A sports franchise is composed of different factions: the players, coaching staff, and front office. Ideally, these parties work together to form one cohesive team that is capable of winning games and eventually championships. For the Chicago Bulls, it feels more like an all-out war between the front office and the players. The coaches, caught in the middle of this battle, are likely to side with the front office – the ones who sign their paychecks. The coaching staff gets to be in the locker rooms with players, and the players (including the team’s best player, Jimmy Butler) are reportedly concerned that the coaches are reporting their conversations back to the management. From Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
Butler, as well as several other Bulls players, have also had issues with the “spying’’ that goes on in the locker room, with Butler warning new players that if they didn’t want Forman to hear criticism, don’t talk in front of certain assistant coaches like Randy Brown.
The belief is that the Bulls love to gather as much ammunition as they can on players, so they can win the press conference when the break-up comes, whether it’s a trade or free agency.
“They did it with Lu [Luol Deng], they did it with Jo [Noah] and Derrick [Rose],’’ a source said. “That’s how they operate.’’
The relationship between the players and the management feels tension-filled and poisonous, despite the fact that Butler has called it both “professional” and “good.”
There’s an odd dynamic between coaches in players in the NBA; the coaches are meant to control the players and tell them what to do. But in most cases, star players make far more money than the coaches, and know that they’re more valuable to the franchise than the coaches are. Coaches are usually, if not always, more dispensable than their team’s best player. That makes things hard when the coach’s relationship with the players becomes strained.
The job of the coaching staff becomes even more difficult when the players don’t believe that they can trust the coaches. This whole situation is a mess, and probably isn’t heading towards a good ending.
