Chicago Bulls Coaching Vacancy (VDN Links + Candidate List)

Vinny Del Negro was (finally) fired yesterday, or Monday, or in December ... but the announcement was made yesterday. I posted my thoughts on VDN at the bottom of my "Season Preview ... Review".

Here are some other VDN posts from around the interwebs, and a look at potential candidates ...

The Chicago Bulls finally fire Vinny Del Negro

Leave it to the Chicago Bulls to make a sympathetic figure out of Vinny Del Negro.

Vinny Del Negro was fired Tuesday -- or last night, or last December -- because he did a poor job of coaching the Chicago Bulls. His minute allotments were curious, his teams were wildly inconsistent and his outfits executed quite poorly on the offensive end. Also, Chicago was oftentimes less structured and efficient coming out of timeouts than it was heading into them, and any bit of player development can be more or less pegged on the expected growth you usually get from an athlete in his early 20s.

He was not a good coach. He might be a good coach someday, but in spite of a .500 record over two years filled with injuries, turmoil, roster upheaval and underachieving players, Vinny Del Negro was not a coach who deserved to keep his job.

And yet, the Bulls made it so they'll appear the bad guy in all of this. Mainly because they are.

Oft-criticized just days into his tenure, Del Negro received absolutely no public front-office support that warmed beyond the point of tepid. Chicago's curious arrangement involving general manager Gar Forman and executive vice president John Paxson never seemed to be in any sort of charge, which allowed Del Negro (who had no prior coaching experience when Chicago hired him) to take the brunt of all sorts of issues regarding this strange organization.

Toss in Jerry Reinsdorf's unyielding influence, hands-on in every way that doesn't involve paying proper money to coaches, or the right amounts of money to the right players, and you have a miserable mix that probably only a group featuring Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson could win with.

The Bulls were designed to tread water, at best, this season. And that's exactly what happened as the team peeled off another .500 year while making the playoffs, all while retaining cap space and trying to forget 2009-10 ever happened -- even if that brand of amnesia happened 45 games into 2009-10. And that's where you get into the uneasy takes on VDN's tenure. Because on paper, it seems as if he did his job.

The team willingly let its top scorer sign with another team for no compensation, it signed what turned out to be possibly the least-effective free agent on the market last year in Jannero Pargo(notes), and yet Del Negro's team still made it back to the playoffs, coming through on what I just referenced as an "at-best" situation. So why is he gone?

Del Negro never stopped being a pro

The usual pep was out of Vinny Del Negro's step on Tuesday afternoon.

It's not hard to figure out why. Getting fired will sap all the joy out of you quickly.

Still, having covered Del Negro almost every single day for seven months the revelation was a bit disconcerting.

The NBA lifer was almost always the most positive guy in the room. He always figured that he could turn lemons into lemonade. His belief was that if he kept working hard he would find a way to succeed and push past whatever obstacle stood in his path. That's what he continually preached to his team. That's what he continually preached to the media. And there's no doubt that's what he continually preached to himself even at his lowest points.

Does that make up for the fact that he was a mediocre coach who still seemed to struggle at times with certain intricacies of the game? Of course not. But it should shine a little more light on the person whom many didn't get to see on a daily basis.

No matter what you thought of Del Negro as a coach you can't question that work ethic. He wanted to succeed badly. He wanted to prove to everyone who had ever doubted that he could be successful as a head coach that they were wrong. He enjoyed the day-to-day grind that comes with being a head man in the NBA. That's why the scene, albeit one that everyone seemed to know was coming for months, was so strange to see on Tuesday. It was the first time I can recall seeing Del Negro wearing an article of clothing without a Bulls logo on it. He seemed kind of lost as he briefly spoke to the media in front of the Berto Center and then continued the process of packing and wheeling out boxes from his office.

After all the speculation that he endured over the past few months regarding his job status, the realization that he wouldn't be driving into work at the Berto Center anymore finally must have hit him.

Bulls begin coaching search; here's a list

So now the Bulls need a new coach with the official announcement Tuesday of the firing of Vinny Del Negro.

I suppose if you are looking to get to the so-called Point C, then, literally, you might need a C for Collins. But that ship has sailed and I don’t believe the former Bulls coach Doug Collins is in the mix to be the next coach.

Other Cs? Casey, Cleamons, Cartwright, Cheeks? No, I don’t think that’s what the Bulls have meant about going to Point C, which, actually, GM Gar Forman avoided referring to in his Tuesday press conference.

The question not only is who, but what. What makes a good coach?

There are several principal elements and several particulars that apply to the Bulls.

Forman Tuesday talked generically about accountability, teaching and leadership, and I didn’t take that as a direct shot at Vinny, but more general qualifications.

