The Chicago Bulls are one of the worst-run organizations in professional sports
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I can’t even believe I’m saying this, but the Chicago Bulls have been a dumpster fire of an organization for the past 25 years. And I’m a die-hard Chicago Bulls fan. Long gone are the days of deep playoff runs and championships. I guess we're supposed to wait for Lonzo Ball to come back from injury. More on him later. I can't help but take a trip down memory lane every so often. Who doesn't like to relive the glory years? The year was 1998, Game 6, of the NBA finals vs. the Utah Jazz.
The drive, the push, the crossover, and the shot, are ingrained into my basketball memory forever.
Man, what a time to be a fan, especially a Bulls fan. Watching the Bulls Post-Jordan has been rough, it’s been downright painful to tell you the truth. I didn’t expect much from the Bulls following the dynasty years. I knew they were in rebuild mode. It takes time to get back in contention. Back in those days, players weren’t joining forces like the superstar players of today. Front offices were mostly focused on the NBA draft and developmental league, aka D league, renamed G league in 2018. This is the NBA’s minor league organization.
I would like to start with the 2000-01 NBA season.
Let me break this down for you guys. The 2000-01 season was bad, really bad, we finished 15-67. The next season, 21-61. The year after they improved to 30-52. The 2004-05 season saw significant progression with a 47-35 record, good for 4th in the Eastern Conference.
Notable players from 2000-2005
Jamal Crawford -J-Crossover
Metta World Peace-Ron Artest
Elton Brand
Jalen Rose
Scottie Pippen (03-04)
Kirk Hinrich
Luol Deng
Ben Gordon
Tyson Chandler
At first glance, this seems like an organization moving in the right direction. They increased win totals every year, except for 2003-04, when the Bulls took a step back, finishing 23-59. But that’s the problem. They always seem to hover right around the middle of the pack. I catch myself typing “WE” because I’m such a huge fan.
Take a look :
04-05 (47-35)
05-06 (41-41)
06-07 (49-33)
07-08 (33-49)
08-09 (41-41)
09-10 (41-41)
Don’t get me wrong, the Bulls were enjoyable to watch for a few of these years. The 2004-2005 team featured Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, and Luol Deng. Excuse me for saying this, but I call them the “Try Hard Crew,” because they played their butts off. I mean, that’s what they’re supposed to do right? Yes, but we all knew, I’m sure they did too, they weren’t going anywhere. Guess what? They lost 4-2 in a first-round playoff matchup against the Washington Wizards.
The following 3 years provided much of the same. Try Hard-Lose, Try Hard-Lose.
Now the 2008-09 season was special, super special. The Chicago Bulls drafted a hometown kid named Derrick Rose with the first pick in the 2008-09 NBA Draft.
I can’t even begin to explain how good it felt to be a Bulls fan during the Derrick-Rose era. The man brought so much excitement and joy back to Chicago. He didn’t talk much, he just laid his heart and soul on the basketball court every day, every night. During his first season, he managed to win Rookie of the Year honors, while leading them to a 7th and deciding game, in the first round, against a Boston Celtics squad that eventually won the NBA championship. The guy is arguably the most athletic point guard in NBA history. I was all in on the Bulls and their future superstar until the unthinkable happened. It was game 1 of the 2012 playoffs, 1st round, Derrick Rose drove, jumped up, and landed awkwardly on his left leg, tearing his ACL. I can remember staring at the TV for about 15 minutes in disbelief. I was heartbroken. They had the best record in the Eastern Conference that year, and it all went down the drain.
I had very high hopes Derrick would return to pre-injury form. He eventually came back, and although he showed glimpses of his former self, he was never the same player. Back to reality.
The last decade of Bulls action, roughly 2013-2023, featured a mix of average teams, slightly above-average teams, and a few downright awful ones.
25 years later, the pattern remains consistently the same. In my opinion, the Bulls organization, as a whole, is horrible, including the front office, scouts, assistant coaches, etc. They’ve made numerous draft mistakes. I don’t think I have enough room to list them all. We’ve traded away some really good players too. It’s depressing to see so many guys flourish in another system. Beyond that, they’ve dug themselves into a hole.
When executive vice president of basketball operations, Arturas Karnisovas took over and decided to go all in, win-now mode, I remember thinking to myself, we finally have someone with the courage to go for it. To his credit, he tried, and we were considerably better, but they weren’t the big splashes I was hoping for. The addition of Lonzo Ball, even though I still believe something was wrong with his knee way before he actually injured it, Demar Derozan, an all-star-level talent but getting older, and Nikola Vucevic, a nice pick-and-pop guy who plays zero defense, are not players capable of carrying a franchise into championship contention. And although Zach Lavine is our so-called number-one guy, he’s not a number-one option on a championship squad. He just isn’t.
Now we’re stuck in basketball hell. A term used to describe a team lingering in the middle. No Championship, no draft picks. This past off-season, the Bulls didn’t make any upgrades worth mentioning except for Torrey Craig. Woohoo! I do believe the Bulls would be slightly better with Lonzo Ball. He’s been out the past two seasons with a knee injury, and it’s looking like his career may be over soon.
The city of Chicago is a sports town with die-hard sports fans. The United Center is consistently sold out year after year. Do you think Michael Jordan and the glory years have anything to do with that? I do. The fans have been patiently waiting. The Bulls should try to mirror some of the more successful organizations in the NBA. They learn to rebuild and contend at the same time. Chicago Bulls, you are the next man up. It’s about time to put a winning product on the floor.
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More on the way!
Don’t sleep on Torrey Craig.