A New Era In The Windy City: 2016-17 Chicago Bulls - BodamEscapePlan's Blog

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A New Era In The Windy City: 2016-17 Chicago Bulls

Posted on January 20, 2017 at 11:21 PM.

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A New Year: Butler's Bulls

It's been said that the Bulls of the 1990s were the greatest basketball dynasty of all-time, winning six NBA championships from 1991 to 1998. Since those days of glory, fans interest or at least their hopes of another run at an NBA title have been waning. After missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2007-08 season, owner Jerry Reinsdorf has decided to shake things up by bringing in one of the youngest and most promising basketball minds in the game today in new general manager Michael Bodam. Bodam's first order of business; building around rising superstar Jimmy Butler. After an offseason of speculation that the Bulls would move Butler for a monster haul, Bodam guaranteed that "Butler would be going nowhere" and that he would be "the centerpiece of a Bulls championship roster." Despite the bold promises, everyone in Chicago knows that the only way to win over the fans of Chicago is to produce results.

Fulfilling On The Promise

Bulls fans are no strangers to superstars of the sport. From Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the Bulls of the 90s to the Luel Dengs and Derrick Roses of year's past. This offseason longtime Miami Heat megastar Dwayne Wade has packed up his three championships and shipped off to his hometown Chicago. Now, Wade is a future Hall of Famer and an NBA icon but no one is mistakening the 2016-17 version of Wade for the one who led the Heat to being a perennial contender. However, the Bulls are hoping adding Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo to a roster that already has star power in Jimmy Butler, strong role players in Taj Gibson and Robin Lopez and youngish talent in Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis and 2016 first round pick Denzel Valentine will spark them to a return to playoff form. Look for the new GM to be at the ready to make big changes however if the Bulls struggle out of the gate. Retaining Fred Hoiberg as the Bulls head coach wasn't a popular move but the Bulls front office is giving him one more chance. That said, Hoiberg knows he won't be around long if he can't get better results.