Let's fact check that claim, and also basketball as a spectator sport is a domination sport by design, and it's been like that since the start of professional basketball (Chicago GlobeTrotters and onward, amount of teams that win). If you want distributed talent then look at the NHL because the CBA is completely different, recruiting is completely different.
But to say not relevant for 20 years means you don't fully grasp point #2, that this is not the sport to watch if you are interested in only championships. That would be a league problem more than a Bulls problem, because in certain regards, the Bulls, as mismanaged as they seem, are among over a dozen other mismanaged teams, some of which that have won championships with such bad management (ie: lose a player that was drafted top-5 into the team, becomes MVP/all-nba and then fall flat to the bottom again). That's just the nature of the game. So to call any team that doesn't go all the way to win everything a non-factor is fairly ignorant to say the least.
Reaching the conference finals, being a contender for a few seasons is a *factor* by every definition not written by a squirrel. The Bulls are a fucking train wreck, but this league is *full* of train wrecks. And the thing is, fans who see this and have been around the game long enough accept that being bad is good in spurts, being a last place team is rewarded in this league. So you need realistic expectations at whatever point in a build. You can root for losses, but to appear sane you really waive your right to bash the team for losing since that is ultimately what you want. And if you root for the team to win, you can't really bash them for making the playoffs (realistically speaking, with this build, this inexperience, this conference and star collaboration scenario). A failure is not showing progress on either front, because going back to your topic, that is what makes a team a factor. Winning or doing what it takes to draft a game changer.
Or you can go all homer, meatball and just be happy no matter what or bash no matter what. Everything doesn't need to be so damn knee-jerk and polarizing.