Still, Vinny was not so much a so-called accountability coach, as was Scott Skiles. Those guys say play defense. You don’t, you sit until you do. But since the Bulls had one of those and fired him, the next guy tends to be a bit looser, more so-called player friendly, which Vinny was. Plenty of good coaches are--Flip Saunders, for example.

There’s also experience. Though Forman said he wouldn’t exclude anyone, I’d assume the Bulls would this time want a coach who knows the NBA, which Forman did refer to, and a coach who didn’t require on-the-job training. That would be a former head coach or, at least, a veteran assistant with longtime experience and leaguewide respect.

Click-a-Bull (Rose/Deng Injuries; VDN/Pax; JoaNoah)

I have been crazy busy lately, with a rehearsal dinner/golf/wedding, "Loving it Live" yesterday at game 4, and now getting ready for my final exams. So needless to say, this will be a quick batch of links ...



Bulls' Rose, Deng expected to play

The Chicago Bulls' 121-98 loss in Game 4 to the Cleveland Cavaliers also took a physical toll, as Derrick Rose will have an MRI on his left ankle and Luol Deng sat out practice on Monday because of a sore right knee and calf.

Both players are expected to play in Game 5 on Tuesday in Cleveland.

Rose injured his ankle when he stepped on Shaquille O'Neal's foot in the beginning of the third quarter on Sunday.

"He was sore [Monday]," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said of Rose. "He jammed it on Shaq's foot. He was limping a little bit today, so hopefully he'll be better and see how he feels."

Deng missed 11 straight games near the end of the season because of calf trouble.

"Luol's knee and calf are a little bit sore today. It's that time of the year," Del Negro said. "Things are going to happen. You just got to get the guys out there that are healthy.

"Obviously, we need both those guys to play at a high level. I think they'll both be fine and ready to play. But who's 100 percent at this time of the year? Not many guys."

The Cavaliers lead the series 3-1.

Vinny's tactic makes you wonder

unday seemed ever so much the same. But was it coincidence -- or was it the most blatant instance yet of reportedly lame-duck Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro telling operations chief John Paxson to take this job and shove it?

First, franchise history recalled:

The most excruciating three minutes in Bulls playoff history came in the closing minutes of Game 7 of the 1973 Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

That was the dark California night when the third-seeded Bulls held a 90-83 lead with 2:58 to play over the top-seeded Lakers.

Pick-and-potatoes Bulls coach Dick Motta suddenly got clever with clock management, the Lakers closed with a 12-2 run and finished a 95-92 victory when Wilt Chamberlain came from nowhere to block a Norm Van Lier corner jumper and nailed a streaking Gail Goodrich for the concluding points.

For sheer, implosive, self-induced futility, the final three minutes of the first half of the Bulls' 121-98 loss to top-seeded Cleveland in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference series on Sunday was cut from the same dead-see scroll.

Biting and scratching on every possession, maximizing the energy drawn from a rabid home throng of 23,058, the overmatched Bulls had somehow hammered out a 45-44 lead on a Luol Deng jumper with 3:50 left in the half. Forty-five seconds later, LeBron James' three-pointer flipped it to 47-46 Cavs.

Still, the chances of the Bulls going in at the half close and hoping for the best in a competitive second half loomed large.

Then, in a substitution that will be questioned as long as basketballs bounce in Chicago, Del Negro inserted struggling rookie James Johnson for Brad Miller with 3:05 remaining. There were other options.

Johnson -- the team's No. 1 draft pick last June.

Johnson -- the extremely well-intended, athletic martial-arts ace from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Johnson -- the slow-to-develop playoff phantom who has been completely overshadowed by second-round choice Taj Gibson.

Even worse, in his first playing time of the game, Johnson was assigned to guard James.

Quietly, James licked his megastar inner chops.

''At that point in the game, they were in the penalty, so every time we were fouled, we were going to the free-throw line,'' James said. ''I think being aggressive no matter who's in front of you, whether it's Luol Deng or James Johnson or whoever, you want to be aggressive. And that's what we did as a team, and what I did as an individual. I was aggressive.''

That's a kind way to put it, like saying Tony Soprano and crew could smell a fish at a rigged poker game.

In the ensuing 1:32, Johnson drew three fouls. In that final 3:05, James scored six points and the Cavs closed with a 15-6 run to take a 62-52 halftime lead.

Though Johnson was back on the bench for the start of the third quarter, the Cleveland carnage continued. The Cavs opened with a 17-6 burst, extending their lead to 79-58 and effectively sucking the life out of the UC crowd.

James finished with 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. In nine minutes, Johnson finished with one assist and five fouls.

