. The Bulls do have the 14th overall pick in the NBA Draft this month while they also have free agency. This year’s draft is a deep one and there is a good possibility that the Bulls could find themselves an impact player early on; especially a point guard which will be important as the team already has $74 million committed to salaries for next season.
Gar Forman
Forman found his man, but the Bulls spent the entire 2015-2016 NBA season searching for their identity under Hoiberg which they still haven’t found. And this will be an important summer for the Bulls as the last thing that they can afford to do is revert back to being an afterthought after all of the hard work by Thibodeau which once again made them a contender.
Source: Basketball-reference.com
Leave A Comment