Bulls' Great Artis Gilmore Weighs-In on State of Chicago Bulls - Heavy.com

Getty Artis Gilmore at Hall of Fame in 2011

It has been a tough year for the Chicago Bulls. There hasn’t been much for the Chicago fan base to cheer for this season. Yes, there was the Zach LaVine last-second three against Hornets, in C h arlotte earlier this season to take the lead and steal the game on the road. However, the Bulls are currently in tenth place in the Eastern Conference with a 19-36 record and five games behind the eighth seed. But if you ask LaVine, the Bulls are not out of the playoff push just yet.

“I mean, if you’re not confident in yourself or your team, you’ve already lost the battle,’’ LaVine said via Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Obviously, I’m going out there to win.’’

“For me personally, I just want to keep the foot on the gas pedal,’’ LaVine said. “You never know what’s going to happen. We can’t be in vacation mode. Sometimes you come out of the break, teams go up or down. Hopefully, we’ll be one of the teams that goes up.’’

LaVine is averaging 25.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game through 55 games for the Chicago Bulls.

Last week, LaVine was a guest on ESPN’s First Take and was asked by Max Kellerman if he had confidence in Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxon and General Manager Gar Forman, but before LaVine could answer the crowd erupted with a Valentine Day’s chant of “Fire GarPax.”

“They might speak differently, man, but I’m with the team,” he said. “I’ve got to put the team first.”

LaVine then paused, laughing: “They’re terrible, man,” he said of the fan reaction.

“I’ve got to put the team first, but it’s just the situation we’re in right now.”

Last March, according to The Chicago Tribune Bulls COO Michael Reinsdorf, both Paxon and Forman were doing a great job.

“We believe they’ve done a great job,” Reinsdorf said at the time. “I know that in this market, with some of our fans and some in the media, they look at it differently. That perplexes me.”

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Former Bulls’ Center Artis Gilmore Weighs-in on the Chicago Bulls

I recently spoke with former Chicago Bulls center Artis Gilmore at the Panini America event during All-Star weekend on Saturday, February 15, 2020, about what the Bulls need to do to get back to playoff contention.

“It’s a process. They have some key player that has set them back and not allowed them to evaluate their roster properly due to those injuries,” said Gilmore. “It has really been a challenge for the Bulls organization these last couple of years, but I think they will turn it around.”

Artis Gilmore played 10 plus seasons in the NBA with numerous teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, and the Boston Celtics and 5 seasons in the ABA. During his Hall of Fame career, Gilmore averaged 18.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game in 1329 games. He was awarded the ABA Rookie of the Year in 1972 and the MVP award in the same year. He was also an 11 time all-star of the course of his career.