Before the dust could settle on the Chicago Bulls’ historic defeat against the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, a message was written on a dry erase board inside the coach’s office of the United Center’s home locker room. It was from John Paxson, executive vice president of basketball operations and a proud Bulls alum. He had just watched Klay Thompson splash in 14 3-pointers, an NBA single-game record, and the Warriors post an eye-popping 92 points in the first half, the second-highest scoring half in NBA history.



The Bulls trailed by 45 points that night, the last Monday in October, and before the final buzzer sounded on their eventual 25-point thumping, Paxson’s note had been left for the coaches: “MEETING AT 9 AM.”



What had played out over the course of that contest was the type of performance that gets coaches fired. The Bulls, as they’ve been all season, were undermanned, already decimated by injuries...