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The architect and his blueprint.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Mike McGraw Daily Herald Sports Writer

Sandwiched between six championships and a surprising resurgence, the so-called "rebuilding era" of Bulls basketball seems almost like a bad dream.

The record books contain the mind-numbing reality, however: Win totals of 17, 15, 21, 30 and 23 in consecutive seasons. That's easily the worst five-year mark in NBA history for a nonexpansion franchise.

For three straight years, they opened with a 1-12 record. From 1999-2004, the Bulls were the least successful team in all of professional sports.

John Paxson had a front-row seat for all of the brutality, since he worked as Bulls radio analyst until being named general manager on April 14, 2003.

Since then, the team has made an amazing transformation from laughingstock to perceived NBA Finals contender. The Bulls will be in the spotlight tonight when they open the season in a nationally televised game against the defending champion Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena (7 p.m., TNT).

"My first year here, we were a joke," said guard Kirk Hinrich, who was a rookie during the 23-59 season of 2003-04. "Now I think teams throughout the league respect us. We're not where we want to be, but it's definitely a good feeling the progress that we've made."

The Bulls' improvement is even more impressive because it didn't involve winning the draft lottery and the chance to add a franchise player along the lines...

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