Since the Pau Gasol to the Lakers news hit these internets, Bulls fans have been furious. After all, the Lakers seemingly came out of nowhere and snatched up the vaunted low-post scorer the Bulls have been targeting for over a year. We’ve been hearing Gasol trade rumors for more then 12 months, and unlike those involving KG or Kobe, talks for Gasol actually seemed somewhat realistic.
So now Gasol is headed to Los Angeles for the NBA equivalent of a bag of balls, aka a gnarly expiring contract (in the form of Kwame Brown of all people) and a few protected draft picks. My first thought upon hearing the news was wondering whether or not Kwame would have a going away party featuring cake. Everyone knows Kwame has had his issues with cake in the past. Secondly, I wondered why the hell didn’t Pax get this done? Especially considering how utterly complacent the Bulls have been lately, a trade like this could have been just what they needed to jump start the season.
Truth be told, the reason Memphis traded Gasol is because Chicago-born owner Michael Heisley plans on selling the team and just wanted a huge expiring contract back in return for his best player. Had Heisley made this decision last season, the Bulls probably would have acquired Gasol for PJ Brown plus junk. It makes me angry even thinking about it. Really, it doesn’t seem to me like the Bulls not getting Gasol is Pax’s fault- they simply don’t have the expiring contracts this year to get it done (well they could have resigned Brown and went over the luxury tax, but that’s another issue).
Still, enough people have hinted at it, so it’s time to ask the masses: Should John Paxson be fired? Let’s look some of the good and bad things he’s done since he arrived here in 2003.
Positives
Drafted well early on to bring the Bulls into relevance.
It’s almost impossible to describe how bad of shape the Bulls were in prior to Pax grabbing the reigns in April of 03. Seriously, just look at some of these records; they are downright laughable. Combine that with the fact that the guy they just took #2 overall in the last draft, Jay Williams (who is a moron, but to be fair, really may be one of the great college players of our generation), nearly kills himself in a motorcycle accident and has not made an NBA roster since. It was up to Pax to draft well early on to get some solid contributors in here and he did that.
2003: Pax took Kirk Hinrich at 7. Here’s the draft board, how many guys are there you would rather have who were taken after Hinrich? I know Kirk has never been worse then he is this year, but I’d probably only take Captain (Leandro) Barbosa and Josh Howard over Hinrich, and they were the last two picks of the first round, so they weren’t even good enough prospects to consider at 7. TJ Ford and David West may get some consideration too, but the selection of Hinrich was really the first thing to help the turn the ship around.
2004: Pax drafted Ben Gordon at 3 and then traded his first rounder the following season (2005) to get the seventh pick and grab Luol Deng. Again, who would you rather have then those two? It’s no secret that I don’t particularly like Gordon, but he’s been a 20+ point per game scorer over his career. That pick surely isn’t a bust. I’d consider taking Devin Harris over BG, but Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, and Andre Igoudala are really the only three guys comparable to Ben and Luol, and two of them came out of high school. Factor in that the Bulls got a solid contributor in Chris Duhon in the second round and signed rookie free agent Andres Nocioni….and it’s hard to criticize Pax at all for this draft.
I’d also like to mention that this recent 07 draft class looks pretty stellar too. Noah is just a monster, and Gray is nothing but dependable, even for a big dumb oaf. Another positive, in my mind, was the hiring of Scott Skiles, even though he’s gone now. To me, the Bulls don’t make the same type of strides with Bill Cartwright or some other clown calling the shots.
Negatives
The Eddy Curry debacle
Since the Bulls dealt Curry following the 2005 season, they have seemingly been in the center of a never-ending search to find someone tall who can score. Say what you will about Curry, but he is tall and he can score. He was traded largely because Paxson wasn’t comfortable with a heart condition Curry may have had, something that has not caused him to miss one game since arriving in New York. While Paxson did get a pretty good deal out of it (turned out to be the picks that led to Tyrus and Noah), having Curry on the block would have really helped the Bulls the past few years. Sure, he didn’t rebound or play any semblance of defense, but that’s why we had…
The Tyson Chalder/Ben Wallace switch
Tyson Chandler was my dog. I always felt bad for him just because some scouts thought he could be better then he was ever actually capable of being when they first saw him at age 17. It never seemed fair to me. Sure, Chandler never turned into the next KG like he was supposed to, but he was one of the NBA’s premier defensive big men, and a guy who was the perfect compliment to Curry. To trade someone as young and effective as he was really seemed dumb to me at the time. Of course, the only reason TC was dealt was to make room for the Bulls shiny new free agent signing.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that signing Ben Wallace to a four-year, $60 million contract was the biggest mistake Pax ever made, and it’s only made worse when you consider they gave Chandler away for practically nothing to make it happen. For as bad and underachieving the Bulls have been this year all over the court, Wallace is this team’s biggest weakness. Everything from his attitude to his on-court performance has dragged the Bulls down, and Pax should take full responsibility for it.