Asked about his decision, Del Negro replied: ''For the few minutes [Johnson's] played, he's guarded LeBron a little bit. He has a little bit more size, he moves his feet pretty well even though he's a rookie and his minutes have been inconsistent. That's what we are as a team right now in terms of our depth and things. I don't regret that at all. Guys have to be ready to play. And no one guy is going to stop LeBron.''

The post-game media was too merciful to ask the expressway question: Coach, to what degree were you trying to show up John Paxson and his questionable first-round draft pick?

Noah doesn't find solace in 21-20 effort

The lone bright spot for the Bulls in the second half was center Joakim Noah, who had 17 points after halftime.

He finished with 21 points and 20 rebounds to become the first Bull with a 20-20 game in the postseason.

Noah, though, took little satisfaction in the feat because it was accomplished while the Bulls were falling 121-98 Sunday to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 at the United Center.

''Not right now,'' Noah said. ''Maybe once it's all over, but right now it's all about winning ballgames. That's what makes this city happy; that's what makes us happy at the end of the day.''

Noah was 7-for-12 from the field, the only Bull to make at least half of his attempts other than Devin Brown, who was 1-for-1 in two garbage-time minutes.

BULLS WIN! THEY WIN IT!!

(Scroll to the 3:20 mark for "The Shot" or just watch the whole thing 10x like I did.)




OK, yesterday wasn't quite like that. It was almost the opposite, as the Bulls held on to win despite some key missed free throws, but that video is awesome.


Also, check out this pic from DockSquadSports ...

Exclusive Re-enactment of the Paxson/VDN Fight + Playoff Predictions

_________________________________

• PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Round 1
Lakers over Thunder (4-3)
Nuggets over Jazz (4-2)
Suns over Blazers (4-1)
Mavs over Spurs (4-2)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

ROUND 1
Cavs over Bulls (4-2)
Heat over Celtics (4-1)
Hawks over Bucks (4-1)
Magic over Bobcats (4-2)


_______________________________


WESTERN CONFERENCE

Round 2
Lakers over Nuggets (4-2)
Suns over Mavs (4-3)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

ROUND 2
Cavs over Heat (4-2)
Hawks over Magic (4-3)


__________________________


CONFERENCE FINALS

Cavs over Hawks (4-2)
Lakers over Suns (4-2)

_______________________

FINALS

Lakers over Cavs (4-3)

Click-a-Bull (The Pax/VDN Fight!)

Mess with the Bull, You Get the Horns: Chicago Brass Gets Physical

According to sources to Yahoo! sports, after a loss to the Phoenix Suns on March 30th, Bulls vice president John Paxson entered coach Vinny Del Negro's office in an irate fashion regarding the playing time of Joakim Noah.

Sources say Paxson grabbed a hold of Del Negro's tie and gave him two jabs to the chest, even challenging him to a fight.

Coach Bernie Bickerstaff was said to have pulled Paxson away from Del Negro.

Sources stated Del Negro did not retaliate, for fear of the voiding of his contract leading to no pay and hurting the opportunity for future employment chances.

After a Feb. 26th game against Portland, Paxson and general manager Gar Forman also became angry when Noah's minutes exceeded the limit management that team doctors had specified.

Noah played 27 minutes in the 111-105 loss to the Suns on the March 30 game when the Paxson incident supposedly occurred.

Noah's minutes have been a topic of conversation since Del Negro elected to only play Noah for 12 seconds in the extra two frames of the double overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets, with the Bulls having a chance to take a one game lead on the Toronto Raptors for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Can you blame Del Negro at this point?

His job has been threatened more than enough times during the first two months of this season.

Why would he do anything to upset management this late in the season?

If management is literally going to fight Del Negro over playing Noah 27 minutes in a tight game against a good team like the Suns, why wouldn't they stab him over playing Noah more than 35 minutes and 51 seconds in a game against the Nets?

The DelNegro-Paxson Saga Shows how Soft the Chicago Media Can Be; What this Means for 2010 Free Agency

Given Sam Smith's immense sources and basketball contacts through the years, you know he was aware of this story.

So instead of Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski's breaks the story. Just like he had about the team's lack of backing in December when the local outlets failed to report that management was searching for his in-season replacement.

I don't know if the Sun-Times even covers Bulls basketball anymore as John Jackson plays both reporter and columnist and never really iterates a line of insight. I'm still befuddled as to what he does exactly.

So this, the hard-cracking newspapers vs the digital world of Yahoo, shows that reputation is still keeping some reporters afloat.

K.C. Johnson was supposedly trying to be respectful of DelNegro since he is sure to be unemployed in a week or two.

But wasn't DelNegro the one who leaked the story to the papers?

