John Paxson isn’t just trying to play good soldier and say the right thing.
The Bulls vice president of basketball operations isn’t wired that way.
The Sun-Times was told by a source on Tuesday that not only is Paxson all for stepping aside from his position and acting more as an adviser to the Reinsdorf family when the front-office restructure is finalized, but would even completely step down from the organization if the Reinsdorfs and the new-look executive group deemed it better for the rebuild to continue.
The source insisted that Paxson was ready for either scenario, wanting what was best for the franchise. And not in a martyr way, just saying what he feels everyone wants to hear.
Paxson’s patience has been pushed to the limit the last few seasons, especially when it comes to the perception by outsiders of the job he’s done.
That was evident three years ago, when he made it a point throughout the organization and with beat writers that he had grown tired of the “Gar-Pax’’ umbrella he was lumped under with general manager Gar Forman, instead asking for Forman’s name and title to be separate from his.
He’s also had several disputes with media members — some very public and on sports talks shows, and some behind closed doors — especially when it’s come to instances when he felt he was being judged unfairly.
This season, however, Paxson has been as upbeat and friendly as he’s been in the last decade, maybe knowing that a major change was coming and finding some sort of peace in that.
