If you told a Bulls fan in 2011 that, by 2017, Derrick Rose would be on the Cavs – not having made another All-NBA team – a young and upcoming Jimmy Butler would be traded to the Wolves and they’d be discussing a buy-out with Dwyane Wade, they would laugh.
Yet, only six years later, we see a depleted Chicago franchise standing down the barrel of the lottery.
Where did it begin? The most notable moment was that playoff game.
A simple layup tore both Rose’s ACL and Chicago’s hero from them. Fast forward to 2012 and, suddenly, every hope and every dream the hometown hero was carrying on his shoulders collapsed.
All Chicago had left was Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and a silent crowd. The comeback never came. The next star that could carry them never arrived. In that moment, banner number seven vanished.
Yet, it would be way too easy to just blame the injury. The fact is, Rose was the sole hero of that team.
Looking back to 2012, the roster was thin. Had it happened to any other team, perhaps they may have survived.
LeBron James goes down and Dwayne Wade goes beast mode. Tim Duncan finds himself on the bench, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili wind back the clock. Yet, for the Bulls, it never happened. Sorry, but Luol Deng is not winning you a championship.
Over the next two seasons, Rose only suited up for ten games; none in 2012-13, and ten in 2013-14. Deng and Gasol contributed and were able to boost the squad, but as history has shown, you need a star to win a title.
Yet, when it looked like the Bulls were finally willing to build around two-way superstar Jimmy Butler, the front office proved to be incompetent.
Rather than give Butler a frontcourt buddy, the Bulls signed an aging Wade. The signing did very little to help the Bulls, rather providing confusion in the backcourt. The Bulls final move? Adding known locker-room diva Rajon Rondo, and the Bulls seemingly gave the entire fan-base an unintentional ‘up-yours’.
Now, with the 2017-18 season on the horizon, the Bulls are adamant on a rebuild.
They are no longer hoping Rose will return to MVP form. No longer are they waiting for Butler to become the next Kawhi Leonard. Nor are the waiting for a big time free agent to go to Windy City.
Rather, the Bulls are left with a distant memory of 23-year-old MVP putting the city on his back.
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