The city has seen a who’s who of NBA dignitaries over the weekend.
Legendary former players, elite current players, coaches, and front office executives, all gathered in hotel lobbies, at All-Star parties, and at the United Center.
Bulls team president and COO Michael Reinsdorf and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson weren’t exactly front and center in all the public activities, but make no mistake, the two were lurking.
Actually, more than lurking, they were engaged in the initial legwork of much-needed changes coming to their organization.
According to several NBA executives, the Bulls have started the early stages of adding a new face to the front office, with the position defined as a general manager “with a louder voice.’’ One executive did say that the talks the Bulls have had with candidates have been through back channels, with no formal interviews taking place, but the search is believed to be wide-spread.
This would be in-line with a Sun-Times report back in November, in which the newspaper wrote that general manager Gar Forman’s job security was taking on water, with the organization’s senior advisor Doug Collins the loudest voice in a needed change.
Collins has never been a big fan of Foreman’s, starting with questioning Forman for the hiring of Fred Hoiberg.
Collins was underwhelmed by Hoiberg’s leadership skills, and was openly critical of Hoiberg throughout the Advocate Center in the wake of the Nikola Mirotic-Bobby Portis practice altercation. Paxson and Reinsdorf have both insisted that Hoiberg’s hiring was a group decision, but it was no secret that Forman was pushing for Hoiberg almost a year before former coach Tom Thibodeau was fired.
In Collins’ mind, the Hoiberg hiring was strike one, but for those that have been around the organization much longer it was yet another swing-and-miss by Forman.
Throw in the mistrust between players and Forman, draft picks and free agents that haven’t panned out, former players upset with Forman acting aloof to them in mid-November when the team honored Luol Deng, and it’s become obvious on where the organization needed to start the front-office fix.
Multiple media outlets reported last offseason that Forman had been stripped of many of the GM duties anyway, with Paxson also handling most of the media requirements the past few years.
The hope for Paxson is this new hire will take over the media duties, allowing him to slip into the background.
As for Forman, he is not expected to be fired, but reassigned into a scouting position, as the team is also looking to build up that department. The Bulls have long been known for having a small scouting department, and they plan on an expansion this spring.
There was a report that Paxson would also be somewhat neutered and put into a different title, but all indications from other executives is that will not be the case.
What will be interesting is what happens to coach Jim Boylen? The current Bulls front office and ownership have backed Boylen fully, but all indications are that the new hire will be given the chance to stick with Boylen or bring in a coach that they hand pick.
That scenario works from a public relations standpoint, because if Boylen is let go with two more years on his deal, Paxson and Reinsdorf would escape the scrutiny of yet another coaching change, able to explain it as standing behind the new GM and what they felt was best for the franchise.
As far as where Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf stands in all of this, he likes the model with the White Sox, where GM Rick Hahn has been empowered, while former GM Ken Williams has been allowed to become more silent in his VP role, but still have say on matters.
