The Chicago Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs on Friday night in a 105-83 loss to the Boston Celtics. After winning the first two games of the series, the eighth-seeded Bulls were dominated the next four games. The top-seeded Celtics turned things up a notch, and the Bulls greatly missed Rajon Rondo after the veteran point guard suffered a fractured thumb in Game 2.
In the final seconds of Game 6, Bulls fans at the United Center voiced their displeasure by chanting to fire Chicago head coach Fred Hoiberg. And Celtics head coach Brad Stevens mouthed at the fans to “shut up” with their “Fire Hoiberg” chant:
Fans chanting "Fire Hoiberg" Brad Stevens mouths "shut up" pic.twitter.com/VcB3Xe07zv
— ✶ Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD2_) April 29, 2017
Stevens looks at his staff to make sure if really the fans are chanting Fire Hoiberg. pic.twitter.com/2vewsadRe3
— ✶ Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD2_) April 29, 2017
Bulls fans should be very frustrated with the state of the franchise, but the fans at the United Center are displaying their frustration towards the wrong person(s). Hoiberg may not be doing a good enough job himself, and may not be the long-term answer for the Bulls at head coach. But he’s not the main problem here.
As a fan, being mad at Fred Hoiberg is a waste of anger. He's probably not a good coach, but he's not the issue.
— Tim Baffoe (@TimBaffoe) April 29, 2017
If you're a Bulls "fan" and you're calling for Hoiberg's job, you're the worst. Redirect some of that angst at GarPax.
— Pippen Ain't Easy (@BullsBeatBlog) April 29, 2017
The problem is the people that chose to hire Hoiberg — Gar Forman and John Paxson — and chose to build this completely mediocre roster with zero direction, as I wrote in January:
This is an absolute mess and it starts at the top in the front office with Jerry Reinsdorf, John Paxson, and Gar Forman. While no one could’ve seen all of this drama coming, of course, the roster was poorly built with a mix of past-their-prime veterans and raw young players that are having their opportunity to develop being blocked. It looked like a .500-ish team on paper with no direction, and that’s exactly what it’s been.
Hoiberg certainly hasn’t opened any eyes with his coaching, but it’s hard to really assess him with the roster he’s had to work with either. And the current front office shouldn’t be allowed to make that decision on Hoiberg’s 2017-2018 status.
The Bulls need to fire GarPax, before they do anything else.