That's why "sources" leak anything in the first place unless it's over some whiskey stupor at the hotel - but those days between reporter and coach have faded. They have something to gain by dispensing some protected information.

So, sure, the Chicago outlets whiffed on this one and Sam Smith plays this one down again. It's just a friendly feud. Never mind that it got physical. Of course when this was about Tyrus Thomas disrespecting DelNegro, it was news.

I don't get it. Don't reporters break news?

Pax-Vinny fight another blight on Jerry Reinsdorf

This stuff never mattered when Michael Jordan owned the Bulls.

During the Jordan regime, sideshows were an entertaining diversion from the monotony of those long, arduous NBA championship seasons. Hey, Dennis Rodman just kicked a photographer and got suspended for 11 games, what a hoot!

Nothing really mattered, because when Rodman would miss 11 games, the Bulls would go 9-2, lead the NBA with a 42-6 record and still be on pace to win an NBA-record 72 games. When Jordan would cause a stir by going to Atlantic City during the playoffs, he'd score 54 points against the Knicks a few nights later and render the Atlantic City episode a non-story.

But ever since Jerry Reinsdorf took over after the 1997-98 season, every off-the-court issue has had long-term, big-picture ramifications. If Jerry Krause would have assaulted Phil Jackson, it would have been written off as creative tension. When John Paxson grabs Vinny Del Negro by the tie and challenges him to a fight, it's a shakes the foundation of the entire Bulls organization -- from the bottom straight to the top. The absolute top.

Jerry Reinsdorf's desk.

If Reinsdorf still owns the Bulls, he needs to speak up now, because the latest embarrassment for the Bulls organization reflects on him more than anyone else. If published reports are as accurate as they appear to be, the guy Reinsdorf hand-picked to return his organization to glory initiated a confrontation with the coach Reinsdorf at least indirectly hired. I kind of doubt Paxson would have confronted Mike D'Antoni or Doug Collins -- or even had reason to do so.

If Reinsdorf wouldn't hire Collins because he didn't want to fire him, he never should have hired Paxson -- because he's going to have to fire him sooner or later at the rate Pax is going. The sloppy apparent "mis-firing" of Del Negro in December, the whole Joakim Noah-minutes ordeal and now this.

Derrick Rose is carrying the team like never before -- he's averaging 24.9 points and 41.6 minutes over the last eight games -- and the Bulls still are scrapping and clawing for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference and the right to get wiped out by a refreshed LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the first round.

And the price of Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade just went up, because any agent knows how badly Paxson needs a superstar player for a shot at turning the Bulls into a serious playoff contender.

Source: Not first incident with Del Negro

Chicago Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro initiated the physical contact with executive vice president John Paxson during an altercation on March 30 -- contrary to a report that painted Paxson as the aggressor -- a source close to the situation told ESPNChicago.com.

Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday that Paxson grabbed Del Negro by the tie, jabbed him twice in the chest and seemingly challenged him to a fight because Del Negro exceeded the time limit management set for Joakim Noah, who has been recovering from plantar fasciitis in his left foot. In Yahoo Sports' report it was suggested that Del Negro didn't retaliate against Paxson during the altercation because he was worried the Bulls could void his contract.

However, a source close to the situation disputed who initiated that argument, and said that it wasn't the first altercation Del Negro has had with management. The source said that Del Negro and Bulls general manager Gar Forman had an altercation in Forman's office that was similar, but did not give details.

"So this was not the first time [Del Negro] exhibited this behavior," the source said.

A call placed to Del Negro on Wednesday afternoon was not immediately returned.

The relationship between Paxson and Del Negro has been deteriorating for some time and reached a head over the use of Noah, who has been hurting since mid-January. Del Negro, the source said, directly defied orders by Paxson and Forman in playing Noah seven minutes longer than ordered to against the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 26 when Noah was "clearly hurting," according to the source.

"[Del Negro] put his own interest ahead of the Bulls," the source said.

Noah missed the next 10 games, all Bulls losses.

Click-a-Bull (Deng/Kirk; Rose; Win Streak)

I am almost done with my "Bulls 2010 Free Agency Predictions" - so expect that post up later this week.



Deng suffers setback

On the eighth day of his absence, Luol Deng revealed he originally was told he could miss one to three weeks with his strained right calf.

Coach Vinny Del Negro then piled on by saying Deng suffered a setback Wednesday after trying to run on the injury both Tuesday and pregame Wednesday. Deng, limping noticeably in the Bulls' locker room, missed his fourth straight game.

"I'm still having trouble pushing off," Deng said.

...

Marked man: Not only did Kirk Hinrich miss Tuesday's loss to the Grizzlies because of his one-game league suspension, the broadcast was blacked out at the team hotel. So Hinrich went to watch at a local sports bar, where he was recognized and mocked by Memphis fans still stinging from when Hinrich's alma mater of Kansas beat the University of Memphis for the 2008 NCAA title.

