Nobody in Chicago sports gets a bigger pass than Jerry Reinsdorf
Photos of Jerry Reinsdorf.
David HaughContact ReporterChicago Tribune
At 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, the
Bulls issued a 107-word statement on behalf of Chairman
Jerry Reinsdorf.
The Bulls had just completed a season as disappointing and dysfunctional as any in the franchise's 50-year history and Reinsdorf, as insulated as ever, responded with a paragraph. Reinsdorf apparently doesn't answer questions about the Bulls anymore unless they involve the '90s dynasty or his induction into the basketball Hall of Fame. He is immune to public pressure because he considers himself above it, not because it doesn't exist.
Transparency is a trend in professional sports management Reinsdorf chooses not to embrace; he used the same weak mass-emailing method last year to explain the firing of
Tom Thibodeau.
"The resources needed will be made available to get this team moving in the right direction,'' Reinsdorf said Wednesday night.
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Anybody know where an
NBA team shops for accountability?
That was the word Bulls executive vice president
John Paxson threw around loosely when he and general manager
Gar Forman held their hastily arranged postseason postmortem nearly an hour before Reinsdorf hit Send.
On a busy night when the Blackhawks began the NHL playoffs and both of the city's baseball teams played, the Bulls decided to publicly address how they went from challenging the Cavaliers to qualifying for the NBA lottery with essentially the same roster. They could have done this before their season finale against the Sixers instead of immediately after, but that would have left everybody too much time to digest it.
Whether Paxson was leaving town Thursday or not, the Bulls had to know scheduling an end-of-the-year news conference 20 minutes after the season ended would come across as corporate cowardice and cast them as an organization in denial. Doing so anyway suggests they don't care about the perception they created. The reality is it also instills season-ticket holders who keep filling the United Center for some reason with little confidence that anything will change.
Neither Paxson nor Forman will lose their jobs. The same coach,
Fred Hoiberg, will return. Some of his staff will go and the roster will turn over, sure, but based on the decisions of the same guys held responsible for the Bulls missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
Bulls management vows to stay basic course, but there will be changes
Bulls fans desperately want a makeover. Team officials keep insisting they see things worth salvaging, which only makes you wonder how closely anybody has looked in the mirror.
"Gar and I are accountable for what this team did this year,'' Paxson said. "We don't run away from it. We accept it. That's on us.''
They were noble words that meant nothing. Credit Paxson for accepting responsibility in a long, emotional opening statement but his definition of accountable differs from many of his peers because he works for Reinsdorf, who wrote his own glossary. The most interesting part of the press conference was the irony of Paxson promising players that training camp would be harder less than a year after firing a coach considered too tough.
If the Bulls truly operated in an atmosphere of accountability, would Forman have lauded Jimmy Butler for a "fantastic year" in a season he regressed defensively and allowed his ego to run amok? Or would the GM have expressed satisfaction in the progress of Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott? If Thibodeau made everybody in the work place too uneasy, one could argue the Reinsdorf approach leaves people on the Bulls' payroll too comfortable.
If Reinsdorf indeed were holding his front office accountable, either Paxson or Forman would be fired or reassigned, with Forman the most likely candidate for dismissal for being the one who orchestrated Hoiberg's arrival. Pro sports usually work that way. But Reinsdorf loves the status quo, and gradually that thinking creeps into the minds of the people who work for him. Reinsdorf's defenders describe it as loyalty but, in the case of the Bulls, it merely disguises a lazy approach to running a team worth $2.3 billion. Arrogance also contributes.
The Bulls should be lamenting not winning NBA championships, not missing the playoffs. An engaged owner or chairman would be front and center, at the appropriate time, promising fans a better effort and putting his people on notice.
Summaries compiled by Tribune reporter K.C. Johnson.
The man often referred to as the greatest owner ever in this sports city due to six Bulls championships and a
White Sox World Series title now risks becoming as out of touch and out of date as former Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz became. Nobody in Chicago sports consistently gets a bigger pass than Reinsdorf does.
Imagine the outcry if Bears chairman George McCaskey had resorted to issuing a statement following the disastrous 2014 season — the equivalent to this Bulls' debacle. Instead, McCaskey openly accepted the criticism his franchise deserved, admitted his mother, Virginia was "pissed off,'' and vowed changes that came quickly.
While Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts remains as accessible to fans and media as he was during the dark days of Wrigley Field renovation, Reinsdorf stays in his bunker. Can anyone imagine man-of-the-people Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz standing pat if his team started the season thinking finals and ended it missing the playoffs?
So while Paxson and Forman left a lasting impression Wednesday night with empty rhetoric delivered at a moment's notice, remember they only were following the lead of their boss, wherever he is.
dhaugh@tribpub.com
Fred
in the presser. and they got job security
but no one else is safe, sounds like chicago bulls culture
Dunleavy was the 3rd overall pick in the 02 draft
shyt that make your soul burn slow...
