AK has “green light” to rebuild - doesn’t wanna

[Infinity2152]

Question: Isn't rebuild exactly what he's done? Since he's been here we have a different PG, SF, PF, and center and completely revamped bench. If you change pretty much every player except two, how is that not rebuilding a team? People just don't like what he's rebuilt it to, but the idea he won't change the team is insane. Most of the current Bulls have been added the past three years, many have 2 years or less. There are three players over 30 on the entire team. The young guys Coby and Pat are showing a lot of promise now, let's tear the team down around them, add more rookies and go back three steps. By the time we're good again, we can pay Coby $40 mill to lead us and complain because we paid his market price to keep him.

They were fools not to pay Lauri, a good one-way player, his market rate. They'll also be fools if they pay Pat, a pretty good two way player, his market rate. They were dumb for signing Ball, a great young two way player, but should be looking for exactly that type of player now. Little credit for signing Caruso and Drummond to great contracts to help the team, fools for not getting rid of them after 1 year. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

[wickywack]

It checks out that AK has the green light. AFAICT, Krause, Pax, and Gar always had the green light. Why wouldn't AK?

That said, Krause and GarPax only got in trouble with ownership when their rebuilds got stuck: multiple years of not making the playoffs and no apparent path back.

AK may have decided that mediocrity is just good enough to not get him fired. In that, perhaps a "smart for him" decision.

[kodo]

The sad thing is that the Chicago pres job is highly desired. Yeah the org is a joke atm but it's a top 3 city, and as we've often noted it still leads the league in attendance with a sub 500 team. Before we hired AK, one of the rumored exec possibilties was Sam Presti but price was an issue.

From our reliable insider KC:

As previously reported, Bulls president and chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf is doing due diligence on multiple candidates and multiple options. He’s seeking feedback from a wide variety of sources on a wide variety of candidates. Surely, the Bulls are performing due diligence on big names like Presti and Raptors president Masai Ujiri. Talk around the league is that the Raptors wouldn’t let Ujiri go but that Presti is so close with Thunder owner Clay Bennett that Bennett would let his friend pursue other opportunities if Presti wanted.

What’s unknown is whether Presti would want to leave the Thunder, particularly after setting the franchise up for the future with multiple first-round picks from the Paul George and Russell Westbrook trades. And it also should be noted that the Bulls historically have not operated as a big-spending franchise when it comes to management. It would take upwards of $9 to $10 million to even get Presti to the negotiating table.

Kaplan:

“Sam Presti is [the Bulls] number one target, that’s the guy they want. Can they get him out of a 10-year contract without having to pay an exorbitant amount of compensation remains to be seen ….

I’ve been assured that if Sam Presti can get out of his deal and the Bulls can get him they would be prepared to pay him whatever it took, and that’s probably five years at $50 million. So we’ll see, they’ve never done that before, they’ve never paid like that before, but from what I’m hearing, money will be no object if they can get the right guy.”

But whether it's Presti or someone else, the point is Chicago as a city doesn't have to settle for mediocrity. Yet we extended AK.

[dougthonus]

The sad thing is that the Chicago pres job is highly desired. Yeah the org is a joke atm but it's a top 3 city, and as we've often noted it still leads the league in attendance with a sub 500 team. Before we hired AK, one of the rumored exec possibilties was Sam Presti but price was an issue.

From our reliable insider KC:

As previously reported, Bulls president and chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf is doing due diligence on multiple candidates and multiple options. He’s seeking feedback from a wide variety of sources on a wide variety of candidates. Surely, the Bulls are performing due diligence on big names like Presti and Raptors president Masai Ujiri. Talk around the league is that the Raptors wouldn’t let Ujiri go but that Presti is so close with Thunder owner Clay Bennett that Bennett would let his friend pursue other opportunities if Presti wanted.

