At this point, the Chicago Bulls, as an organization, are really no different than a hedge fund. Both exist simply to make money for a small group of people who are already exceedingly wealthy. The Chicago Bulls are basically nothing more than a brand or marketing machine that also plays some, horribly bad, basketball on the side.
This is not anything new, and it’s not anything that will change until the fan base supporting them changes. Simply put Chicago Bulls fans, you must vote with your feet. The Bulls despite putting a listless, useless, lifeless, product on the court last season, were second in the NBA in attendance last season.
This team has been on a path to nowhere for quite some time, and there are zero signs that will change any time soon. Most of your free expert NBA picks will tell you that this is a team getting nowhere near the playoffs this April. As long as Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf keeps the GarPax employed and managing the team, this franchise will do absolutely nothing, NOTHING.
Period.
The GarPax consists of the unholy pairing of General Manager Gar Forman and Vice President John Paxson. It’s mostly the latter who needs to be canned first, as he’s the incompetent figure most responsible for this mess. He failed miserably when he had Forman’s job, yet he was able to kick himself upstairs into a bigger and better gig.
He literally failed upward, and from that moment on, the tire fire of a train wreck of a dumpster fire was inevitable. As for Forman, for years he failed to find and pick a lane for the team to go; hence they went nowhere.
The Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo acquisitions sent a signal of confusion and contentment to be complacent. Middling mediocrity was the new normal for the Chicago Bulls…until the Jimmy Butler trade. That NBA Draft night, the Bulls picked a lane- the ditch!
The team got absolutely fleeced on that trade, and thay got hustled so badly that one wonders how long it’s going to take to recover from it.
The worst part of the whole deal? GarPax suffered no repercussions for their incompetence, and thus the cycle of failure will continue.
Imagine having the same kind of job security that Gar Forman and John Paxson do? Wouldn’t that be sweet? And why do these two bumbling, in way over their heads specialists in failure get to stay in power?
Because you guys, the Chicago Bulls fans, are loyal to a fault. You keep showing up; and buying merchandise. The United Center is still crowded. Ticket prices are still sky high. Merch keeps on selling.
.@SBN_Ricky held absolutely nothing back when it came to talking about the Bulls on Sports Feed, and @paytonsun's reaction to them was priceless. See that and the entire discussion on the Bulls from Tuesday's show here: https://t.co/peuClIHhHu pic.twitter.com/rhwpyIYhjP
— @CLTVSportsFeed (@CLTVSportsFeed) November 27, 2019
So the answer is simple- just say no. Don’t reward garbage. Don’t let them continue to produce dumpster fires disguised as basketball teams, and expect you to pay premium prices for it. Don’t let the Chicago Bulls continue to act in the same way a complicated Wall Street trader financial instrument does- existing for no purpose than to further enrich 1 percenters.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.