It would have seemed difficult to be worse than GarPax, but AKME were just as bad if not worse, and at least GarPax had some success through 2011 (when they drafted Jimmy) before everything went to sh*t. Good riddance!
With Billy not getting the UNC job, my prediction is he moves into a front office position. Don't know if he'll be good at it, but he can't be worse than AKME.
It might not have been "not getting the UNC job" but "Bulls management convincing Billy not to take UNC job by promising him a GM/Exec role and UNC pivoting to their 2nd choice." I guess we'll see when more details come out.
To be fair, when Pax cared he did some pretty good things with the Bulls and (while lottery luck with DRose played a big factor) they were within a Deng injury and multiple Rose injuries from probably playing in an NBA Finals and maybe winning a ring. Once Gar took over I think Pax just started mailing it in.
Connelly and Polk were hired by Arturas. Connelly has a much more accomplished brother. Polk is the cap guy, though they screwed up the Lonzo-Okoro trade from a trade exception perspective he did not go over the luxury tax which I think is all the cap math Reinsdorf cares about.
I want the Bulls to cut ties with Donovan too, just burn it all to the ground and start fresh. Some Bulls YouTubers have made the argument that Donovan wouldn’t be interested in being an executive. Which I guess is a separate issue from whether or not ownership will try to promote him into that role, but still I hope Donovan’s out of here at season’s end. I’ve heard Masai Ujiri and Bob Myers are available. Myers would be my pick.
I am trying to recall the start of their tenure. He was hired in April 2020 and took until March of the following year to do anything except draft Patrick Williams. His excuses for doing nothing sounded insane ("we want to see what we have") and, with the benefit of hindsight, were insane. In league scouting exists idiot.
When it came time to actually take action, it was the Vuc trade, which may be a top 5 worst trade of the decade. He signed DeRozan and we had our "big three". You could squint at DeMar and see a winning player but Zach and Vuc were always empty calories.
I recall these things because, at the time, I was trying not to be a hater. Maybe it was just the culture at the time but this was apparently something you did not want to be. And, god help me, I actually pretended to be optimistic about these moves. Thank god they took down the old site and those posts have not survived. The lesson is never stop hating. Never.
Holy shit. I totally forgot what he was dragging his feet about. It was freakin' Boylen. How did we ever think this guy was anything other than a dope? Were we ever so naive?
Me the day they fired GarPax: "I'm so thrilled and relieved, this is one of the best days to be a Bulls Fan in a long time -- whatever happens next, it certainly can't be any worse!"
Me, today: "I'm so thrilled and relieved, this is one of the best days to be a Bulls Fan in a long time -- whatever happens next, it certainly can't be any worse!"
Last time Reinsdorf brought in a GM who won a championship, that guy had experienced most of his moderate career success as a baseball scout. So, ladies and gentleman, please welcome your next Bulls Executive VP and General Manager, Mr. Kenny Williams!!!!
I'm excited to be excited about the Bulls again. If they get some lottery luck, get that Blazers pick, and hire a competent basketball ops team they might genuinely be fun next year for the first time since the Lonzo injury?
Bulls fan since 1970 (I was 7). Feels like the MJ era is the karma kicking our ass now. We can't have nice things. AKME/Eversley were not good at their jobs, glad to see them go.
Is Billy better at being a GM? Can't be worse then Garpax and now AKME/Ev.
How do we even evaluate potential front office folks?
The lesson that I learned with AKME is that we should immediately doubt anyone who would accept the job. JR makes constructing a real team impossible. The only attraction is the lack of accountability.
Let’s be clear: a dog wearing a bow tie would be better at this job than AK.
Maybe I’ll be stunned and proven wrong, but it feels like the only way to go is up.
Would I recommend promoting Billy? Eh maybe. He hasn’t given me any reason to think he’d be bad at the job. His passive aggressive shots that were taken at the roster building this season tells me that he’s not delusional. And the style he implemented after DeMar was traded tells me that he understands the relationship between personnel and playing style.
I’d expect him to be more of a “Brad Stevens Lite” than a “Brad Stevens 2.0”, but even that would be worlds better than AK.
I’d still prefer a proven front office executive running this team, but I think you could definitely do worse than Billy.
I think Billy has genuine integrity and the capacity for personal responsibility. So that's a pretty dramatic step up from AK already. He also clearly has a very high basketball acumen.
Billy's track record at Florida (including as the architect of one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time) is a stronger indication he can run basketball operations than anything in AKME's resume prior to their hire...
Nice to have good news come across my phone for a change. Holy shit things are dark in the world. At least we can delude ourselves into thinking there is hope again for this terrible franchise for a year or two
Shams did have the first report minutes before the Bulls statement heh https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/2041223923367571728
It would have seemed difficult to be worse than GarPax, but AKME were just as bad if not worse, and at least GarPax had some success through 2011 (when they drafted Jimmy) before everything went to sh*t. Good riddance!
With Billy not getting the UNC job, my prediction is he moves into a front office position. Don't know if he'll be good at it, but he can't be worse than AKME.
It might not have been "not getting the UNC job" but "Bulls management convincing Billy not to take UNC job by promising him a GM/Exec role and UNC pivoting to their 2nd choice." I guess we'll see when more details come out.
KC trying to ruin everyone's good time. Not going to work (today)!