What’s unknown is whether Presti would want to leave the Thunder, particularly after setting the franchise up for the future with multiple first-round picks from the Paul George and Russell Westbrook trades. And it also should be noted that the Bulls historically have not operated as a big-spending franchise when it comes to management. It would take upwards of $9 to $10 million to even get Presti to the negotiating table.

Kaplan:

“Sam Presti is [the Bulls] number one target, that’s the guy they want. Can they get him out of a 10-year contract without having to pay an exorbitant amount of compensation remains to be seen ….

I’ve been assured that if Sam Presti can get out of his deal and the Bulls can get him they would be prepared to pay him whatever it took, and that’s probably five years at $50 million. So we’ll see, they’ve never done that before, they’ve never paid like that before, but from what I’m hearing, money will be no object if they can get the right guy.”

But whether it's Presti or someone else, the point is Chicago as a city doesn't have to settle for mediocrity. Yet we extended AK.

I would have killed for Presti.

On the one hand, I couldn't imagine him leaving OKC given what he was building there and the obvious direction it was going. On the other hand, I'd probably leave nearly any job I had for double the money and we could have trivially afforded double the money, and in terms of basketball expense, it would have been a no brainer.

Hell, today, we should fire AKME and just tell Sam Presti, 8 years 160M, I know you've built something amazing in OKC, and it will take a lot to walk away from it, we're going to pay you 2x per year of any GM in the league and guarantee it long enough that you have time to take whatever steps necessary.

[DuckIII]

AK: "I'm always going to look at how to improve the team. For now, what makes us more competitive and for the future. We didn't have those options available."

It's funny that he said "and for the future". What future is he talking about? One with an aging DDR and Vucevic? A roster that has a limited ceiling that won't go very far?

He means this season. These are the time increments in which he think.

I’m not trying to be flippant here either. I mean it. This FO thinks in terms of the short term future. He’s talking about being competitive next game, next week, maybe in May.

He’s not talking about or thinking about anything else when he talks about the future. I can’t emphasize how awful a trait that is in a GM.

[DuckIII]

The odds are pretty good that there wasn't a deal that was beneficial to the Bulls. So we wait. Better than going backwards.

There hasn't been a beneficial trade available to the Bulls for three years?

We ARE the worst run organization in the league and all the mocking we have been receiving from the national media since last season’s deadline is 100% deserved.

[League Circles]

You guys all crack me up.

"If I can't have my favorite team I don't want one at all".

"Let's collect as many poor draft picks as possible and "build around" them by letting them develop in roster spots we won't have or by trading for players like "aging" Demar, Vuc and Caruso" (wait ...)

"Mediocrity is unforgivable and clearly way worse than last place" (2004 called, it wants it's perspective on, and rules governing the draft process back"

Carry on lol.

[MAQ]

Question: Isn't rebuild exactly what he's done? Since he's been here we have a different PG, SF, PF, and center and completely revamped bench. If you change pretty much every player except two, how is that not rebuilding a team? People just don't like what he's rebuilt it to, but the idea he won't change the team is insane. Most of the current Bulls have been added the past three years, many have 2 years or less.

The Bulls haven't traded an active player on the roster in 30 months. Traded Larry Nance Jr. for Derrick Jones Jr.

They absolutely rebuilt the team 3 years ago. They've literally done nothing since then. And that's after seeing the team perform at a mediocre (at best) level for 2 years. They deserve all the blame coming to them.

[drosestruts]

oh no not mockery from Brian Windhorst, now players won't want to play here cause Windhorst and Lowe made fun of us.

1st round picks traded this deadline:

2024 1st - LAC 2024 1st, OKC 2024 1st

2025 1st -

2026 1st -

2027 1st - DAL 2027 1st, Miami 2027 1st (lottery protected)


in total 4 first round picks were traded, 2 likely very late 2024 picks and two 2027 picks.

If you're wanting to re-build - these assets do pretty much nothing for you

[DuckIII]

It checks out that AK has the green light. AFAICT, Krause, Pax, and Gar always had the green light. Why wouldn't AK?

