With Gar-Pax in charge, where is the hope for the Bulls?

The Bulls were destined to get the 14^th and final pick in the NBA lottery Tuesday night because the odds said they probably would and because reality said that a stagnant franchise deserved it.

And that’s indeed what happened. Jimmy Butler represented the team and looked on impassively when the Bulls’ name came up at the beginning of the broadcast, snuffing out the tiniest ember of possibility. Then he had to sit and watch everybody else, which is sort of what Bulls fans had to do last season.

Of all the teams in Chicago, the Bulls are the one that isn’t keeping up. The greatest commodity a team can sell is hope, and there isn’t a whole lot of it when it comes to the local NBA team. The Bulls don’t have much money to spend on free agency because of guaranteed contracts. They say they’ll consider everything, which presumably includes a possible trade of Butler, but who has confidence in general manager Gar Forman and vice president John Paxson to make the right moves? OK, besides chairman Jerry Reinsdorf?

I don’t know about you, but I can’t go through another season of the Butler-Derrick Rose drama. I don’t care whose team it is. I’d just like it to be a winning team without players who fold during a game at the first hint of trouble. I don’t want to see any more of Pau Gasol’s empty-calorie, 20-point, 10-rebound games.

Who’s going to fix this? Gar-Pax? I’d recommend blowing up this team and starting over, but I don’t trust the people who would be handling the explosives. They needed a miracle at the lottery, but they got what they deserved. The 14^th pick in the lottery speaks of mediocrity and entrenchment. Hello, Bulls.

In a mock draft, Yahoo Sports has the team taking Frenchman Timothe Luwawu, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard from Mega Leks of the Adriatic League. Better get those season tickets now.