PointGuard Palooza.

Often when a new GM comes to town, he looks to build a team in his own image. A good example of this would be Joe Dumars who attempted to rebuild the "Bad Boys" of old, with a team minded offense and killer defense. However John Paxson of the Chicago Bulls has taken this system of building a team to far. John Paxson seems to be building a team of all point guards.

For those who do not remember Paxson's career, he was a pure pass first point guard. He was quick, played good "D" and had a nice outside shot. It was in fact his outside shot that helped the Bulls win a couple of their early championships. After he retired Johnny P moved to the front office as an assistant to Jerry Krause. When Bulls fans finally drove Krause out of town, Paxson took over. And it seems has been looking to fill a team with point guards ever since.

Although Paxson has only been doing the picking for the last 2 years, the Chicago Bulls have picked at least 5 point guards in the draft over last 5 years, and 3 in the last two. Back in 2000 it was the future of the franchise Jamal Crawford with the 8th pick. In 2002 it was Jay Williams, the man to lead the Bulls back to glory, with the 2nd pick. In 2003 we took Kirk Hinrich, who was going to help lead us to the playoffs, with the 7th pick. This year we took Ben Gordan with the 3rd, and Chris Duhan with the 38th picks, two guys who according to Paxson are assets.

However where are these guys now. Crawford, was never really given the chance to be the future of this franchise, instead he was pushed from being a tall athletic point, to being a skinny undersized two guard. Jay Williams, crashed his motorcycle and wasn’t able to lead the Bulls back to glory. And although the Bulls bought out his contract, they kept the rights to first refusal when he comes back. Kirk Hinrich had a solid year last year and was considered my many to be the Bulls only unmovable player. Bed Gordan, and Chris Duhan are both good point guards from winning programs but where will they get their minutes.

As of today June 25th 2004 the Chicago Bulls have 5 point guards on their roster (Crawford, Hinrich, Gordan, Duhan, and Pargo), and a 6th who could be back (Jay Williams). The casual observer may think the Bulls are holding the best point guards of the NBA hostage in attempt to get another championship given two them. And to be honest, who knows. I’m not even sure Paxson knows what exactly Paxson is up to. I do know the Bulls wont win another championship playing two point guards in the backcourt. Nor can any of these players be a legit 2 guard in the league. It doesn’t look like we will be trading them because Paxson is so afraid of trading away what could be future talent. So in the end were stuck with them. Out of 12 active players on our roster next year it looks like 4 could be point guards unless Paxson finally makes a move.

Bull’s fans keep your fingers crossed that perhaps Paxson has a plan to get us back to respectability. And John Paxson if you read this, please let us know what your doing up there.