Not too long ago it seemed like we as Bulls fans were lining up outside the UC to go watch our Bulls put in a hard effort and get a win. We’ve been spoiled to see quite a few big name NBA players wear a Bulls jersey from Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Richard Hamilton, Rajon Rondo, Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, all the way to Derrick Rose we’ve gotten used to competitive basketball at the “Mad House on Madison”. Well that was then so what happened, The Bulls haven’t been in the playoffs since 2017 when they got eliminated in six games by the Isaiah Thomas and the Boston Celtics and after that 2017 post season exit the Bulls front office decided to blow it up and start over. Big names like Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo, and Dywane Wade were either traded away, left in free agency, or reached a buyout with team and young players like Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen, and Zach Lavine were brought in to usher in a new younger looking Bulls era with a lot of potential but two years later and still no playoffs has this really worked out?

A good basketball team isn’t just compose of talented players it needs more than that, it needs a strong Head Coach with a great staff and front office that is supportive and on the same page with the Coach and his staff to help create a vision for the team and it’s future. It all works hand in hand together, a General manger is responsible for hiring a Head Coach, then the Head Coach and the GM talk about hiring a coaching staff based on the Coaches preference and what he wants his team to put on the court. Once that is all done it’s time to look at your roster and that process should defiantly be a GM & Head Coach conversation the reason I say it like is because it sometimes doesn’t work out like that. When the roster is to the liking of both the GM and Coach it’s time to hit the hardwood for practice. So if a team can hit all those steps without a problem you’ll most likely end up like the Raptors and Warriors competing for a championship come playoff time. With all that said now hopefully you can see some of the problems that the Bulls have created for themselves but I’m still here to walk you through it.

Tom Thibodeau, Fred Hoiberg, and now Jim Boylen these are the names of the last three Head Coaches of the Bulls and all of them have a storied pasts and for Boylen present with the team. The man who hired these men is Bulls GM Gar Foreman and he also fired two of them. For Thibodeau the narrative goes that he was a tough Head Coach but was able to get the most out of his players, unfortunately he never had many players he trusted to be on floor in crucial situations other than Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Loul Deng and for a little bit Pau Gasol. Many blamed Foreman for not trying to capitalize on the opportunity being presented to him with Coach Thibs and the core of players he had and go get another player to help push that team over the top but no the only big name brought in was Pau Gasol who to his defense was very good but didn’t help win that team a championship. Thibodaeu was fired after the 2015 post season, to the dislike of the Bulls fans, which ended an era of Bulls basketball that once had great promise but ultimately wasted due to tension between Thibodeau and the front office and Gar Foreman for not being able to co-exist or more simply put couldn’t get on the same page. Now enter new Head Coach Fred Hoiberg and with him the self dubbed “Three Alphas” of Jimmy Butler, Dywane Wade, and Rajon Rondo. Now why didn’t this collection of talent produce a championship? Well you gave a new Head Coach three players who all had a pretty big egos who didn’t want to be told what to do by a rookie Head Coach in Fred Hoiberg and as a result that season was just filled with more news of team discrepancy than team success. That Bulls team did end up in the playoffs but a first round exit to the Boston Celtics in six games ended those title hopes, and the Bulls haven’t been to the playoffs since. Hoiberg was given one more year to try and make it work with a younger squad who would hopefully listen to him unlike the team from the year prior. The team unfortunately didn’t improve and actually regressed really bad finishing their season with a 27-55 record. Hoiberg did get another chance to right the ship the following season but he only last the first 24 games and was replaced by current Bulls coach Jim Boylen.