May have forked up the 06 draft
I love Tyrus, and Thabo has really started to come into his own recently…but this draft class is still largely unproven. In the Bulls position with the second pick, they could have had a bonafide star in Brandon Roy, or an ultra-dependable big who's a versatile scorer in LaMarcus Aldridge. Of course, the Bulls originally took Aldridge, only to trade him for Thomas. Rudy Gay would have been great as well, and maybe I’d take Ronnie Brewer, Balkman, or Rajon Rondo over Thabo. Still, I’m not quite ready to write these two off yet, though I know some are.
Kobe, Kobe, Kobe
Like I told you at the time, they should have done it. Man, I’m so smart. Now look, the Lakers are awesome, and Bryant won’t be leaving anytime soon. What a missed opportunity. Like I wrote a few months back:
Here it goes: the Bulls would be retarded not to get Kobe at all costs. He's the best player on the planet- who's on the right side of 30- and no one else in the league is even close.
…
Deng is a different story. He's a great guy, and a very good basketball player, but for Kobe Bryant, I'm sorry, he can go.
I hate to say it, but the main reason the Bulls suck is because of all the Kobe talk. They had the best player in the league begging to come to them, and Pax was too big of a wuss to pull the trigger. This is why the Bulls are terrible (But hey we beat the Sonics!).
Other negatives could include never giving JR Smith or Tim Thomas a chance.
This is all very long and I’m certain no one read the whole thing. The point: do you think John Paxson should be fired. As of right now, I’d have to say I don’t have a strong opinion either way, but I’m leaning towards ‘no’ just because of how few competent executives there are in this league. What do you think.
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Comments
Amen. This franchise is going nowhere as long as they have to pay Ben Wallace.
Even though this team had a horrible start, I think the move to get rid of Skiles was much too early. It seemed as if Paxson panicked because of the start, yet should have kept him to help align this team. I think in the end, keeping Skiles would have been the better option. Your thoughts on Chandler are right on. I think they bought into the high-priced Wallace factor and ditched Chandler too early, probably due to the Curry's failure. The Gasol deal should have been made at all costs, however, I think the Kobe deal is still debatable. Just my opinion.
I agree with you on Skiles, and I still think he's a good coach. But with the news that has come out recently, it really seems like he wanted to leave Chicago as much or more then they wanted him to leave. I also feel like this roster still reeks of Skiles. Now that he's gone, the roster has to be shaped to fit the new coach, someone who shouldn't be just like Skiles because what would the point of that be.
I would say, in all fairness, that Paxson should be placed on the hot seat, but given one more offseason before being terminated. Obviously I'm very lenient when it comes to being harsh on GMs, but that's because I do believe being a GM in the NBA is harder than any other sport. You only get 12 players, and if you make one mistake, it'll haunt your team for a long time (whether it's a bad contract, or a bad draft pick). Think off all the Frederick Weis, Bowie over Jordan, type picks in NBA history. How many times have you heard that in the NFL? And you'll never hear that in MLB.
Anyway, back to Paxson... he's screwed up a bit, especially in not pulling the trigger on some trades (Gasol, Kobe). But he has done some good work with the earlier drafts, and he hasn't messed up the contracts too badly yet (maybe only Ben Wallace).
So I would give him this offseason to right the ship, or send him packing and bring someone else in quickly, before the team gets too far into a hole.
Should Pax be fired? Yes
Should Reinsdorf stop being cheap? Yes
I read Reinsdorf refused to pay the luxury tax on PJ Brown's contract for a sign and trade to Memphis for Gasol. Pax has traded and not drafted all the talent they need to be championship contender.
Reinsdorf isn't necessarily cheap. He's willing to pay when the Bulls have a championship team, which they don't have right now. Based on the production of Deng/Gordon were they lowballed in their negotiations this past off-season? Nope.
just fire Paxson, and Jerry sell the team. It's obvious they don't know what talent is, what was he thinking? the best advice for the Bulls fans is basically to hope he make a trade to move up in the lottery. I hope he draft Thabeet and rose. That would address the "non-confident" point guard status to "superstar" status. Also that would address the center status to "young & defense". Ben Wallace you got to go, maybe Dumars will sign you lol. Second round pick get Richard Roby, I guess this would help you all
06 Draft I hoped and prayed for Lamarcus Aldridge... he should be fired for trading him for Tyrus. He should be fired for taking Joakim Noah over a talented scorer like Al Thornton. He could save his job with me though if he take Michael Beasley like any other logical person would.
In all seriousness, he does deserve to get fired but Kenny Williams still has a job, so go figure. If they do fire him, Reinsdorf should host an apprentice-like reality show where contestants compete for the position of Bulls GM. During the show, kill them all off and have Jordan come run the team into the ground. Then 3 days later, the Bulls rise from the ashes and hire Norm Van Lier as coach and Carrie Sayers as GM, just like Jesus would do. Happy Christmas.