Six seasons into the Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley era, the Bulls keep ending up in the same place — middling results, repeated messaging, and no consequence from the top.
Six seasons into the Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley era, the Bulls keep ending up in the same place — middling results, repeated messaging, and no consequence from the top.
16 comments
It’s a lifestyle
Why didn’t they make this decision before the year started? Where they would have gotten better trade value and started tanking before winning 24 games…
Should’ve done it a few years ago, it was very clear for a long time that this team had a very low ceiling
AK gotta be one of the dumbest execs in the league, yet the reinsdorfs extended him…. This team hardly deserves fans the way they be moving
It’s not their decision, it’s ownership’s
You slobbering marks put way, way too much stock into how much sway & influence, and power front offices truly have. 90% of the time, the FO of a sports franchise is simply doing what they’re told to do. Ownership sets an end goal, and that’s essentially what the FO has to go off of/has to attain
The reindsorfs *do not want the fucking franchise to see success ever again*. What don’t you people understand about that? It doesn’t make sense for them from a monetary perspective. Winning costs money, a LOT of money, and a lot of time, effort, and resources. They’ve already made their money, they’re good, and now, they’re in the best possible position to, wherein their investment is working for them; the Bulls are the single most recognizable sports logo on planet earth. The UC is a global tourist attraction. Anywhere I go around the world, if the topic of the US gets brought up, it’s almost always “omg have you been to where the Bulls/Michael played!?!?”. I live in Madrid & people here dream about being able to visit Chicago one day, just to go to the UC
It makes no sense whatsoever for the reinsdorfs to strive for success, and any time success looms, they’ll immediately thwart it, because the stadium sells out & merch flies off the shelves either way, and by staying mediocre, they can avoid the tax/having to invest in resources/having to dole out fat contracts etc. it’s genius, really.
These people don’t give two shits about basketball, or you. The fans are the enemy.
And AKME are smart guys. They have *zero* power. Their order was to stay mediocre, stay at .500 & hopefully make the play in. So that’s what they’re doing.
Sure still seems like the middle to me
Just wait until they let this doofus rebuild the roster right back into the middle again lol
Why are we praising the FO for getting us out of “the middle” when they’ve had 5+ years to get a rebuild going. On top of that. if you are a good organization, why can’t you have your FO turn a middle of the pack team to a good team? Why do you NEED to be worse first?
Anyways, fire AKME and sell the team Jerry
Six years with the worst FO in the league and without a coach. What a ride
Right, it’s *their goal*. They’re happy where they are and until the UC isn’t full or they’re hounded like GarPax was, they ain’t goin’ anywhere.
Everybody’s blaming AK ( he is responsible of course) but nobody Jerry . That’s insane! JERRY+AK+BILLY DONOVAN NEED TO LEAVE CHICAGO ASAP!!
Its been six seasons already? I have been checked out 5 years already?
If you need some hope for the future…read below
I have had conversations casually with someone who works on the branding side of things at the Bulls and I will say this;
The organization, in partnership with the hawks, are 2 revenue streams that funnel into the United Center as we all know. The “United Center Venture” is partnership between Jerry Reinsdorf and the family of the late Chicago Blackhawks owner William W. Wirtz. So both of their main priority is to focus on tickets, merch, food etc. and less about making far away fans feel happy.
For a long time the United Center relied on the success of the Hawks. They had a good run but the Toews era is long gone. Still, as long as people come, doesn’t matter how the team ranks at the end of the season. So the Bulls got lazy in the midst of the Hawk’s success.
I’ve specifically had discussions with them about the common sentiment in this thread that results in fans asking other fans not to go to games because they don’t want people supporting the FO. I’ve asked if that’s on their radar and they’re aware of that narrative but Reddit haters mean nothing to them so they are not currently doing anything about it, lol.
However, things are definitely shifting. There is a 7 BILLION DOLLAR renovation coming to the United Center with the vision of developing it into a tourist destination similar to the Cubs/Wrigleyville. This is being funded “privately” but of course it’s both Jerry’s family and the Wirtz family. So anyways this 7 billion dollar vision is a walkable neighborhood that would have places to eat, drink etc. think of it as a mini west loop. They want fans to come hang out any day of the week with access to the NBA/NHL games on TVs whether there was a bull game or hawks game that night or not.
That requires a ton of fan loyalty and buy in from fans who don’t live in the area but would drive a few hours to visit and get a hotel for the weekend. As someone who lives downtown Chicago, I can attest that unless you’re obsessed with baseball you avoid Wrigleyville at all costs. Without that loyalty, Wrigleyville wouldn’t work. It needs the buy in from the fans in the burbs and Indiana etc. They won the World Series ten years ago and it’s still a thriving spot.
The Bulls do NOT have anywhere close to that level of support from their fans. Gen Z doesn’t care about the Jordan era, you have players on the court that weren’t even alive when Jordan was on the Bulls. They need their version of the 2016 World Series to happen to make this tourist spot happen. They need another Jonathan Toews to bless them with more trophies. That starts with becoming playoff contenders by the time this renovation is finished with I believe would be the 2028/2029 season. This is why they are stacking draft picks for seasons so far out.
My strategic opinion, and I’m not a sports expert so I could be wrong, is that they probably are aware on some level that in order for this business plan to pay off for the United Center, and drive up tourism in the long run, they need to get back into being a play off team. You don’t build an entire neighborhood around an organization with the reputation the Bulls currently have. You just can’t. And the Hawks haven’t been amazing in over a decade either.
I see this rebrand coming… and it’s all apart of getting butts in seats and selling alcohol, as it always will be, but they know that generating the level of revenue that they want to achieve with this Reno is not possible without fans feeling loyal to the organization.
Again this is just my opinion based on casual conversations with one person on the inside, but I do not work there and I am not paid by them so take it for what it’s worth.
Learn more about the renovation if you want to: https://www.unitedcenter.com/The-1901-Project/
I don’t know how controversial it is to say, but as a front office, GarPax shits all over AKME. Thats not necessarily a compliment to GarPax, in the grand scheme of things, they are very mediocre. But the Bulls were almost always competitive. Things could have gone vastly different if Derrick Rose didn’t get hurt. The moment Rose got hurt was the beginning of the end of the Bulls, and they never recovered.
So, I am not saying GarPax were great, they absolutely weren’t, but compared to the garbage we’ve been given they are Hall of fame executives.
But of course, it all lands at the feet of Jerry because he doesn’t give a shit, and why would he, the Bulls make a profit and fans fill the seats. That is all that matters to him.
IT’S NOT A PHASE, MOM!