Paxson, Das Boot

I literally just sharted.

Rumors are flying (soon to be confirmed) that John Paxson will resign as GM for the bulls after the trade deadline today.

Paxson took over for jolly Jerry Krause in 2003 and it's been a fucking shitshow over since. We had a great draft in 2004 (where I bet Krause was still involved) and hasn't done much outside of landing a lucky #1 pick in Rose and completely shitting the bed anytime we have to trade one of his picks.

Management moves:

Signed 38 year old Scottie Pippen 

--A nice gesture and a waste of money

Fired Bill Cartwright for Scott Skiles 

--Would have been great if not for drafting a bunch of thugs who don't resepect him and subsequently  overspending for a "leader" in Wallace who completely disrespects him and makes it ok for the rest of the team to do so, leading to Skiles being inneffective and getting the hook.

Traded Jalen Rose for Antonio Davis

--useless

Traded Curry and Davis for Sweetney, Tim Thomas and draft picks (in 06, Tyrus Thomas and swapped picks with NY in 07 for Noah)

--Not bad but essentially useless. I wonder if we would have been better off with Curry, because he actually knows how to put the round orange thing in the basket inside the painted area.

Let Fizer walk, traded Jamal Crawford for nothing

--Fizer isn't his fault, Crawford didn't fit with the tough D mentality. These are OK moves.

Traded Tyson Chandler for JR Smith and PJ Brown

--Chandler was the last guy left from the Krause era, was resigned and then dealt for nothing. Oh yeah, Chandler also went on to be fucking solid for the next few years and played on the 08 Olympic team.

Signed Ben Wallace

--Brutal. This money now equals Larry Fucking Hughes

Passed on trading for Gasol, Kobe and KG at various times

--(Stabbing self)

Fired Skiles, Hired Del Negro (and lost out on D'Antoni)

-- (Gauging out eyeballs)

Got fucking fired

--hooray.

Notice, not one substantial move, despite drafting a shitload of talent (see below).

Drafting History:

04: Gordon, Deng, Nocioni, Duhon 

05: -

06: Thomas (instead of LaMarcus Aldridge), Sefolosha

07: Noah, Gray

08: Rose

--The 2004 class was impressive and he inherited Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler and Kirk Hinrich from the few years before. If fucking Jay Williams doesn't pull an Evil Kinevil in the offseason that year, this might be a very different story. Regardless, Paxson inherited a lot of talent (and some shit)  from Krause's last draft in Fizer, Crawford, etc.

Paxson's biggest fault was his heart: he couldn't bear the thought of dealing one of his projects (which includes almost any draft pick) and was fiercely loyal to his players. To his credit, at the time he passed on Gasol (and even Kobe) it seemed like Deng was going to be a superstar, so it looks a lot worse now than it actually was.

Nevertheless, this ends a tough period in Bulls history. Everyone likes Pax as a person and I'm sure he'd be a nice guy to grab a beer with, but he turns out not to be the best guy running the franchise. Time to move on. Stop crying. Someone go get us Amare or Jermaine O'Neal.

-KEG