Whether it’s 30 days or three months, at some point the business of basketball will have to resume for the Bulls.
And while this current front office hasn’t completely understood championship roster construction, the fan base is hoping that the expected new-look front office will.
That’s why the Bulls need to be serious in looking to move Lauri Markkanen or Zach LaVine this offseason if that means getting an athletic, talented wing in return.
The missteps by general manager Gar Forman, and in some ways vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, have been many. But the one philosophy that they still haven’t embraced is that building a title contending team with an elite backcourt remains backward thinking.
Just look at the championship teams post-Michael Jordan.
Only the 2004 Detroit Pistons with Chauncey Billups and the 2007 Spurs with Tony Parker saw point guards win MVP Finals trophies, while Kobe Bryant (2009, 2010) and Dwyane Wade (2006) have been the only shooting guards to win the trophy.
Too old school from the “modern basketball’’ way of thinking.
OK, fast forward to just the last five years – arguably a timeframe that represents the biggest change the game has made from a philosophy standpoint.
The last eight Finals MVPs? Kawhi Leonard twice, Kevin Durant twice, LeBron James three times, and then the one that really tells the story of what the Bulls have been missing, the 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.
As great as guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have been – and no NBA team, including the Bulls, can duplicate the Splash Brothers – let’s not forget their history.
The Warriors finally won a title in ’15 because Iguodala was able to be an elite wing defender in slowing down James, as well as put up some sneaky offensive games. Curry and Thompson weren’t done, however, looking to not only repeat the following year, but make history in a 73-win season.
It never happened, as James again took the iron throne, completely changing the NBA landscape that summer.
Knowing they needed the second-baddest wing on the planet to combat James, Durant rescued the Curry-Thompson legacy by joining the Warriors.
Two more titles later for Golden State – each over James – and then who ended the Warriors run? Injuries, and another elite wing in Leonard, who single-handedly made every big play needed throughout Toronto’s improbable play-off run.
Meanwhile, through too many of those championship runs by James, Forman and Paxson were stuck on the idea that point guard Derrick Rose could be their answer. Because of Rose’s injury history they only had one real shot at it during the 2010-11 season, and how that ended was well documented.
In the fourth quarter of the games against Miami, 6-9 James would defend the 6-2 Rose. Big bank take little bank.
As much as the Bulls felt like injuries hampered them from winning a title, the fact was they were never getting by James and the Heat. As great as Rose was, he was a point guard, and he wasn’t “The King.’’
Which brings us to now, as the league is shut down by the coronavirus, and the Bulls stuck in quicksand of how to fix this rebuild.
Markkanen is unhappy with how he’s been used and the current structure of the organization, while LaVine is a talented scorer who has seemingly reached his ceiling. They have shown no signs of being able to successfully coexist, let alone thrive.
Free agents aren’t walking through that door, so move one.
There has to be a new way of thinking at the Advocate Center. The old way wasn’t necessarily broken, it just never was going to work.