That’s not entirely accurate. It was reported multiple times that there were moves Pax wanted to make but could not due to ownership financial limitations (he famously admitted it in a post-draft press conference once) and a very significant report after the Bulls traded Taj and Doug that Pax wanted to completely rebuild the team and Michael Reinsdorf and Gar opposed him and voted him down.

[prolific passer]

If he has the green light to rebuild then he also has it to retool which he didn't want to do either.

[FriedRise]

How do y'all wanna break up a team in the Quadrant of Wow in the last 10 games?

Read on Twitter

[DuckIII]

Question: Isn't rebuild exactly what he's done?

No he didn’t but that might be a semantic debate. Rebuilding is taking what you have, tearing it down, acquiring long term assets, and starting over. AK proudly and defiantly has stated numerous times he has never done that and won’t do that.

What he did was take a roster in the midst of a rebuild, and cash in much of its youth and future assets for aging mid-tier stars (at the time) to become short term competitive. It’s the exact opposite of a rebuild.

Regardless of the semantics, he definitely “overhauled” the roster significantly. But that was 3 years ago and he’s done nothing since.

Let me put it this way. When the 99% of us who think AK is horrible at his job are talking about rebuilding, we’re speaking in the present tense.

Coby and Pat are showing a lot of promise now, let's tear the team down around them, add more rookies and go back three steps. By the time we're good again, we can pay Coby $40 mill to lead us and complain because we paid his market price to keep him.

Good again? We aren’t good now. We are 24-27, have the 9th worst record in the entire NBA, and our next ten games are a meat grinder for which we don’t even have Zach (who doesn’t even appear to improve the team anymore), Pat (who everyone but me and like 3 other people think is a bum with no future) and Terry (no comment needed) to help even out the minutes burden.

I posted this in a mega thread but this is a more specific discussion so I’m going to post it again here for comments:

When it comes to evaluating the "competitiveness" of their team some fans, and evidently AK, deem postseason play a sufficient indicator of a team that is either already there or headed in the right direction. I don't understand why, but the phenomenon remains despite:

1. In the NBA it is virtual requirement to have at least one legitimate superstar (top 10-ish depending on other factors) to be a contender. We have zero. And despite how wonderful Coby's development is, with it being clear he is an important part of this team's future, he is not that type of player. Nor is any other young player.

2. The only three ways to get such a player is free agency, trade and the draft. We have no capspace, one of the lamest if not the lamest war chest in the NBA for effecting major trades for elite talent, and we're too good for a high lottery pick and don't even have all of our own future picks locked up.

3. 20 OUT OF 30 TEAMS REACH POSTSEASON PLAY. It is not, standing alone, an indicator of anything relevant to actual contention.

4. Regular season wins are isolated affairs. In the playoffs you need a dynamic and versatile roster that can adapt and adjust in context with playing the same team over and over and over in response to the adjustments your opponent makes. We have one of the most one-note, least offensively and defensively versatile rosters in the NBA.

5. 2 of our "core" players are old. The third has a chronic injury history, is a complimentary star not a cornerstone even at his best, and both he and the organization want a divorce anyway which neither can have at this point due to a season ending surgery.

Not that this will convince anyone who just disregards all of this and tries to convince themselves we are in a good spot, but the evidence is overwhelming that we are in just about the least desirable situation an NBA team can find itself in.

[weneeda2guard]

We did rebuild, we did "choose a path " when we traded Jimmy Butler. Alot of us conviently forget those years after that culminated in us getting booed during all star weekend hosted in Chicago. Losing gets old quick and all these journalists who were pushing for garpax to blow it up were clowning the teams dam near a year later for the losing

And I also think a lot of fans are forgetting how a business is ran. You can't sit being horrible for years waiting on the miracle to come out the draft and maintain ticket sales merchandising and a good TV deal. Some people want to make that a bad thing but business is business and I personally want to go to at least a couple games a season and I don't want to watch a team getting blasted by 30 trying to tell my kids how this is best for the future.

