Why I can't get into the Bulls
I like the NBA, I really do. And I really want to like the Bulls; I try and try and try again. But I just can't get into them this year. I watch the Bulls, and I'm mostly disgusted. Poor disjointed play, a few flashes of brilliance, poor disjointed play, then either a tight win or tight loss. (Or they're blown out from the opening whistle, and those games make me want to put a gun in my mouth. Like the upcoming game against the Celtics.)
I look at all the lottery picks on this team, and I just can't figure out why they're so mediocre. The team is just the epitome of wasted talent, and I think that's my problem. There's only one player on this team that I really like, and that's, of course, Derrick Rose. While he's hit some snags of late, the sky is the ceiling for that kid. There's a couple guys I kinda like, and that's Gooden, Gorden, and sometimes Nocioni. Gooden I like because he seems to get the most out of his talent, and I like Gordon because its hard not to like his NBA Jam-like "on fire" games. (My Gooden approval, I must admit, is totally fake because he, too, is more-or-less a failed lottery pick. I just like him more than our failures because he was somebody else's failure.) Noce, well, he sucks most of the time but at least he appears to give 100% at all times. It's appreciated. (and he can get on fire at times as well, like last night, and those games are hard to ignore.)
And then there's Luol Deng. Lottery pick, massive contract, average player. It's just the expectation factor that's killing me. Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah...massive, massive busts. Noah looks bored and is starting to look like he'll be out of the league in two years. I never would have guessed that when they drafted him. I knew he wasn't a star, but I thought he'd be a solid, high-energy big man off the bench at the bare minimum. Grab some boards, a couple of putbacks. Good D. He's done none of that. Thomas is the most perplexing. He's got all the talent in the world, yet he rots on the bench most nights. Not that he's earned playing time, mind you. He gets in there and does nothing. If he wasn't a top three pick, he'd have been cut long ago. He's just worthless.
I guess when you get right down to it, I hate watching the Bulls because of John Paxson. In more ways than one. First and foremost, the Bulls roster. It's all his. If he didn't win the lottery this year with those 1.7% odds, he wouldn't have gotten Rose and the Bulls would have been stuck with another lottery disappointment. Guaranteed. But the second reason I blame Paxson is because of his playing career. His team, well, Jordan's team, just set the bar extremely high. I look at the Celtics now and I see the '96 Bulls who won 72 games. Three superstuds, great role players, come to play every night. And then I look at the Bulls now and I see what the Atlanta Hawks were then. Mediocre, first-round fodder. At best.
The grace period is over. I cut the Bulls some serious slack during the first five years post Jordan. I mean, six championships in eight years buys an awfully huge grace period. A couple of 15 win seasons? A few draft busts? No problem. I'm still drunk on Champagne and Grant Park rallies. But this is Year Ten A.J., and they've won exactly one playoff series. Never contenders. Never really even close.
I just can't take it any more. Every time I click past their games, I'm superfly TNT, I'm guns of the navarone. I'm like "Jim Hendry" in this video.
Time to clean house. Everybody but Rose goes. Make a run at LeBron. Or Wade. Do something.