AN END-GM PRODUCTION
Rise and fall of Gar Forman were slow in the making, but his own foibles finally led to demise with Bulls
The question was met with a wave of the hand, a motion that belittles a person’s standing, as if they no longer matter. “Scouting in Siberia,’’ a member of the Bulls’ organization joked two weeks ago.
And just like that, the question was answered.
Where has general manager Gar Forman been the last few months?
More important, that question and answer symbolized what has been a slow burn felt throughout the organization for almost a year: that Forman, hired for that post in 2009, was all but done. His demise finally a reality and mostly because of his own doing.
The NBA Executive of the Year for the 2010-11 season has been reduced to a lead scout, hidden from media interactions for months, with his actual job duties more mystery than transparency.
Those duties will be coming to an end once the coronavirus shutdown is lifted and Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf can get
back to restructuring his front office in what is expected to be the biggest overhaul in franchise history.
The Sun-Times broke the story of Reinsdorf ’s plans during All-Star Weekend, and while sources as of last week said there was still some uncertainty about what role vice president of basketball operations John Paxson will play in all of this, Forman will have absolutely no seat at the decisionmaking table, except for keeping the GM title warm for his successor.
The days of disgruntled fans chanting “Fire Gar/Pax’’ can come to an end because “Gar’’ already has been removed.
♦♦♦ Forman’s rise through the Bulls’ organization was far from meteoric. Then again, because of his reputation in the wake of a scandal at New Mexico State, it shouldn’t have been a quick one.
Forman joined the Bulls as a scout in 1998, working his way up the ladder from director of player personnel to special assistant, then finally landing his white whale — GM in 2009.
His timing was impeccable, but so was the initial job he did in his new post. Of course, landing Derrick Rose in a 2008 draft lottery that the team only had a 1.7 percent chance of hitting on was beyond lucky, but championship teams are built on luck.
Other pieces were needed, and Forman provided those.
Forman not only helped in the hiring of Tom Thibodeau, but he was behind the scouting of Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson. Then as GM, he hit big on Jimmy Butler — maybe the best pick of his tenure.
The Bulls were winning, the United Center was still one of the toughest tickets in town, the money was flowing and the Reinsdorfs were happy.
If first impressions are everything, Forman connected for a homer on his first pitch.
Then 2012 came, and in the wake of Rose’s organizational-changing knee injury, Forman finally had to deal with adversity. If adversity measures a person’s true worth, it wasn’t long before Forman was exposed.
The drafting of Marquis Teague was catastrophic on many levels. First, because Thibodeau wanted Draymond Green and was vetoed, and, second, because Forman was actually talked into the pick by Kentucky coach John Calipari, which has been confirmed by the higher-ups.
But it was behind the scenes that Forman started to misplay his hand.
He quickly gained the reputation of someone who was paranoid, turning his focus to keeping his job rather than doing it.
Hence, he inserted “spies’’ throughout the organization, as the Sun-Times documented in 2017. Then-assistant GM/coach Randy
Brown was identified as one of many. Brown denied the allegation to the paper, but former Bull Rip Hamilton came out days later and confirmed the suspicions surrounding Brown.
Forman also dabbled in confiscating the phones and computers of employees, looking for leaks or negative comments about him.
While Thibodeau had his obvious disagreements with Paxson, both knew where they stood with each other. Forman, however, played both sides of the fence, telling Thibodeau one thing but badmouthing him to the players.
Even Paxson grew distrustful of Forman after he heard how Forman would go on these scouting trips and blame organizational mistakes on Paxson, doing everything he could to wipe the weapon clean of his fingerprints. The Sun-Times reported that story several times.
So how did Forman remain employed? Paxson, Thibodeau and the players were aware of one key detail: As long as Forman had chairman Jerry Reinsdorf in his corner, he was a made man, untouchable even to Paxson.
One problem: Even untouchable has an expiration date.
♦♦♦
Jerry Reinsdorf signed off on Thibodeau’s firing. A year before that was stamped, however, there already were rumors that Forman was recruiting Fred Hoiberg from Iowa State to be the next coach.
The entire locker room knew Forman operated that way.
Butler was hoping his loyalty would be treated differently. When he laid out his plans for how he wanted to stay in Chicago and recruit a championship-level team, he finished the presentation believing Forman was on board. So off to Europe he went, hoping Kyrie Irving or Kyle Lowry would join the Bulls.
Within a few days, Butler was no longer a Bull. He had been dealt to the Timberwolves as the rebuild got underway.
That’s why Travelle Gaines, Butler’s trainer at the time, immediately tweeted out that he “met drug dealers with better morals then their GM. He is a liar and everyone knows [it].’’
Butler then voiced his displeasure with Forman to the Sun-Times, saying he felt he had been lied to.
Letting Noah walk and trading Rose the year before raised some eyebrows with other NBA players. But when the well-liked Butler ripped into Forman, any small hope of game-changing free agents ever joining the Bulls died.
As for the moves Forman made in getting the Bulls to this point, the Butler trade has proved catastrophic, and life without Thibodeau has made the organization a perennial lottery-dweller.
What hit home with Jerry Reinsdorf earlier this season, however, was that the United Center had a lot more empty seats and the fan base was watching less and less.
The final straw, though, seemingly came in November. The Sun-Times reported that former players were angry when they thought Forman was aloof toward them when the Bulls honored Luol Deng at a home game.
Word got back to Jerry Reinsdorf, and the man who always has had Forman’s back was done handing out life jackets.
Since then, Forman has been more absent than usual at the United Center and Advocate Center.
The Sun-Times initially reported that with the impending front-office restructuring, Forman could be kept on as a lead scout or be given a new title, but even that no longer seems to be in play.
The days of Forman and his cohorts lurking throughout the organization are just about done.
His title is months — maybe weeks — away from officially being stripped.
And unless there actually is NBA talent that needs “scouting in Siberia,’’ Forman’s demise is all but complete.