Protest Calling for GarPax Firing Planned

Let me make clear off the bat that I'm not advocating, nor discouraging anyone from taking part in what's been planned.  This is merely to inform you that someone from the nether regions of the internet has decided enough is enough with the Bulls.  That person and the followers in support of the following idea want change, even if that means they have to make their voices heard.

On Thursday, a Reddit user with the handle graythematter proposed a mass protest calling for Jerry Reinsdorf to dismiss Gar Forman and John Paxson.  Chants of "Fire GarPax" would take place during the March 4 game against the Los Angeles Clippers set to be televised on ABC.  People responded and before long, more details and the above t-shirt design were unveiled.  As reported on the updates to this plan, a few websites have picked up on this.

On one hand, buying game tickets feeds into business, so Reinsdorf would probably just see as adding to the number of sellouts the Bulls have already had this season.  Heck, he might take this as a one-night thing that won't affect business for the rest of the season.  The flip side is a public relations nightmare for the organization on national TV if enough fans take part in this protest and they're loud enough.  The Bulls are not far removed from the 3 Alphas going to war with each other, so maybe another instance of the team making headlines for the wrong reasons will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

It's doubtful anything meaningful comes of this and some are even raising concerns about whether security will let in people wearing these shirts.  But if nobody's bringing anything already banned inside the United Center, they really shouldn't be able to tell these people they can't come in.  It would be censoring free speech.  If the President of the United States can take to Twitter to bash anybody who rubs him the wrong way, fans should be allowed to protest how their team is run.

Every Bulls fan should be rightfully disgruntled at how things have gone.  Until moves in the name of progress are made, those feelings will continue.  Maybe a large gathering during a game at least gets Reinsdorf to think about what's going on.  White Sox fans are already happy about his other team picking a direction, so there's no reason to think Bulls fans won't react well if he just makes it known that changes will be made to ensure a winner will come sooner rather than later.

Fans are done with personal loyalties.  They're done with hanging onto the past in hopes of that carrying over into the present.  Whether or not you think this protest is the right way to being vocal, know that you have the power to make a difference.  Not buying tickets, turning the United Center into a frenzy or whatever, the fans make up the soul of the team and if it's dirty, the brains behind it have to cleanse it.

Forman, Paxson Have Safe Jobs and That's Not Good

If a Tuesday night report is to be believed, Gar Forman and John Paxson will remain as Bulls general manager and executive vice president respectively, even if the team misses the playoffs this year.  Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf trust the two in how they build the roster. The brass reportedly believes this is the first year to reopen a championship window without Derrick Rose and also that the strategy of rebuilding while competing is working.

They can spin this all they want, but the fact remains that this is the latest example of a longstanding tradition of Reinsdorf loyalty to its front office regardless of team performance.  While it's fine to be on good terms with your employees, it isn't worth anything if your product is mediocre.  People don't go to the store to buy mediocre groceries.  They want high quality at a reasonable price and the Bulls expect fans to pay one of the most expensive tickets in the NBA for inconsistency.

While regular sellouts and the United Center's large capacity allows the Bulls to lead the league in home attendance, the eye test at these games indicates people aren't showing up, and that's embarrassing.  The fans have never been as loud as say, Warriors and Thunder fans, but with fewer people wanting to see a shoddy product, folks being fed up gets harder to ignore.  At least it should for fans watching on TV.

But as long as the bottom line is good enough, the Reinsdorfs will see no reason to make drastic changes.  Never mind that every draft pick since Jimmy Butler in 2011 has failed to live up to expectations.  Forget about going back on the vow to get younger and more athletic by signing Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade.  GarPax can do no wrong, even with the third head coach since the duo came together, so it's here to stay.

How is anyone supposed to believe in a future for this team?  Players and coaches keep changing and yet, those in charge of basketball operations never suffer the consequences of their failure to produce winning results.  Just getting to the playoffs isn't enough.  You have to contend for championships to keep fans interested and yet, the organization has no interest in trying a different path.

Perhaps most annoying of all is that we still haven't reached the All-Star break on this season, meaning there's still two months before the playoffs.  That's at least 14 months before we can even consider the possibility that one or both of these guys will be replaced.  Tell me how we're supposed to expect the Bulls to blow people away when most of their fans are ranging from pissed to apathetic.  Without changes to enter the next winning era of Bulls basketball, it ain't happening.

