These guys really keep things in house don’t they? I mean there may be a story per week highlighting the friction between the Chicago Bulls players but you really don’t see it on the Eastern Conference standings. They’re firmly in the top half of the East trying to catch up to Cleveland and Toronto which is fine, I think that’s where we all had Chicago at the start of the season right?
So how bad is it? Well Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders has reported that it’s got to the point of the team setting up cliques in the locker room.
All parties outwardly insist the team remains united, but privately, it certainly feels like there are tension and fractured relationships within the organization. The locker room has become divided into cliques, per Basketball Insiders sources. One group, including Rose and injured center Joakim Noah, harbors lingering resentment over the handling of ousted coach Tom Thibodeau. Butler has struggled at times to establish himself as a team voice despite the support of Gasol, a reality that’s become public. Rose’s unprompted comments about free agency before the season certainly irked some in the franchise, and it’s not hard to infer that a few of those upset by the statements were guys he shares the court with – his camp and Butler’s have long been rumored to be at odds. The potential departures of Gasol and Noah this summer in free agency have only added to the strain.
Alright I can understand that all those little things can snowball into one big thing but this team have had much larger tribulations than some free agent chatter and a minor shift in leadership surely.
I said before the season that the Bulls have missed their window for a championship and at this point I think they should trade some pieces so that they can prepare to make another long-term run at the same time Jimmy Butler enters his prime. That’s what they should do, but they won’t.