Of course, that didn't stop two fans from asking for Hinrich's autograph. And, yes, Hinrich signed.

Rose rises to the occasion the Bulls

Derrick Rose said before Monday night's game that his sprained left wrist is "not quite 100 percent but is getting there."

One has to wonder about the kind of damage Rose might do to an opposing team's defense once he is back at full strength because he sure seems just fine while on the mend.

The Bulls guard poured in a game-high 27 points with a spirited effort to lead the way to a 98-88 victory over the Houston Rockets at the United Center.

They kept pace with Toronto, which hold the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors defeated Minnesota 106-100 to remain 21/2 games in front of the Bulls.

"We are a team just trying to find a way," said Rose, who also had 8 assists and 7 rebounds. "I think we have a shot at the playoffs."

The Bulls (33-37) showed a lot of heart. Vinny Del Negro was ejected in the third quarter for the first time in his coaching career for arguing an offensive foul to Kirk Hinrich with 40 seconds left in the game.

The second half may have been one of the Bulls' best from a defensive perspective as they held the Rockets to 24 percent shooting (11-for-46). Del Negro said defense was the key.

That's two in a row

Artistically, it wasn't quite ''The March of the Penguins.''

It only seemed like it took an Arctic winter or so for the Bulls to put away the Houston Rockets on Monday night.

With Vinny Del Negro assisting the bad guys with a double technical and the first ejection of his NBA head-coaching career, Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and reserve Flip Murray provided enough offensive pop at the end for the Bulls to teeter on home 98-88.

The victory was the second straight for the Bulls after a 10-game losing streak. Rose led the march with 27 points -- 11 in the fourth quarter -- and eight assists. Murray scored 18 in a tremendous 34-minute turn off the bench.

Hinrich added 17, including 4-for-4 three-point shooting in a game in which the Bulls shot 50 percent (7-for-14) behind the arc and limited the Rockets to 24 percent shooting (11-for-46) in the second half.

''We're going to win with defense, and we held them to a good number,'' said Del Negro, whose team kept an opponent below the dreaded 100-point plateau for the second consecutive game.

Taj Gibson (10 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks), Brad Miller (10 points, 12 rebounds) and the uber-energizing Joakim Noah -- limited to six minutes in each half as he hit Game 2 of his return from plantar fasciitis -- also were significant contributors.

Del Negro's ill-timed histrionics came late in the third quarter, just after the Bulls' lead had peaked at 72-59. After a bang-bang sequence of foul calls on Rose at the defensive end and Gibson on offense, Del Negro suddenly was racing with pronounced animation toward midcourt.

Click-a-Bull (Kmart/Draft Picks, Coaching Issues, Losing Streak, Salmons, Playoff Chances)

BullBearSock has been silent (or relatively quiet) for the past few days because I was moving to a new apartment. I did not have access to the internet, and was just too busy to get any blogging done. (And apparently DC and Kmart were too busy to cover for me!!)

If you're curious, I love my new place ... but there is one HUUUUGE flaw: the building board has not yet worked out a contract with DirecTV for providing HD services. So I will be watching the remainder of the season in standard def. (This could throw my analysis off slightly, because it will be like watching games in 1991 - except without the joy of MJ and Scottie).


But enough about that, let's get to the links:


Kevin Martin, Hill, Jeffries and a pile of picks or cap room in 2010?

[Daryl Morey] From Bill Simmons podcast quoted from realgm:

We're looking for elite talent. We could've gone the cap-room route or we could've gone the route of picking up players who can help us in the next season and also potentially set us up for acquiring a top guy going that route.

I think 8 teams are now under the cap where they can have max room, but I think there are only 4-5 guys to chase, and some teams are chasing two. We felt with going the other route, picking up a guy like Kevin Martin, and other assets in terms of draft picks for the future. That was the route we wanted to go.

What if the Bulls had been willing to trade Jerome James, Tyrus Thomas, and Brad Miller for the package that Houston received?

What would you rather have Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill, and swap rights on the Knicks couple of picks or a shot at 2010. Clearly the upside of such a move isn't likely to exceed signing one of the big three given the protection on the picks from the Knicks precludes top picks, but the floor is sure a ton higher.

Kevin Martin is a very high quality player on a fairly reasonable, not super long term deal. He's a trade asset more likely that not. Jordan Hill hasn't had a phenomenal season, but he's still a high quality big man prospect, and the Bulls would get good chances to move up very high in the draft the next couple years if the Knicks fail in FA.

