Tony Jones on the NBA: GM Gar Forman to blame for Bulls’ mess

Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler versus Rajon Rondo. Pointed Instagram posts. General chaos. The Chicago Bulls are a mess, and one man is to blame for it all.

Hint. It's not Tom Thibodeau.

No, the responsibility lands on the doorstep of Bulls general manager Gar Forman. He's the man who created one of the most dysfunctional situations in the NBA, the man who's been given far too much of a pass for far too long. He's the man who needs to answer for the mess in the Windy City.

The drama has been brewing for seemingly forever, but finally came to a head this past week. Late Wednesday night, after a loss to the Atlanta Hawks — where the Bulls allowed 41 points in the fourth quarter — Butler and Wade both went public with their frustration. They questioned their teammates — specifically the role players. They wondered whether the desire to win throughout the roster was where it needed to be. They expressed frustration at not getting the ball in key spots, where they felt they could have made a difference.

On Thursday, Rondo jumped into the fray, responding with a scorched-earth Instagram post, questioning Wade and Butler, and defending the younger guys.

The thing is, nobody should be surprised. This was a flawed roster from the moment Forman put it together last summer. Wade and Butler are good individually, but are a poor match together. Butler is one of the best shooting guards in the NBA, but isn't really big enough to play small forward. That's yielded some undesirable matchups for him, which has affected his normally stellar defense.

Wade and Butler are both slashers, which negatively affects the spacing in the offense. Bringing Rondo onto the roster, where his inability to shoot the ball and his need to dominate the ball was never going to work with Wade and Butler, was folly on Forman's part. Not supplying the roster with shooting — and thus spacing — has doomed the Bulls from the start.

Given this mix of roles and personalities, it was also destined to blow up. Imagine a smoker lighting up near a leaky gas pump. These are your current Chicago Bulls.

Forman has mishandled almost every major issue over the past few seasons. He unceremoniously dumped Thibodeau, who has since moved on and taken over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He hired Fred Hoiberg, who is a wonderful college basketball coach, but hasn't proven much at the NBA level. He made the right move in trading Derrick Rose, and garnered a decent return with Robin Lopez and youngsters like Jerian Grant. But then he sapped Grant's development by bringing in Rondo and Michael Carter-Williams, both of whom play his position.

And now, the Bulls are fractured, on and off the floor.

There isn't a simple solution to this. Wade, with his big contract and advanced age, can't be traded. Nobody wants Rondo. The moves of the summer can't be undone for a team that's used to making the playoffs.

Chicago could trade Butler — who is one of the best players in the league and who is in his prime. But that will mean starting over, and that wouldn't be palatable to the remaining veterans.

The Bulls need to move on from Rondo. And Forman needs to come under the microscope for his mismanagement and astounding ability to foster internal dysfunction. If not, these Bulls will continue to be underachievers.

And their locker room will continue to resemble a soap opera.

tjones@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribjazz