History lesson
Paxson has lived through challenge of rebuilding Bulls
Thirteen months have passed since the Bulls plunged into full-rebuild mode by trading Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves.
That transaction netted them Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, the draft rights to Lauri Markkanen and the near certainty they’d be bad in 2017-18. Indeed, the ensuing 27-55 campaign got them the seventh pick in the draft and, ultimately, Wendell Carter Jr.
The Nikola Mirotic trade to the Pelicans gave the Bulls a second first-round pick, which became Chandler Hutchison. Ample salary-cap space in a tight market led to a teamfriendly contract for free agent Jabari Parker.
That’s six players 24 or younger drafted at No. 2 (Parker), No. 5 (Dunn), No. 7 (Markkanen and Carter), No. 13 (LaVine) and No. 22 (Hutchison).
“We’re really pleased. But it guarantees nothing. And we’re not saying it does,” executive vice president John Paxson said in an interview last week after Parker’s introductory news conference. “It’s hard to win at a high level with young players. But the point I keep going back to is when we made the deal for Jimmy, we said we wanted to get a jump-start on the rebuild. We did that in the deal and we’ve quickly added three other pieces to that. It’s exciting.”
Nobody should be surprised. The last time Paxson oversaw a full rebuild, he flipped the entire roster save for two players — Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry — in two seasons.
Asked if that experience from 2003-05 prepared him or helped inform his decision-making process over the last 13 months, Paxson paused.
“The league is different now. But you always learn lessons from the past,” he said. “The big thing back then is (Chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf ) stepped up and we paid ($3 million) for a first-round pick (Luol Deng). This year, we had to trade a good player in Niko for a first-round pick. But we knew there was value in having more than one firstround pick. And we had cap space both times. Back then, we used it on (Andres) Nocioni and this year we were able to use it on Jabari.
“Our whole thing, back then and now, is let’s keep acquiring assets and talent. And we feel like we’ve done that.”
The 2004-05 Bulls proved the perfect storm. Deng and Nocioni arrived with No. 3 pick Ben Gordon and second-round pick Chris Duhon to team with the No. 7 pick from the previous year — Kirk Hinrich — and Chandler, Curry and Antonio Davis to win 47 games. The Bulls qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the dynasty dissolved.
If the 2018-19 Bulls are to make a similar-sized jump in a watered-down Eastern Conference, Paxson knows what it will take.
“This year, a lot of our success will be determined by how big of a jump Zach, Kris and Lauri make,” he said. “We knew that going into this offseason. Now you add Jabari, Wendell and Chandler and you feel like you’re making some progress.”
Of course, adding so many young players also means roles must be established. One of the beauties of that 2004-05 team coached by Scott Skiles was its unselfishness. Four players — Curry, Hinrich, Gordon, Deng — averaged in double figures in scoring. And different games featured different heroes.
At recent media availabilities, Paxson has made clear the franchise’s belief in Markkanen’s potential. LaVine and Parker have proficient scoring seasons in their NBA pasts.
There will be a lot of options — and plenty to figure out — offensively. Paxson knows this.
“There’s always some type of pecking order, but that doesn’t mean one guy,” he said at a recent news conference. “I played with Michael (Jordan). He’s the greatest player of all time. So he was naturally the guy. But it’s not like that on every team. It’s the responsibility of our all our guys. They have to be themselves and play within the team concept.
“You can’t get caught up in terms of this guy is your finisher. That’s not what team basketball is about. What you want is, you want great talent. You want guys who believe in each other. I can go back to all those days we won. Michael was always the greatest player, but he trusted the guys around him.”
Paxson has an NBA Finals game-winning jumper on his resume to prove it.
“That’s the beauty of our game, is when you get a group of guys who trust each other, believe in each other,” he said. “So the game’s on the line and Kris Dunn’s open and Zach LaVine is covered, Kris Dunn is the guy. Maybe on another night, Zach’s the guy or Lauri’s the guy. Maybe it’s Bobby Portis.
“I don’t get caught up at all in who’s the so-called man. I do think that our guys, they’ll stand out by their work and how they’ll perform. When you get a group that plays together, it generally results in a group that wins games at a higher level. That’s our goal, obviously.”