The Bulls might have a mole on their coaching staff

The newest story of Bulls management drama is perhaps less grand than the old Tom Thibodeau wars or Jimmy Butler’s ongoing feud, but is just as revealing.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Butler told teammates not to criticize management in front of assistant coach Randy Brown. The implication was that Brown was acting as a spy for general manager Gar Forman, helping the Bulls build cases against their players during contract negotiations or even in the court of public opinion.

That’s a salacious claim, but there’s validity to it. Rip Hamilton, who played for the Bulls for two seasons, confirmed Butler’s suspicions in a video for CBS Sports.

”One of the coaches, assistant coaches, spits out, ‘Randy has nothing to do with this team, he doesn’t need to be around the players,’” Hamilton said. “Looked at every man that was in that film session and pretty much told them, ‘Hey, don’t listen to him. When he comes and talks to you, don’t listen to him.’

“And for me, as a veteran guy just coming from Detroit, I was like, ‘What is going on around here?’ Because every conversation I had with Randy was always good, was always love. So it’s kind of like a situation where, like, man, I don’t know what’s going on between management and the coaches. And now, as you see, it’s coming out again.”

Hamilton played for the Bulls from 2011 to 2013. At the time, Brown was not an assistant coach with the Bulls. His job title was “Special Assistant to the General Manager.” He was then promoted to assistant general manager following the 2013 season and then joined Fred Hoiberg’s coaching staff in 2015.

That job title (or one similar to it) is common around the league. The role calls for someone to act as a liaison between the players and the front office. They take what they see day-to-day and report their observations to the general manager and the owner.

As Hamilton said on NBA Crossover, the idea of someone conveying information they receive from being around the team to management is common and in fact often good for the organization. It helps better understand what may be bothering their players and also gives a better idea of their value when making trade or free-agency decisions.

Raja Bell, who served in a similar role to Brown with the Cavaliers during the 2014-15 season, explained where he drew the line on what information to pass along to his superiors.

“Having played, that is a sacred place,” Bell said on NBA Crossover. “I’m not taking anything said to me in that sacred place and taking it anywhere else. You can’t do that.”

Bell said he would pass along observations made on the practice court or elsewhere, but never from private conversations in the locker room.

And that was when being a player-management conduit was his job. It’d be even less appropriate if Bell were a member of the coaching staff, as Brown is now.

It’s clear those who have worked with Brown over the years believe he is crossing that line. During Hamilton’s time, members of the coaching staff suspected sinister motives. Now, Butler, the best player on the team, is reportedly telling players not to trust one of their assistants, either.

The circumstantial evidence does not help the Bulls. Thibodeau’s firing in 2015 — with a harsh press release, no less — was preceded by years of anonymous reports questioning his methods. Leaks of Butler’s tumultuous relationship with management seem to trickle out every season. And though it was years before Forman’s arrival, who can forget the way the Michael Jordan era ended? There have been too many examples of key players and/or coaches clashing with the front office over the years.

We don’t know if Brown is actually a locker room mole, but in this case, perception is reality. It’s already bad enough for the players to even suspect him betraying their trust.