Chicago Bulls Rumors: John Paxson, Gar Forman Safe Beyond This Season

Despite the fact the Chicago Bulls have hovered around the .500 mark for most of the 2016-17 season, it is being reported that John Paxson and Gar Forman will retain their positions even if the team fails to qualify for the playoffs.

I will be honest by stating that the Chicago Bulls are a .500 basketball club at best and on some nights, they don’t even resemble that description.

The first reason for that assessment is that just about every impressive victory over an elite team is followed by a head-scratching loss to an inferior opponent. However, if you need to look further than that, then their 26-27 record should solidify my point quite nicely.

But despite the mediocrity that Bulls fans are being subjected to once again, it is being reported that vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman will retain their positions beyond this season — even if the Bulls miss the playoffs for the second straight season.

From Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson:

"It’s well-documented that Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and son Michael, who runs the business side as president and chief operating officer, are loyal and long have favored front-office continuity. But there’s also inherent trust in the roster-building process that Paxson, Forman and their staff have in place.One internal belief is that this represents the first season in the attempt to open a new championship window after the franchise had ridden out Derrick Rose‘s maximum contract — and myriad injuries — until finally trading Rose with one season left on the deal. There’s also an internal feeling that Forman’s publicly stated goal to remain competitive while overhauling the roster over several seasons to get younger and more athletic is working."

There are a couple of things wrong with regards to the team’s roster-building process. For starters, the front office hasn’t exactly hit the ball out of the park in terms of its draft selections in recent years.

In 2012, the Bulls selected Marquis Teague with the 29th overall pick, while passing on do-it-all forward Draymond Green in the process.

Chicago Bulls /

Chicago Bulls

What were the results of that decision?

Teague averaged just 2.1 and 2.4 points per game respectively during his two-year stint with the team and hasn’t played in the NBA since appearing in 21 games for the Brooklyn Nets during the 2013-14 season.

Conversely, Green went on to become one of the best players in the league at his position and provides the Golden State Warriors with a presence at both ends of the floor.

The caveat here is that the coaching staff pushed for Green (according to Grantland.com), but the front office felt that Teague was a better fit for some reason.

The following year, the Bulls selected Tony Snell with the 20th overall pick. Sure, Snell showed flashes of potential during his three seasons in the Windy City.

However, due to the fact that he was never able to consistently play at a high level, he became expendable and was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks prior to the start of the 2016-17 season.

More from Hoops Habit

Next up, we have Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic, who represent the 2014 rookie class. Mirotic played reasonably well during his first two seasons in Chicago, averaging 10.2 and 11.8 points per contest.

However, in year three, he is averaging 9.1 points per outing and shooting just 38 percent overall and 30 percent from beyond the arc.

McDermott, on the other hand, is enjoying his best season as a member of the Bulls, averaging a career-best 9.7 points per contest. As was the case with Snell, though, neither player has taken the kind of leap that the front office was hoping for.

The aforementioned instances stand on their own merit, but the story doesn’t end there.

After failing to qualify for the postseason for the first time in eight years in 2015-16, the front office vowed to become younger and more athletic.

How did they accomplish that goal?

They did so by promptly acquiring Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade.

While Wade has been productive in his 14th season (19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per contest), the same thing cannot be said about Rondo, who is shooting a career-low 37 percent from the field and has been deemed as a better fit with the second unit.

Although both players are capable of contributing to the team in different ways, the best years of their respective careers are behind them. In other words, the Bulls did not meet their goal of becoming younger and more athletic.

Next: 25 Greatest Scorers of All-Time

Now that it has been determined that the higher ups are willing to retain Paxson and Forman regardless of how this season plays out, Bulls fans may as well get used to watching a mediocre product on the court as the change they were hoping for is not going to come to fruition in the near future.

Home/Chicago Bulls