The Bulls have a Reinsdorf problem too, but a different one

the White Sox owner is getting pilloried, but what about 'dorf's other franchise?

As the Chicago White Sox are very likely about to set a Major League Baseball record for futility, their owner Jerry Reinsdorf is getting what he fears most: scrutiny.

An article from The Athletic published on Thursday absolutely torched Reinsdorf for his many faults, perhaps the most encompassing of them being his stubbornness and arrogance in the face of a changing league.

One of two mentions of the Chicago Bulls were in reference of him not caring as much about them as his baseball team. This caused every Bulls fan around the world to remark: “no shit”

There was a second and final Bulls reference, pulling prior quotes from Reinsdorf indicating that his family will keep the Bulls upon his death whereas he “advises” them to sell the Sox.

This is also not news to us as Bulls fans, and thus an existential problem that extends past Jerry Reinsdorf’s lifespan. Because, by all appearances, his son Michael - who nominally runs the Bulls - is looking just as incompetent. If anything, he may be worse, as he doesn’t even have the emotional investment with the Bulls that his father has with the “religion” of baseball.

Michael took over the Bulls from his absentee father in his early forties, never really having a job qualifying him for leading a such a large organization. It’s certainly not uncommon in sports (or many businesses) to have family get the head chair. But hilariously part of the reason Jerry was so willing to cede control of the Bulls wasn’t just because he didn’t care about them but because, especially relative to the market-challenged Sox, the Bulls’ global brand¹ in a salary-cap, revenue-sharing league made it effectively a turnkey operation. Put another way: even Mikey could run it!

And in the dozen or so years since lil’ dorf has taken more control, he has plucked some low-hanging fruit like beefing up the marketing for a team that singularly owns the third largest media market in the league².

However, on the court, they’ve mostly sucked ass and slid down into irrelevance.

The Bulls under Michael appear to have different symptoms of suckage than the White Sox. The problem with the Sox appears to be that Jerry cares too much to not meddle. By contrast, Michael does appear to leave basketball decisions to his appointed decisionmakers. The problem here is that he doesn’t know how to find a good basketball person.

There was this disasterclass 2019 interview where Michael was clearly in thrall of dynamic duo John Paxson and Gar Forman. That enough should be disqualifying, and then in the time since he’s since been duped by even dumber and worse. He simply liked the cut of Jim Boylen’s jib enough to acquiesce Boylen weaseling his way into proclaiming himself “CEO”. Then there was the hiring of Arturas Karnisovas, which has been another spectacular failure³.

So is this situation for Bulls fans even worse than fans of the White Sox, who at least can reason Jerry isn’t going to live that much longer?

Perhaps not. The Bulls do possess inherent advantages, and while currently frustrating that they’re not tapped, it does still linger as potential.

And that potential - which is essentially spending more money - perhaps is something that Michael can do more freely only when out from under his father’s shadow. This wouldn’t be simply additional payroll, but (as thoroughly discussed in that White Sox article) spending more on the organization overall and in ways that’s not subject to a salary cap. That includes hiring lead executives who have done the job before and have qualifications beyond “can fool Michael Reinsdorf in a job interview”.

But perhaps that’s just coping. Maybe we’re doomed for way longer than even White Sox fans. After all, one of Jerry’s wishes is that his grandson is owning the Bulls next.

1. which Jerry had little to nothing to do with, and it’s galling that he was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame

2. also has effectively won over the entire established media covering the team, as they’ve either gone to work for the Bulls, work for a media partner, gone part-time due to lack of interest, or as with Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times, become buddies never criticizing the son (only the father).

3. I think - and you can find words here and not only in the internet archive - AK is even worse than given ‘credit’ for, as there is a large subset of the fanbase that is blaming ownership as if even a replacement-level executive couldn’t be doing MUCH better (or at least be able to explain themselves) within these same ownership restrictions