Guest post: Coaching is still the biggest problem

A lot of fans are confusing and/or conflating some basic issues during these trying times for the Bulls. While every fan hopes for his or her team to make the playoffs, that goal is not necessarily consistent with the objectives of team management and owners. That’s not to say that they don’t want the team to go as far as possible this year, but rather that their prime objective has, for some time, been to acquire a top free-agent during the off-season, and to build a stronger contender in 2011.

So, for example, when fans gripe about the Bulls having traded Thomas and Salmons, they are really missing the main point, as reaching the playoffs was not management’s primary consideration. Also, as Matt has pointed out repeatedly, the Bulls have little chance of beating elite teams with Noah out, and other key players slowed by injuries. Had those trades not been made, the slide might not have been quite as precipitous as it threatens to be, but their presence would not have been able to prevent it.

What I believe has been somewhat overlooked through all the consternation about the trades is the overarching problem facing the team: VDN. When the team was healthy and playing well, and more recently, when the Noah-less Bulls beat some bad teams, del Negro’s weaknesses were overlooked by many. But now, as the Bulls are being exposed by better teams, his weaknesses have (again) become glaring.

Rather than review Vinny’s many faults, let’s look at one aspect of the Dallas game as an example that dovetails nicely with the above point about the Bulls (theoretically) being molded to be more formidable next year.

During a second-half stretch in which they had a realistic chance of reeling in the Mavericks, Vinny chose not only to use Pargo, but to rely on him heavily! Shouldn’t it be obvious to del Negro, as it has become to any alert observer, that Pargo is barely competent as a spot up shooter, let alone an all-around player? (As an aside, in stark contrast to the Pistons’ legendary Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, I’d submit that Pargo should be nicknamed “Two Sticks”, given how long it takes him to heat up enough to make two shots in a row.)

What was so incongruous (and further damning) about VDN’s use of Pargo, was how little he used James Johnson (FOUR minutes!). Johnson, as any half-serious observer will have noticed, is gaining confidence, and improving fairly rapidly with added playing time. Johnson played well enough in a brief stint during the first half of the game, and was precisely the sort of (healthy) athlete who could have been of defensive service against the likes of Butler and Marion, who were torching the Bulls with easy baskets. And yet VDN chose to rely heavily on a three-guard lineup, including a bad streak shooter who — God forbid — will play no part in the Bulls future, rather than continuing to develop a promising young player who might very well become a valuable contributor.

No end in sight for losing streak

The Bulls turned in their best performance of a four-game losing streak on Saturday, but still didn’t come very close to stopping Dallas’ 11-game win streak.

With center Joakim Noah out for at least three weeks with a sore foot, it’s tough to tell when this skid will end. The Bulls host Utah on Tuesday, then go on the road for four straight at Orlando, Miami, Memphis and Dallas. When that’s over, they host Cleveland, then visit Philadelphia for what will be their fourth game in five nights.

Am I suggesting a 10- or 11-game losing streak is possible? It appears so, but sometimes the Bulls can surprise just when people are counting them out. The five-game road winning streak in late January is an example, but they were relatively healthy back then.

Whether they end the streak or not on Tuesday, we should expect the Bulls to fall out of playoff position soon. They are back in eighth place at the moment, a half-game ahead of Charlotte.

They’ll need a big finish to reach the postseason and the schedule does cooperate. The final 13 games are much more reasonable for the Bulls and that’s around the time Noah will try to return. How much he’ll be able to play is anyone’s guess, of course.

Anyway, the Bulls play eight of their final 13 at home. Except for another date with the Cavs, the home games are reasonable, while the toughest road opponents are Toronto and Charlotte.

--My only question about Saturday’s game is why James Johnson didn’t get a longer run? He played just over four minutes, but contributed 4 points and a block. Chris Richard was also good in limited minutes. Maybe this will bode well for Tuesday.

Ex-Bull Salmons giving Bucks a nice boost

John Salmons caught a good one last year. That was when he and Brad Miller proved to be the fated February acquisitions that helped propel the Bulls into a history-Maching playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

Three weeks ago, Salmons was swatted by the books of the Bulls' anticipated high-profile free-agent hunt when he and his $6 million salary were swerved to the developing Milwaukee Bucks.

Monday after practice, few could argue that Salmons appears to have caught another good one. With the Celtics due at the Bradley Center tonight, the Bucks are 9-1 since Salmons got to town.

They're even catching odd spectral breaks. The most recent came Saturday night when Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown elected to ''rest'' LeBron James hours before the host Bucks rolled to a 92-85 win in front of the mixed emotions of 18,717.

The Bulls, besieged once again by injuries, appear headed only for the spotty uncertainties of April. They're 4-5 since Salmons departed and take a four-game losing streak into a United Center date tonight against the Utah Jazz.