>Reinsdorf, senior advisor John Paxson and Brian Hagen, Pat Connelly and JJ Polk will work collectively at top of basketball opps during search
I’m glad about the news but seeing that Paxson still has a job with the Bulls did dampen my spirits a bit.
Hagen came aboard with Gar, he was essentially a bag man at Iowa State
To be fair, when Pax cared he did some pretty good things with the Bulls and (while lottery luck with DRose played a big factor) they were within a Deng injury and multiple Rose injuries from probably playing in an NBA Finals and maybe winning a ring. Once Gar took over I think Pax just started mailing it in.
yes and that was 10 years ago, the league passed Paxson before then so I can only assume he's way way way out of touch now.
Connelly and Polk were hired by Arturas. Connelly has a much more accomplished brother. Polk is the cap guy, though they screwed up the Lonzo-Okoro trade from a trade exception perspective he did not go over the luxury tax which I think is all the cap math Reinsdorf cares about.
According to the Bulls website, Connelly and Polk are listed as assistant GM’s and Hagen is the director of player development.
I don’t know who Hagen, Connelly or Polk are. My guess is that they have been here for years though.
Who should be hired? Billy moving up would be very Reinsdorfian, rewarding all that bullet-taking, but would it make things better?
I want the Bulls to cut ties with Donovan too, just burn it all to the ground and start fresh. Some Bulls YouTubers have made the argument that Donovan wouldn’t be interested in being an executive. Which I guess is a separate issue from whether or not ownership will try to promote him into that role, but still I hope Donovan’s out of here at season’s end. I’ve heard Masai Ujiri and Bob Myers are available. Myers would be my pick.
Holy shit, it has happened.
I am trying to recall the start of their tenure. He was hired in April 2020 and took until March of the following year to do anything except draft Patrick Williams. His excuses for doing nothing sounded insane ("we want to see what we have") and, with the benefit of hindsight, were insane. In league scouting exists idiot.
When it came time to actually take action, it was the Vuc trade, which may be a top 5 worst trade of the decade. He signed DeRozan and we had our "big three". You could squint at DeMar and see a winning player but Zach and Vuc were always empty calories.
I recall these things because, at the time, I was trying not to be a hater. Maybe it was just the culture at the time but this was apparently something you did not want to be. And, god help me, I actually pretended to be optimistic about these moves. Thank god they took down the old site and those posts have not survived. The lesson is never stop hating. Never.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt even after his first (of several) hopeless press conferences.
when he didn't fire Boylen immediately I was worried. I was right! and FIRST!
Holy shit. I totally forgot what he was dragging his feet about. It was freakin' Boylen. How did we ever think this guy was anything other than a dope? Were we ever so naive?
heh didn't you publish a fire AK article in like week 3 after he was hired?
You were indeed correct.
that's right. TOTAL VINDICATION.
Excited for the comprehensive worldwide search for a new exec to end with Michael Reinsdorf’s personal chef or something.
Me the day they fired GarPax: "I'm so thrilled and relieved, this is one of the best days to be a Bulls Fan in a long time -- whatever happens next, it certainly can't be any worse!"
Me, today: "I'm so thrilled and relieved, this is one of the best days to be a Bulls Fan in a long time -- whatever happens next, it certainly can't be any worse!"
Last time Reinsdorf brought in a GM who won a championship, that guy had experienced most of his moderate career success as a baseball scout. So, ladies and gentleman, please welcome your next Bulls Executive VP and General Manager, Mr. Kenny Williams!!!!
I'm excited to be excited about the Bulls again. If they get some lottery luck, get that Blazers pick, and hire a competent basketball ops team they might genuinely be fun next year for the first time since the Lonzo injury?
Bulls fan since 1970 (I was 7). Feels like the MJ era is the karma kicking our ass now. We can't have nice things. AKME/Eversley were not good at their jobs, glad to see them go.
Is Billy better at being a GM? Can't be worse then Garpax and now AKME/Ev.
How do we even evaluate potential front office folks?
The lesson that I learned with AKME is that we should immediately doubt anyone who would accept the job. JR makes constructing a real team impossible. The only attraction is the lack of accountability.
Let’s be clear: a dog wearing a bow tie would be better at this job than AK.
Maybe I’ll be stunned and proven wrong, but it feels like the only way to go is up.
Would I recommend promoting Billy? Eh maybe. He hasn’t given me any reason to think he’d be bad at the job. His passive aggressive shots that were taken at the roster building this season tells me that he’s not delusional. And the style he implemented after DeMar was traded tells me that he understands the relationship between personnel and playing style.
I’d expect him to be more of a “Brad Stevens Lite” than a “Brad Stevens 2.0”, but even that would be worlds better than AK.
I’d still prefer a proven front office executive running this team, but I think you could definitely do worse than Billy.
I think Billy has genuine integrity and the capacity for personal responsibility. So that's a pretty dramatic step up from AK already. He also clearly has a very high basketball acumen.
Billy's track record at Florida (including as the architect of one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time) is a stronger indication he can run basketball operations than anything in AKME's resume prior to their hire...
Not specifically advocating for Billy, but I think I'd be totally fine with it if that's the route
Nice to have good news come across my phone for a change. Holy shit things are dark in the world. At least we can delude ourselves into thinking there is hope again for this terrible franchise for a year or two