They say you should value people over anything else, but pro sports is a business with millions of outside followers, something no other industry can boast to the extent it does.  That's why when the majority of those people are calling for you to do something, loyalties have to put aside.  Paxson in particular has contributed a lot to the Bulls for over 30 years, but eventually, patience and chances have to run out.  And besides one great year, Forman has not earned the benefit of the doubt because he and his scouts and failed to properly identify quality talent to build with.

You don't have to follow the Bulls to see how the opinions of one or two can affect the entire operation.  We're seeing that with America itself as we speak and how upset people are.  Maybe it's a stretch to draw that parallel, but how poorly people can take certain actions or inaction is on full display.  Reinsdorf is running a professional sports organization as opposed to the most powerful country in the free world, so when put that way, making changes should be a lot easier.

Until anything happens, we as the fans have to deal with an organization stuck in its ways until it indicates otherwise.  While we may not like it, we just have to endure it because we can't call ourselves true fans without putting up with the crap that comes with following one team your whole life.  Someday, we'll look back on this and laugh.  Maybe.

Rajon Rondo Instagram Rant Points Blame at Wade, Butler

I gotta hand it to the Bulls.  When controversy comes their way, they don't shy away from it.  In fact, they seem to love adding one layer after another.  And as we found out Thursday, they can even cause a ruckus on social media.

In the immediate aftermath of Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade calling out their young teammates following Wednesday's blown game against Atlanta, the most vocal response came from Jerian Grant on Twitter.  But Rajon Rondo's grating Instagram post on Thursday made Grant's tweets look like high praise.  For those who can't be bothered to follow the link, Rondo posted a picture of himself with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett during his Boston days.  Here's the full message that accompanied it in all its glory:


My vets would never go to the media. They would come to the team. My vets didn't pick and choose when they wanted to bring it. They brought it every time they stepped in the gym whether it was practice or a game. They didn't take days off. My vets didn't care about their numbers. My vets played for the team. When we lost, they wouldn't blame us. They took responsibility and got in the gym. They showed the young guys what it meant to work. Even in Boston when we had the best record in the league, if we lost a game, you could hear a pin drop on the bus. They showed us the seriousness of the game. My vets didn't have an influence on the coaching staff. They couldn't change the plan because it didn't work for them. I played under one of the greatest coaches, and he held everyone accountable. It takes 1-15 to win. When you isolate everyone, you can't win consistently. I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a bad teammate. My goal is to pass what I learned along. The young guys work. They show up. They don't deserve blame. If anything is questionable, it's the leadership.

Well.  That sure resolved everything going on with this team.  In fact, Bulls management appreciated it so much, Rondo's contract might be bought out.  It's as if to say "We love how you spoke your mind, so why don't you do it someplace besides here?"

The scary thing about Rondo's post is he's not completely wrong.  Go back to any non-game story involving Wade or Butler this season and you'll find things that match what Rondo is saying.  So it's not a huge shock that he doesn't like how they've conducted themselves as team leaders or simply as players either.  Their postgame comments were clearly the last straw for him, but even with all that time between then and when he made the post, he still felt strongly enough that he had to tell the world what he perceived to be the wrong way to guide a team.

The biggest irony of this whole thing is that it was Rondo who coined the term "The Three Alphas" and in less than 24 hours, they all added fuel to the fire that is this dysfunctional season.  Worse yet, it's turned into two alphas against one and unsurprisingly, the player by himself has by far contributed the least this year.  What is anyone hoping to gain from all this?  Unless some magic potion that brings unity is somewhere in the locker room, it's hard to imagine much.

But perhaps some good will come of this.  Maybe this is what Gar Forman and John Paxson needed to finally stop turning the other cheek and do something about this mess they created.  Years from now, we might look back on these past couple days as the moment when the Bulls finally decided to get serious about building the franchise's next great era.  And to think, all it might have taken was an online rant from a player who many felt was a poor teammate and bad for Fred Hoiberg's system to begin with.

All we know for sure is we're all sick and tired of season after season turning into a soap opera for one reason or another.  Two years ago, it was GarPax against Tom Thibodeau.  Last year, Butler seized leadership from Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, much to the chagrin of the now-Knicks.  The latest one is Rondo vs. Butler and Wade vs. everybody.