''I wish no one down there any bad,'' Salmons said. ''We all went through too much together last spring against Boston. I consider just about everyone on that team a good friend. I do want to finish ahead of them, though.''

Bulls Playoffs Hopes: Cloudy With A Chance Of Just Missed The Postseason

Now, of course, the Bulls would still be in the playoffs if the season ended today. And, of course, they’re battling it out with a bunch of other .500ish teams, and when you are battling mediocrity, there is always a chance for success.

But I’d say the Bulls’ playoff chances are now cloudy with a just missed the postseason.

Exhibit A: Last week, Joakim Noah was shut down for three weeks. There’s no guarantee he’s going to be playing again once that timetable is up. He’s going to be limited in his minutes even if he does comes back. Brad Miller is Brad Miller. Chris Richard brings the effort, but is a D-Leaguer. The Bulls are now clearly at a disadvantage at center.

Exhibit B: They’ve lost four straight, and their schedule does them no favors in the immediate future — games against the Jazz, Magic, Heat, Grizzlies, Mavericks and Cavs this week and next — and with the Bucks stepping up and grabbing hold of the fifth spot with an impressive run of late, that’s one less spot available for the Bulls in the top eight.

Exhibit C: John Hollinger’s Playoff Odds now gives the Bulls a 52.9 percent chance of making the playoffs. Better than 50 percent, yes. But the Bucks (98.1 percent), Heat (94.7 percent), Bobcats (81.9 percent) and Raptors (71.9 percent) have much better odds in comparison.

All things to keep in mind as the last month of the season rapidly approaches.

Poll Results: Who should be the Bulls coach next year?

VOTE IN THE NEW POLL ------>


Looks like Bulls fans are interested in D (Thibedeau) or a coach that can develop our young PG (Byron Scott). Personally, I would be really happy with either of those options. However, I stated the other day that I fear the worst:

Best case scenario would be to move Salmons, sign Wade or Bosh, and replace VDN. Worst case scenario would be Salmons opting-in, Bulls over-paying for JJohnson or Rudy Gay (putting us over the salary cap), then keeping VDN to save some money. That is a huge contrast ... and I'm very scared that the latter could happen.

Click-a-Bull (Tyrus/Taj, Vinny, Tyrus, and more)

Good For The Goose, Bad For The Gander

Taj versus Tyrus:“Should Tyrus start over Taj?” is one of the biggest questions about the Bulls right now…which probably explains why they’re a sub-.500 team. But after a hot three-game stint after his return, Ty has been struggling. He was woeful against the ‘Wolves, as foul trouble 5 limited him to 22 minutes. He finished with 9 points 3-for-7, 5 boards, 2 steals, 3 blocked shots and a game-high 6 turnovers although several of those TOs came in garbage time.Meanwhile, Gibson had 13 points 4-for-8, 9 rebounds and zero turnovers in his 23 minutes. The reality is, Gibson is the more steady and consistent player, while Thomas is the more effective and impressive game-changing defensive force. If only there was some way we could merge them into a single player…

via A timely win: Bulls 110, Timberwolves 96 » By The Horns.

Tyrus Thomas is Amir Johnson is Tyrus Thomas.

I’ve been a supporter of Taj Gibson. He came into a hard situation and has made the most of it, while everyone screams he sucks. He’s old. He has no jumper (even though it’s fallen for most of the season). He doesn’t rebound. He sucks. He sucks. He sucks.

Tyrus Thomas has been the occasional golden calf of this site. I wish nothing but the best for Thomas and hope he becomes a productive player. But I do have some questions which Bulls fans are a little too close to home to answer.

Is the worst over for Vinny?

Has the worst passed for Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro?

Yes and no.

The Bulls are 5-4 since the home disaster against Sacramento when they couldn’t hold a 35-point lead. Coaches rarely survive losses like that – especially when faced with daily speculation about job security even before the capitulation – but Del Negro has handled the scrutiny admirably and his young team has managed to regroup.

That’s the good news.

The bad news: Only five of Chicago’s 16 remaining games before the All-Star break are at home. Worse yet: Del Negro has to deal with that tough schedule knowing deep down that he doesn’t have the support of his bosses . . . and that everyone in the league has known it since this report from my ESPN The Magazine colleague Chris Broussard and the Bulls’ subsequent refusals to publicly stand up for their under-fire coach.

It’s undeniably true that Del Negro is occasionally betrayed by his inexperience on the bench, which results in regular second-guessing of his in-game decisions. It's also true that the Bulls gave him a head-coaching opportunity when pretty much no other team regarded Del Negro as a head-coaching candidate.

