Chicago Bulls: John Paxson continues predictable, lazy ways

The Chicago Bulls failed to make any moves before the trade deadline, and John Paxson seems to think it’s acceptable — as always.

It seems no matter what the Chicago Bulls do (or don’t do) over the last few years, John Paxson always has an excuse. The moves he and the Bulls do make are typically the wrong ones. Then, the ones he doesn’t make — well, you get the idea.

After not making a move prior to this year’s trade deadline, Paxson held a press conference to explain himself.

As I am sure most Bulls fans could also predict, I was ready for essentially the exact same tone we always get from Paxson. If you want to see some of the best nuggets from Paxson’s enlightening moment with the media, check out NBCS Chicago’s K.C. Johnson’s Twitter account.

Here are some of the highlights.

"“We weren’t going to be buyers. The way we have roster now and disjointed nature to season with injuries, we don’t know what we have yet.”“We have Long-term belief in LaVine and Markkanen.”“We have not given up on our young guys.”"

It’s a great thing Paxson coexists in the same organization as Jim Boylen, because these two are one in the same. Both have zero clue how to operate an NBA franchise, nor develop talent. They can each talk all they want about developing the young guys, but that has yet to happen.

Paxson is the same guy who let Spencer Dinwiddie walk right out of Chicago. He’s the one who thought it was a great idea to trade Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott for Cameron Payne, Anthony Morrow and Joffrey Lauvergne — which begs the question, where are those three now?

Paxson is one of the standalone reasons the Bulls lost Jimmy Butler‘s faith in the organization and ended up getting dealt.

His inability to successfully rebuild this Bulls team has reached a tipping point, and hopefully this offseason, he’s given his walking papers.

The Bulls are an iconic franchise. The logo in itself is synonymous with Michael Jordan, championships, pop culture, etc. Chicago should be a sports capital of the world. It churns out so much basketball talent on a yearly basis, yet, their own professional franchise cannot find a way to land any of that talent.

So, I suppose you’re asking: What would you have done if you were Paxson?

Great question.

I would have liked to see him do something — anything. I’m sure I speak on behalf of the majority of Bulls fans when I say that we are tired of seeing this organization so stagnant. The rebuild hasn’t worked, so why not make a move or two?

How in the world do you have zero trade calls lined up before the deadline? It sounds like Paxson didn’t even try. How does he still have a job?

At the very least, trading Thaddeus Young or Denzel Valentine for a pick or two would have been pleasant to see. But, if Paxson wanted to really give it one last hoorah, why not see what you could get for Lauri Markkanen or Zach LaVine?

I understand LaVine is worth far more than Markkanen, so I like the fact that he ended up staying, honestly. But, Markkanen could have gotten the Bulls at least a first-round pick, if not more, from the right franchise. Paxson should have done his due diligence, instead of sitting on his hands and giving us the same old speech.

The Bulls are headed nowhere fast, unless David Kaplan’s belief proves to be true. If major organizational changes indeed are on the horizon after this season, that’s something to look forward to.