The Bulls promoted Gar Forman from director of player personnel to general manager on May 21, which may sound like a significant change on paper. The delegation of duties in the front office won't change much, though, since John Paxson was never officially the general manager. Paxson's title has been executive vice president of basketball operations since he took over the job from Jerry Krause in April, 2003, and that won't change.
Forman, who worked with Tim Floyd at Iowa State, joined the Bulls as a college scout in 1998 and his role steadily increased. Paxson hasn't done much scouting in recent years and Forman took a lead role in contract negotiations for Ben Gordon and Luol Deng last summer. So the chain of command won't be any different. Forman, Paxson and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will continue to make the team's key decisions.
One noticeable difference, though, is Forman stepping in for Paxson as the franchise spokesman. When someone besides coach Vinny Del Negro needs to say something to the media, it will be Forman. At this point, it's tough to imagine Forman making many waves in this role, since he owns a calm and low-key personality. Here's what he had to say about the state of the Bulls heading into the summer:
On Ben Gordon's status as a free agent: "We like Ben Gordon. We think he's a fit. He's obviously a talented player on the floor and he's a professional. He works hard, he's a terrific guy and he's a very good player. Our hope is we'll be able to get Ben back in a Bulls uniform next year."
On the possibility of clearing cap room for the 2010 free agent class: "It's an option we have. There might be something that comes about before then that we think we can make ourselves better. That's something we have to have in the back of our minds, that that's a way we can go."
On building around Derrick Rose: "That's certainly a part of it. Offensively, we want to be an up-tempo team. We obviously want to get pieces that fit around him being our point guard."
SEASON HIGHLIGHT: The first-round playoff series against Boston might have been the highlight of the entire NBA season -- the two teams played seven overtime periods, and five games were decided by three points or less. The overtimes were a league record, while just one other series in history can match the number of close games (Celtics-Sixers, 1981 Eastern Conference finals). After extending the series with a triple-overtime win in Game 6, the Bulls finally dropped Game 7 in Boston, 109-99.
TURNING POINT: There were a couple of key moments to the Bulls' season. The first was when guard Kirk Hinrich returned after missing two months because of a torn ligament in his thumb. In his sixth NBA season, Hinrich stepped up as a leader and helped cure the selfishness that had begun to plague the team. The other turning point was the Feb. 18 trade that brought forward John Salmons and center Brad Miller from Sacramento. Salmons was invaluable while starting in place of the injured Luol Deng, and Miller brought some valuable experience to the Bulls' front line.
