With nothing left to play for except getting over .500 for the year, the priorities for the final few days of the season. Ahead of Monday's road game with the New Orleans Pelicans, Rose confirmed he would sit the last two games. Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson and E'Twaun Moore are also done for the year. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler will not only continue to play, but likely forgo offseason knee surgery in hopes of making Team USA for the Olympics.
This whole thing is a culmination of Gar Forman and John Paxson trying to reshape the organization how they see fit and coincidentally, doing so with every key member of last year's conference semifinal team except the head coach. Obviously, it hasn't worked. Even worse is the intervention they initiated off two offseasons ago when they supposedly told players it was okay to tune out Tom Thibodeau. From there, it was only a matter of time before they could bring aboard Fred Hoiberg to put into action a free-flowing offensive strategy that no one has adjusted to.
A team that was going to battle for a championship is now looking at the draft lottery instead. Would that have been the case with Thibodeau still in charge? Probably not, at least with this group. Hoiberg had little chance of succeeding with a team so used to Thibodeau's strategy and we won't know if he's a real NBA coach until he gets a roster that fits what he's going for.
What that means is reshaping a roster far beyond its championship window. Pau Gasol, whom the Bulls felt Sacramento wasn't offering enough for at the trade deadline, is almost certain to walk this summer. More drastic measures would be dealing Rose or Butler, which would be refreshing to people sick of all the respective dramas they create, but it wouldn't be surprising to see them stay where they are. Most other players should be fair game as well in an attempt to get as much of the stench of this season as far away as possible.
Since Jerry Reinsdorf is regrettably unlikely to fire either half of GarPax, they're the ones responsible for making these changes, which is scary. You can be almost certain they'll blame everything on injuries such as Joakim Noah's, which created a leadership void even though his skills have diminished over the last two years. It's the easiest way for them to justify how things went so wrong this year and they can then say a healthier team will prove next year that their organizational philosophy works. So if you're expecting them to say the way they do things will be different, prepare to be disappointed.
Staying the course is ignoring the problem of a team that's had chemistry issues from day one. We've seen no indication that anyone enjoys playing together and that can't happen if you're trying to win. The dysfunction present is painfully clear because we've seen nothing that proves these players are even trying to have fun. Rose and Butler talk about working together like it's a remedial work task.
Somehow, these Bulls went 7-1 against Cleveland and Toronto. It didn't matter because it was offset by all the losses to sub-.500 teams. That particular problem had been plaguing the Bulls for a year or two beforehand, but only now has it come back to bite them. Whatever philosophical changes we see, if any, have to emphasize that every NBA player is here for a reason and they can play well enough to win every night.
Let this be a big lesson to any organization that tries to do things differently without making all the necessary personnel changes to make those work. If you're going to change the coach, you have to change some of the players and emphasize a culture that won't stand for anyone who refuses to adapt. When you barely change any of your ship's crew while changing its captain, disaster can strike and that's exactly what's happened here.
As it currently stands, the Bulls would likely get the 14th pick in the draft, but could be bumped to 13th or 12th. Either way, that's not a very a good sign a highly touted rookie will be in Chicago next year. This is why the basketball hell label is liberally applied to the franchise. Some long days could be ahead.
I won't be posting after the Pelicans game, but will recap Wednesday's finale with the Philadelphia 76ers. Soon after, I'll have my end-of-season post, which will be far less kind than in years past. I really wish I didn't have to do this in April. Then again, I don't feel like pretending they would have had any shot against Cleveland in the first round either.
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