Do you know who was accountable when he was with the Bulls?
Former coach Tom Thibodeau.
He walked it, talked it, and wore accountability beyond the end, even taking the high road when the entire organization was publicly trying to tarnish his reputation after they had already shoved him out the door.
What about a player that was accountable? How about Jimmy Butler, who had no problem calling out anyone in the locker room — and mostly himself — when things went wrong. The always grinding Butler even took it upon his own shoulders to try and go out and recruit for the front office, before they inevitably pulled the plug on his tenure with a trade, opting to go the rebuild route in 2017.
Since then?
Sure, Jim Boylen has never run from being held accountable since taking over the coaching seat last December, but coaches are supposed to fall on the sword when the road gets bumpy.
So the fact that both vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman came out during Monday’s media day and charged up accountability hill, yeah, that was a big deal that’s seemingly already been pushed behind the curtain by Thursday’s Day 3 of training camp.
These are the two that have to own most of the responsibility of what this Bulls organization has become the last decade-plus. These are the two that have been patted on the head far too often for bringing home a C- paper.
“We take that very seriously, being accountable,’’ Forman said. “And we will continue to.’’
Nice to hear, but not easily accepted.
There has to be consequence to be truly accountable. There has to be a cliff to drop off of when the failures become too many. You can’t just keep blaming disappointment on the coaches that you hired and the rosters that you built.
That’s past old, and even more egregious, a slap in the face to a fan base that has been as loyal as any come attendance time.
Maybe, just maybe, however, that’s what this season is shaping up to be. One of accountability where it matters.
Ownership, as well as Forman, Paxson and Boylen have not been shy about the goal for this season. Year 3 of the rebuild and the roster they have built should make a playoff run. Albeit a short playoff run, but still a playoff run.
To a man, that has been the talk coming out of the Advocate Center throughout the week.
“We think we can compete,’’ Paxson said. “And when you compete at a high level, you have an ability to be a playoff-caliber team. And we set that as a goal.’’
Good.
But what happens if that goal is not reached? The excuse tree has no more leaves left. What then?
Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf are pillars of loyalty, but at some point ownership has to stop turning a blind eye to the obvious.
On one side of town, Jerry Reinsdorf has allowed White Sox vice president of baseball operations Ken Williams to undercut his general manager in Rick Hahn far too often, while keeping pitching coach Don Cooper on a seemingly lifetime scholarship.
And on the Bulls side, well, the record, as well as the number of coaching changes, speak for themselves.
It was a good sign that Forman was front-and-center on Monday.
The organization has gone out of its way to hide Forman the last few seasons, even keeping his contract extension in the dark. The fact that he’s once again in the public eye could be that first step back toward true accountability.
Wishful thinking?
That’s about all that’s left at this point.
