Chicago Bulls Need to Implement a Winning Culture Again

The Chicago Bulls have been a dysfunctional mess for the past few seasons thanks to their lack of promoting a winning culture. That needs to change this off-season, starting with all eyes being on the front office.

It’s as if we are all watching the same dull movie play over and over again with the Chicago Bulls. The team year-after-year has become rather predictable, it’s quite sad. Their play on the court regardless of who’s on the roster resembles an average team at best. Certainly not one being close to championship contender status.

Even with frequent lackluster performances coming from the Bulls on a nightly basis, problems within the organization go beyond just wins and losses. Player’s efforts on the court are constantly being called into question, whether by teammates or coaches.

Verbal altercations are being spread throughout the locker room and into the media seemingly every day. The Bulls’ head coach has become a topic of scrutiny over the past two seasons. Same goes with the team’s front office. Their head-scratching roster decisions over the past few seasons are the biggest culprit in the Bulls’ endless suffering.

The most glaring problem with the Chicago Bulls’ organization is that they don’t currently have a winning culture. A winning culture obviously includes winning games and potentially championships. But winning cultures are also defined by how people within the organization are treated.

This is where the Bulls’ front office is clearly at fault. They have a difficult time making sure their players and coaching staff are at ease. It all started back with how the front office treated former head coach Tom Thibodeau.

They blamed the team’s lackluster play during the “Derrick Rose Era” on Thibodeau overworking his players during games and practices. Injuries were constantly blamed on Thibodeau’s style of coaching.

The Bulls’ front office directed all the blame onto Thibodeau, while not realizing that their own questionable roster moves were the real driving force behind their past and current struggles. Draft picks over the years like Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis, and Doug McDermott haven’t panned out. Signing Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo was a poor decision as well. The Bulls are seemingly stuck in limbo now, unsure of their next pivotal roster move.

Instead of signing and drafting players to fit head coach Fred Hoiberg‘s coaching strengths, the Bulls’ front office does the opposite. Worried more about making the playoffs once again as an eighth seed, the front office signed players who can’t shoot from outside if their lives depended on it.

Clearly, the Bulls’ front office appears dazed and confused. Their head coach hire in Hoiberg already had a difficult time controlling high-profile players such as Butler. Getting rid of another disgruntled player in Derrick Rose made sense this off-season. But then the front office replaces Rose with a player in Rondo who further instigates drama within the organization.

Drama is what the Bulls have become as an organization. As a fan, you’re just waiting to see what crazy thing happens next. Players reportedly have a hard time trusting coaches and organizational members within the locker room. No player is safe. That’s the motto around the locker room these day.

When players and coaches aren’t at ease, a winning culture is absent. The Bulls could be winning games while their players and coaches still aren’t at ease. It’s that mistrust factor that pours throughout the Bulls’ organization.