If we paying any attention it's a lot of teams in this space. The league knew it would be like this which is why they brought in the play in hopefully to incentivize to teams in this position and convince them to still compete.

So I get the point in staying competitive. I get the point in trying a different way to build. No one can even tell us who we should have traded for. The assets we want to move are both out with injury we can't add salary and some little funky ass late 1st rd pick or 2nd rd picks who likely won't add up to more than a bench player.

The moves that were probably supposed to be made at the deadline was lavine being moved possibly Patrick Williams and lonzo being moved. And I think they would have moved derozan, Caruso and Drummond for the right cost. Being seeing what was moved yesterday, I don't see the move we should have been in on. There is a reason guys like dejonte Murry, mikal bridges, and the Lakers didn't make a move yesterday. It really wasn't any good deals out here. Injuries more than likely stopped a lot of things. Not trying to say I been good with everything akme has done or not done just saying I understand not blowing it up right now and finding a different way to build.

[wickywack]

It checks out that AK has the green light. AFAICT, Krause, Pax, and Gar always had the green light. Why wouldn't AK?

That’s not entirely accurate. It was reported multiple times that there were moves Pax wanted to make but could not due to ownership financial limitations (he famously admitted it in a post-draft press conference once) and a very significant report after the Bulls traded Taj and Doug that Pax wanted to completely rebuild the team and Michael Reinsdorf and Gar opposed him and voted him down.

Re financial limitations, definitely. Back in the day, the Bulls were front runners to acquire the likes of Kevin Garnett from Minnesota and Pau Gasol from Memphis. The Bulls were (seemingly) unwillingly to offer cap relief (i.e., take on bad contracts) and the Celtics and Lakers were. I can't really blame those misses on Pax - his hands were tied by Jerry Reinsdorf.

Rebuilds, otoh, are usually cost saving. I hadn't heard about Michael Reinsdorf blocking a rebuild though. That's interesting. Maybe a difference between Michael and Jerry?

[The Force.]

It’s crazy that AKME is actually a downgrade from GarPax. Just let that sink in for a minute.

[nitetrain8603]

I kind of feel like Paxson may come out of retirement to get the franchise back on track if next year looks stale.

Wasn't Paxson the advisor and main guy helping Jerry and Michael which led to us getting AKME in the first place?

[Indomitable]

We're getting killed on NBA radio. Justin Termine straight-up said we're the worst-run organization in the NBA.

It does not matter

[PistolP]

It’s crazy that AKME is actually a downgrade from GarPax. Just let that sink in for a minute.

It’s extremely depressing to think of how much better off we would be if they just kept GarPax. Given their deep infatuation with Iowa State, GarPax probably would have drafted Halliburton. It’s not crazy to think the Bulls’ current team could have been Coby, Halliburton, Lavine, Wagner, Markkanen plus future picks and cap flexibility.

[League Circles]

1. In the NBA it is virtual requirement to have at least one legitimate superstar (top 10-ish depending on other factors) to be a contender. We have zero. And despite how wonderful Coby's development is, with it being clear he is an important part of this team's future, he is not that type of player. Nor is any other young player.

2. The only three ways to get such a player is free agency, trade and the draft. We have no capspace, one of the lamest if not the lamest war chest in the NBA for effecting major trades for elite talent, and we're too good for a high lottery pick and don't even have all of our own future picks locked up.

Not only is it not a requirement to have a top 10 player to contend, it's not even a requirement to win a title. But even if we assume it is, to your other point, the Bulls can pretty easily have big cap space in 2025 and the idea that you need a high lottery pick to get a superstar is preposterous in this day and age. Jokic, Giannis, Butler, SGA, Kawhi, Gobert, Paul George all say hello.