John Paxson Wants a Point Guard. He Better Get One.
Remember when the Bulls missed the playoffs in Fred Hoiberg’s first season? Gar Forman famously said the Bulls needed to get “younger [and] more athletic.” Then, the team went out and signed aging veterans in Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade. No one could believe they did a 180 on their words so quickly, and a tumultuous season culminated in a first-round playoff exit and the start of the current rebuild.
Fast forward to the end of this past season, when John Paxson hosted the Bulls’ season-end news conference alone. Among the things Paxson made clear was the Bulls’ need to shore up the point guard position. While they haven’t completely given up on Kris Dunn, he hasn’t done enough to instill confidence that he’s part of their long-term future. So it’s back to the drawing board for them.
The Bulls have a few avenues by which they might find a point guard. Chicago native Patrick Beverley let everyone know of his desire to come home, though he won’t commit to them before meeting with a few other teams first. The draft is the most obvious place to shore up that position of need, but for a few weeks now, mock drafts have Darius Garland and Coby White being taken before the Bulls get to pick at seventh. Most recently, speculation that the Bulls might try to move up by acquiring the fourth pick the New Orleans Pelicans acquired in the Anthony Davis trade has been rampant.
However the Bulls address their self-professed biggest need, they better do it. If their biggest offseason move is to draft Jarrett Culver or Cam Reddish, not only does that revert a less trusting Dunn to to starting up top once again, but it creates a crowd at shooting guard, assuming the Bulls don’t move Zach LaVine. Worse yet, it will widen the already large gap in trust between GarPax and the fan base. Shame on you if you fool us once and, well, you know the rest.
Even when you take away Paxson’s comments, does anyone really want to go into the new season with Dunn running your team’s offense yet again? Sure, the Bulls could be doing worse, but they could be doing a lot better, too. When you need a basket in a close game and you have to trust Dunn to run your offense, you’re never sure what’s going to happen, and that’s not a good thing. The next comment I see that Dunn makes everyone on the floor that much better will be the first.
Dunn also is representative of everything the Bulls have been during the rebuild. They acquire players with high ceilings or close to them only to have them miss many games because of injuries. None of the three players acquired in the Jimmy Butler trade have played more than 68 games in a season for them yet. The difference is Lauri Markkanen and LaVine have shown they could be a building block and key supporting player, respectively, and Dunn hasn’t shown promise as either.
The worst thing Paxson could have done before speaking to the media was test the waters with the media and fans so he could identify a position of need that he could tell everyone so that they would be mollified. That’s not to say he did that, but if he doesn’t act on what he said he needed to act on, people are going to think he led them on. The trust in the Bulls’ brass already is fragile, if not broken. It would be better to say you’re drafting the best player available than digging yourself deeper by not having your actions match your words.
That said, I doubt Paxson is that foolish. After all, he wasn’t the one who uttered the “younger, more athletic” phrase three years ago, and he’s become the sole spokesman for the front office while Forman remains behind the scenes. Plus, the Bulls have a solid draft record in the 16 years since he took over with only a few legitimate misses in the first round. He’s earned at least a little leeway in this part of the job, and if you don’t believe that or simply hate all things GarPax, you really haven’t been paying attention.
It’s time for the Bulls to put up or shut up. If they say they need a point guard, they better get one who’s ready to contribute immediately as a starter, not one they can only get off the scrap heap because they missed out on everyone of real value. Otherwise, no one will believe them the next time they say they’re going a certain direction because it will be obvious they’ll end up doing something completely different. They’ve opened their mouths, and wads upon wads of cash are waiting to be stuffed inside of them.
