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.
George
Guest
I completely agree with you. It seems like some people have forgotten the days of the "bench mob." Derrick missed a lot of games due to injury that season and the roster helped carry the Bulls to the 1st seed, it wasn't solely Derrick Rose.
Rogerramjet
Guest
The entire Inner city Chicago dropped the Bulls after they traded Derrick Rose. Jimmy Butler was NEVER going to be accepted by the Inner city fanbase & Crain Chicago indicated that the Bulls organization was feeling the effects in television ratings, merchandise revenue and ACTUAL ticket sales (which didn't jive with the Bulls attendance reports).
Rogerramjet
Guest
Jimmy Butler is grossly overrated by the media & only novice fans have brought into the overhyping of Jimmy Butler. Danny Ainge and every other NBA General Manager surely didn't buy into the hype. In the words of Danny Ainge... Thibodeau "gave up a lot for Jimmy Butler" as a way to repay Bulls Owner, Jerry Reinsdorf for giving him his first Head Coaching opportunity.
Rogerramjet
Guest
The single most reason Derrick Rose didn't defeat the LeBron, DWade, Chris Bosh SUPERTEAM is because... ... LeBron was playing with a better organization. Derrick Rose had NEVER played with a LEGITIMATE Shooting Guard until he was traded to the Knicks and played besides Courtney Lee. Think about that a minute or two... ...the Chicago Bulls organization lucked up and landed a once in a generation Point Guard and NEVER paired him with a LEGITIMATE Shooting Guard. * FYI, Jimmy Butler is a natural Small Forward. For all of the feeble attempts to rewrite history, Derrick Rose did more with less than anyone in the history of the NBA and will be remembered as such when he's inducted into the Hall of Fame.
One Armed Scissor
Guest
The owner & therefore the front office are to blame. They only care about the cash and this team has made them stacks over the years. The bulls could not win a game for years to come and they'll still be financially viable. The only carnage is to the fans who invest emotionally in the bulls. Since the Rose injury they have not invested in anything substantial apart from Jimmy Butler who they absolutely pulled out of their backside and then proceeded to stuff up The recruiting is woeful and they have stacks of injuries. Everything about them reeks Prob best to abandon this team for the moment until new ownership comes in. A crying shame indeed
Andrew Macdougall
Roar Pro
You forgot Carlos Boozer!!
Tom Clarke
Roar Pro
Next year's draft looks to be stacked at the top end and then drops off pretty significantly. Can only assume Chicago are going to look to shed Wade this season, tank and try to draft Marvin Bagley III and then try to build around him. There's no other way to understand why they would trade Jimmy Butler for peanuts unless they've decided on a total rebuild.
terry
Guest
It's sad to see the Bulls decline from greatness.
Matt dustby
Guest
Looking back to 2012, the roster was thin No it's wasn't it was a decent team that performed well without him.