Chicago Bulls: John Paxson was absolutely right about one thing

Chicago Bulls’ John Paxson hasn’t been correct about much, but he nailed this one.

John Paxson, the vice president of basketball operations for the Chicago Bulls (and de facto general manager if we’re being completely honest) has rarely been correct about anything during his tenure in Chicago.

Whether it was the Vinny Del Negro hire, the souring of the relationship with Tom Thibodeau, Derrick Rose, or Jimmy Butler, the Fred Hoiberg debacle, or the tumultuous start of the Jim Boylen era, he has whiffed on many decisions as the head man for the Bulls’ front office.

However, he was prophetic with some recent comments. Unfortunately, they do not portend good news for the Bulls.

Back in early April, Paxson met with the media to conduct a sort of post mortem of the season (even though it was dead on arrival) and discuss the upcoming draft and next season.

During this meeting, Paxson reminded everyone that “luck and hope are not a strategy.” Obviously, at the time, he was referring to the potential that the Bulls could land the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and the right to select a franchise-altering player like Zion Williamson.

Well, unless you just recently emerged from solitary confinement, you already know that didn’t happen. You also know they didn’t land the second pick — or the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth pick. Nope — for the third straight year, the Bulls will select seventh overall.

In the last two years, the team used those picks to land Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. While it’s still way too early to assess Carter, Markkanen looks like a great pick. But the fact of the matter is this will be the fourth consecutive year the team has selected in the lottery — and the reality is they have virtually nothing to show for it.

In fact, they are no closer to being competitive today than they were four years ago. They are still not a desirable destination for free agents, and they missed out on the chance of drafting a generational talent.

What that means, is that the Bulls are going to have to emerge from this rebuild the old fashioned way — by drafting well and finding diamonds in the rough through free agency. Unfortunately, nothing in Paxson’s history has given fans any confidence that will happen. So the more I think about it — maybe he was wrong — maybe all we have is “luck and hope.”