Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson acknowledges the franchise isn't pursuing Oklahoma City Thunder superstar point guard Russell Westbrook.
Paxson says the Bulls are being realistic and that adding a 30-year-old star with a lot of money left on his deal probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. Chicago is in year three of its rebuild. The team is building the roster around Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and rookie Coby White.
“Everybody pays attention obviously to what's going on, what the deals around the league are,” Paxson said in an interview with Mike Mulligan and Tom Thayer on 670 The Score on Thursday. “But I think every team is at kind of a different stage of development and evolution. There are teams that are going to take a real shot at someone like that. You have to factor in everything. When you look at the financial aspect of a player that's 30 going out four years (on his contract) and the amount of money that's going to be made, those things can tie your hands up and put your organization in a tough position.
“We're looking at things realistically. We understand where we're at. Honestly, I want our group to be competitive. I want our fan base to look out at our team and say, ‘OK, these guys are playing hard. They're showing us they care and there's a real chance that if the young guys develop, this is going to be a real good basketball team.' You want the superstars. You want to do what the Clippers are doing and the Lakers are doing, but we're realistic right now. We're not in that position. We hope that in a couple years with the development of these young guys, players around the league view us as a destination point where they can win at the highest level. I believe we'll be there if our young guys perform the way we hope they will.”
The Bulls have always had trouble getting star free agents to sign with them. That's why a lot of fans wanted Paxson and GM Gar Forman to trade for Russell Westbrook.
However, it looks like Chicago is going to continue on its rebuild course and not skip any steps.
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