Chicago Bulls fans have been considered one of the marquee franchises of the NBA since the dawn of the Michael Jordan era after they drafted him in 1984. Since then the Bulls have won six NBA Finals, all of them between 1991-1998. Since that timeframe they have had eleven playoff appearances including a number 1 overall seed in 2011 and 2012 but no NBA Finals berths. Some of that can be blamed on bad luck (Derrick Rose’s tearing knee ligaments in three different seasons) but part of the failure to capture any additional Larry O’Brein Trophies can be blamed on roster construction by Gar Foreman and John Paxson. GarPax (their nickname) have shown a certain ineptitude in the era of pace and space (shooting quickly and shooting more threes) because rather than signing more shooters who can snipe from beyond the arc they sign slashers. Slashers are players who attack the hoop as the key part of their offense but usually struggle from range.
There is also the issue of pace, a category in which the Bulls have ranked consistently near the bottom third of the league and on Draft Night, GarPax sealed their fate as public enemy number one in Chicago sports when they traded Jimmy Butler (a top ten player according to NBA Math with positive ratings both on offense and defense) for Zach LaVine a low efficiency scorer who is coming off an ACL tear and Kris Dunn, a player in his second year who shot a putrid 37.7 percent overall, further exacerbating the Bulls shooting woes. Given the seemingly subpar return on one of the best two-way players in the NBA Bulls fans have taken a page out of the book of the fans of Arsenal Football Club and erected a Fire GarPax banner in Chicago. The banner was entirely fan funded and although owner Jerry Reinsdorf may not pay attention to it, this could signal the beginning of a tumultuous decline in attendance should the protest extend into the regular season.