Why do we as fans have to put up with this?  Even the Tim Floyd era didn't see so much drama for so long.  If Michael Reinsdorf doesn't realize now is the time to get his father Jerry to sign off on something new, this organization is a lost cause.  This all could have been avoided if they took the proper steps to assemble a winning, united basketball team, but here we are.

The longer the higher-ups remain silent about this, the more fans are going to tune out.  It's a shame to see the same franchise Michael Jordan became famous with reduced to something no one should want to be a part of.  A real culture change is needed.  No one should care about how it happens as long as there's a light at the end of this God-forsaken tunnel, which there currently is not.

Maybe Jerry will see how happy SoxFest attendees are this weekend to know his other team is finally taking proper steps to get back to winning.  If that's the epiphany he needs to realize Bulls fans would be just as happy to endure lean years for a better future, so be it.  Maybe it starts with dumping Rondo and admitting he never should have been signed to begin with.  Let's see somebody take to social media about that.

Tumultuous 2016 Draws to Close

Like with much of the world, 2016 wasn't a very kind year to the Bulls.  When it seemed like necessary changes were finally going to be made, they didn't really happen.  So the end of the year doesn't feel much differently from the beginning.  Yet this is still the day to reflect on everything significant that happened and that's why we're here today.

With Fred Hoiberg inheriting virtually the same roster Tom Thibodeau had the year before, the Bulls struggled to meet the demands of Hoiball, yet remained in contention for the final playoff spot in the East until the season was nearly over.  But it wasn't fun to watch and even the good things that happened had strings attached.  Jimmy Butler was named to his second All-Star Game, but an injury kept him from playing, so Pau Gasol took his place.  Though Derrick Rose appeared in 66 games, his most since his MVP campaign, he still didn't play like the superstar he was pre-ACL tear except for a few flashes here and there.

All this, along with Butler attempting to seize leadership from Rose and Joakim Noah, whose season ended early with a shoulder injury, led to a 42-40 finish and no playoffs for the first time since 2008.  Calls to get rid of everyone came from everywhere.  When Rose was traded to New York and it became heavily rumored that Butler would be dealt on draft night, it looked like the Bulls would indeed go in that direction.  With Noah and Gasol leaving as free agents and Gar Forman saying the team needed "to get younger and more athletic", the fuel to the rebuilding fire continued to be poured on.

But everything was doused quickly when the Bulls signed Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade, which would have been perfect if this was 2010.  But it's six years later and both have aged considerably since then.  Young players were added up until the regular season started, but none generated much excitement.  A veteran starting lineup to go with a young bench baffled many people as it seems like the makeup of a team stuck in the middle, which is exactly where the Bulls were when the previous season ended.

With over 40 percent of the new campaign in the books, the new Bulls are as mired in mediocrity as ever, the worst place to be in professional sports.  Butler and Wade are reliable game in and game out, but the rest of the Bulls are hit and miss game in and game out.  Since starting at 11-7, they've fallen to one game below .500 and suddenly, there are reports that Hoiberg's job might be in jeopardy.  But don't let that distract you from the fact that this is ultimately a team constructed by Forman and John Paxson, though there's no indication that Jerry Reinsdorf is fed up with either of them.

Perhaps it's only fitting that a year filled with divided politics and lots of celebrity deaths among other things includes a Bulls team that hasn't moved in one direction or the other since we last rang in a New Year.  You're sick of everything else in the world bringing you down and this is only adding to the frustration.  Unless you're a Cubs fan, a Trump supporter or both, this likely won't be a year you remember fondly, and maybe not even then.  Shouldn't we at least have a basketball team that knows what the heck it's doing?

Maybe Reinsdorf will take how positively folks are reacting to his White Sox going the rebuilding route and decide the Bulls will pick a solid direction during their next offseason as well.  Had Forman truly backed up his "younger and more athletic" comment, this talk about the franchise being stagnant might not even be happening.  For now, he's stuck with young players on the bench whom you don't really want to build your team around.  If you can't replace players quickly, get some better talent evaluation in your front office and begin the proper process.

Before wrapping this up, I want to thank everybody who came back to this blog after I temporarily jumped ship to Chicago Bulls Confidential.  Yes, it's not as big a brand as ChicagoNow, but I find this setting more intimate.  It's something we can share together and if you like what I write, it would be nice of you to share my work with others.  I highly value my audience.

I've had enough of this drama of this calendar year.  2017 can hopefully only be an improvement.  But first, they can end 2016 on a high note by defeating the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.  See you all on the other side of this big day.