Chicago Bulls vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman are proof that you can keep your job after failing to excel at it for quite some time.
And according to the Chicago Tribune‘s K.C. Johnson, this isn’t going to change:
With Dwyane Wade owning a player option and the Bulls perhaps repeating last June’s internal debate on Jimmy Butler‘s future, this could be another offseason of significant change.
But one area that will remain static is the people overseeing that roster construction.
Despite some outside perception to the contrary, the jobs of executive vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman are safe, sources familiar with ownership’s thinking told the Tribune. In fact, ownership’s trust in Paxson and Forman remains so intact that they would be retained even if the Bulls miss the postseason for a second straight season, one source said.
My take: Oh.
It’s easy to understand why the Bulls want consistency in the front office. Turnover is seldom a good thing; it creates unrest. And there’s no guarantee the Bulls will go out and get the right guy to make basketball decisions when they’re displacing the two guys who typically make all the basketball decisions.
But this stance will start to really cause problems if head coach Fred Hoiberg gets canned. Because if he goes, Paxson and Forman should, too. Not only did they hire him, but they handed their pace-and-space coach a roster incapable of playing with genuine pace or actual space. That has to fall on them, as does Tom Thibodeau’s unceremonious departure in 2015.
One year after missing the playoffs altogether, maybe the Bulls view the fact that they’re in line for a postseason cameo this year as a success. But their inevitable first- or second-round exit is surely going to result in sweeping changes throughout the organization over the summer. And depending on what those changes entail, Forman and Paxson should, at some point, be forced to answer for Chicago’s lack of direction.
