Paxson spreads and shares blame for Bulls season

Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, left, address the media next to general manager Gar Forman, right, after an NBA basketball game between the Bulls and the Philadelphia 76ers, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, in Chicago. The Bulls won 115-105.

The Bulls basketball operations tandem of John Paxson and Gar Forman spoke for about 30 minutes after Wednesday night's season-ending victory over Philadelphia.

Most of the talk was a rehash of what went wrong. There wasn't much insight about what may happen this summer as the Bulls try to recover from a playoff-skipping 42-40 season.

Maybe the most significant aspect of the media session was how Paxson did most all of the talking. I've heard informed speculation that Paxson might be ready to return to a lead role in basketball operations. If that happens, Forman might focus more on scouting and player personnel, the way the front office was set up before 2009, when Paxson took sort of a high-responsibility back seat.

For now, though, nothing has changed. Asked if their jobs could be on the line, Paxson brushed off the suggestion. The Bulls have made the playoffs 10 times in 12 years, so it is tough to argue Paxson and Forman have done a bad job.

"I can point to a lot of really good years where we've built something from scratch," Paxson said. "And we have confidence that we're going to get it right."

Paxson's opening line mentioned how he and Forman understand accountability. There weren't many regrets mentioned during the ensuing 30 minutes.

"This roster we brought back, we thought they had one more shot to make a real positive run in the Eastern Conference," Paxson said. "It obviously didn't play out that way."

A reporter asked if they felt the current group of players had one more run left, wouldn't it have made more sense to keep Tom Thibodeau as head coach, rather than bring in Fred Hoiberg to try to turn the Bulls into a high-scoring, fast-paced team?

"You don't know what would have happened had we been fully healthy," was Paxson's reply.

Paxson and Forman have some tough choices to make this summer, mainly what to do with free-agent center Joakim Noah and likely free-agent center Pau Gasol.

Should they try to break up the Derrick Rose-Jimmy Butler backcourt? Does the roster need to get younger, older, more athletic? And how do they attack two issues Paxson acknowledged -- the lack of fight and poor team chemistry.

Wednesday's chat was more about pointing out problems than suggesting solutions. Granted, this will be an unusual off-season in the NBA, because with a new television deal kicking in, the salary cap will rise and every team will have money to spend on free agents.

The Bulls can't have a single plan in mind.

Most of the accountability talk was directed at others. Hoiberg, for example.

"Fred is going to have to work at it," Paxson said. "He's going to have to devote a lot of time and energy to determining what he wants to be as a head coach and how he wants his teams to play.

"We didn't have our whole roster the entire year. That's tough on a rookie coach. He battled through it, and we're all confident that he's learned a lot. We're in this together. We'll help him grow and help this process move along the right way."

A question about defense was steered toward Rose.

"We couldn't keep people in front of us, and that's important," Paxson said. "That always starts with your guards, especially your point guard, creating, setting a tone. That's an area Derrick's really going to have to work on this summer. We need our point guard to set the tone defensively, there's no question about that."

Paxson was direct about Butler's attempts at becoming a team leader.

"When you're talking too much about leadership you're probably not getting what you need from the team leaders," he said. "I played with the greatest player in the game (Michael Jordan) and you didn't hear him talking about leadership."

Overall, Paxson delivered a message most fans probably would agree with: Even with all the injuries, the Bulls had more than enough talent to make the playoffs. The team chemistry and mental toughness were somehow lacking.

"Look, we need a tougher collective mindset," Paxson said. "We need a better identity as a basketball team. Somewhere this year it got sideways, I'm not exactly sure where, but that's on us to try and get right.

"Gar and I both know changes need to be made. Anybody who knows me knows I'll go down with the group that fights before I'll go down with the group that doesn't. We need more of those type of guys."

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