Before a rare nationally televised Chicago Bulls game on Wednesday night, ESPN NBA analyst Richard Jefferson used the opportunity to tear into the team’s ownership for its failures over the past decade.
The typically upbeat former NBA journeyman did not hold back during NBA Countdown, stating the obvious that the Bulls have not been relevant since former MVP Derrick Rose suffered through multiple knee injuries — and are extremely far from the NBA mountaintop.
“The Bulls are not going to return to relevance,” Jefferson said. “Not any time soon … ultimately, they have been trying to patch up what is just not working.”
Richard Jefferson did NOT hold back in his pregame assessment of the Bulls present and future 😳
🎥 @ESPNNBA pic.twitter.com/8WievMK0Py
— CHGO Bulls (@CHGO_Bulls) November 21, 2024
The team has won between 22 and 46 games each season since 2014-15. In that time, the Bulls have employed three different head coaches and traded away two different star forwards in Jimmy Butler and DeMar DeRozan.
Last offseason, Chicago began to pivot by moving on from DeRozan and bench guard Alex Caruso. But they are once again headed for what Jefferson called the “middle,” with a 6-10 record.
Jefferson called for the team to tear down to the studs of the roster and rebuild before questioning whether ownership would actually do what was best for the on-court product. The Bulls are owned by the Reinsdorf family, which infamously just oversaw the worst season in MLB history on the South Side with the White Sox. The family ultimately may not care if the team is bad, so long as it makes money.
“I don’t know if ownership … [is] stressed about that,” Jefferson said. “The Bulls, they do not look like they’re going in the right direction the last 10 years, and it doesn’t look like it’s changing.”
Jefferson is the rare analyst who is effective during a daytime studio show, pregame show, and calling games. Perhaps the news of Inside the NBA coming to ESPN airwaves put a jolt in the usually silly Jefferson to make like Charles Barkley and bring the hammer down.
Either way, it’s hard to argue with anything Jefferson said, even if it spoiled the Bulls’ night in the limelight on ESPN.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.