The Chicago Bulls are coming off a brutal 31-51 season and looking to turn the franchise's trajectory around.
The Chicago Bulls are one of the NBA's premier franchises in one of the nation's top markets. Although the team's performance in recent years hasn't matched its historic pedigree, the Bulls' fanbase has remained astoundingly loyal.
Play-by-play announcer Adam Amin understands that, as well as the fans' frustrations. The 39-year-old grew up in the Windy City and now calls Bulls games for Chicago Sports Network. He and Bulls color announcer Stacey King have been openly critical of the team's on-court woes during their 31-51 campaign this past season, an unusual feature of a typical home broadcast.
On ESPN Chicago on Friday, Amin revealed that Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf actually welcomed his broadcast commentary, even if it wasn't 100% positive about the team.
"Jerry Reinsdorf, when I got hired, basically said 'I don't want you to be a homer,'" Amin said. "He wasn't saying, 'Go criticize every move we make.' No home broadcast is going to be wholly critical of an organization, but I think we toe the line as much as any local broadcast you'll find. We're the third-largest market in the country. I don't think the fanbase — of which I am a part — is stupid. I'd like to treat the fanbase as if they're adults."
The Bulls won six NBA Championships from 1991 to 1998 while Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led the team, but have struggled to reach the same heights since then. Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler were key contributors on postseason teams in the mid-2010s that couldn't quite reach the Finals. Chicago has made the playoffs just once in the nine years since Butler was traded to the Timberwolves.
This summer marks a critical juncture for the Bulls, which seem to have finally chosen to enter a rebuild. Vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley have been fired, and Amin hopes the franchise's next executives understand the magnitude of the fanbase's loyalty.
"You don't have to lie to them," Amin said. "You don't have to reveal everything, but you can also articulate things in a clear and concise manner. That will take time, that will take trust with the media, but I also think in Chicago, the media is incredibly trusting if you give them clear articulation. They will give you plenty of runway, and this fanbase, as we talked about late in the season, will give you about as much runway as any fanbase in American sports. They understand what the end goal is, and that is to get back to wherever they were 30 years ago, one of the cornerstones of the NBA."
The Bulls enter the offseason with two first-round draft picks and significant cap space.