But his Bulls superiors simply haven’t backed him. They’ve actually done more to undermine him, which has surprised even Del Negro's critics after the team publicly acknowledged Del Negro's lack of experience when it hired him and made it sound as though they'd work through the growing pains together.

Mark Stein: Tyrus is available but no one wants him

Per Mark Stein:

I've been reliably assured that Chicago's Tyrus Thomas, back at last from a forearm injury, remains highly available.

No trade partner has emerged for the enigmatic former No. 4 overall pick, but moving Thomas before the deadline is still Chicago's intention.

The Bulls drafted Taj Gibson at least partly because they saw him as an ideal replacement for Thomas and they like the progress Gibson is making as a starter.

Hardly surprising.

Not just because Tyrus simply hasn't been that good in his career so far, but this is the least desirable he's going to be for a team wanting to take a chance on him. Even if you trade for Tyrus and he completely blows up and plays great you'll be facing a contract extension with him after the season left to wonder if he's going to keep it up or not.

Bulls find the range in big win over T-Wolves

Bulls guard John Salmons endured some taunting in the locker room following Saturday's 110-96 victory over Minnesota.

Lindsey Hunter pointed out that Salmons wore a green shirt, supposedly in tribute to his hometown Philadelphia Eagles, who lost a playoff game badly while the Bulls rolled past the Timberwolves at the United Center.

At no time did anyone show appreciation for Salmons' recent stretch of improved outside shooting. Locker room humor can be cruel sometimes.

But it's true that Salmons has been on an impressive roll as a long-range shooter. During the past eight games, he's knocked down 15 of 26 attempts from 3-point range, good for 57.7 percent.

"Shooting comes and goes. You've got to ride it while it's hot," Salmons shrugged. "I haven't been doing anything different."

The Bulls have been among the league's worst all season in 3-point shooting percentage, but made 7 of 14 shots against Minnesota. In the last three games, they're a shocking 20-for-42 from behind the arc.

Kirk Hinrich, who accounted for 4 of the Bulls' 3-point baskets and a season-high 20 points, offered an explanation.

"I just think the ball's moving a lot more," he said. "Usually when you're doing a good job moving the ball and sharing the ball, you get open threes and they're easier to knock them down."

Power Rankings

22 (22) Bulls 15-20 For all the early fuss about the Bulls' annual circus trip, Chicago's January looks just as rough with eight of this month's 10 remaining games on the road.

Click-a-Bull (Vinny, Rose, NBA, Grades)

Winning allows Del Negro to joke

Vinny Del Negro couldn't help but take a jab at all the reports regarding his future on Sunday afternoon. When a reporter asked how his players were responding to all the rumors surrounding his future, the second year head coach stopped him mid-sentence.

"There has been?" he said sarcastically. "I didn't know that."

Obviously, it's a lot easier to joke about things when your team has won four games in a row. But, as both Del Negro and his players admitted, it's never easy hearing all of those reports during a season.

VOTE IN THE POLL ------->


What the NBA has learned this decade

When I think of how the nation changed this decade, I consider the cars in my town, and I think back to the day several years ago when I saw a Hummer with a personalized license plate that claimed "8 MPG" -- as if the owner were proud of eradicating the earth's natural resources one block at a time. I thought of that guy when gas prices hit $4 a gallon, and wondered whether he still felt that way, or whether he begged for mercy and swapped his Hummer for a Prius. Even if he didn't, enough others felt that way to drop Hummer sales by 85 percent this year.

The NBA, just like the rest of America, is capable of learning, even if it sometimes requires a good deal of error amid the trials. This was the decade we discovered that gas-devouring SUVs aren't so cool when you're paying $4 a gallon at the pump, we learned not to throw all of our investment dollars in a company just because it had dot-com in the name, we found out that green-lighting mortgages for homeowners already deep in debt isn't such a bright idea, and the NBA realized it's not wise to become infatuated with players just because they have foreign names or to lavish huge contracts on centers who can't get you a double-double.

Fiscal responsibility became the league's focal point by the end of the '00s, whether it was saving salary-cap space for the 2010 free-agent market or trying to save a franchise from bankruptcy. One team executive estimated that up to 70 percent of trades are now made for financial reasons.

Grading the First 30: Bulls

Few teams have been more confusing than the Chicago Bulls so far this season, especially after how great they played in last year's postseason, but losing Ben Gordon has proven to be a much bigger deal than anyone expected (even if everyone still agrees that Chicago simply couldn't have paid him $11 million a season) and now the team is fighting and clawing its way back to .500. How did this happen? A lot went into it, but things aren't all bad here, even if the first third of the season was pretty dismal.

Best Offensive Weapon: Derrick Rose – An injured ankle sort of limited Rose early in the season and probably shook up his confidence a little bit, but once he got fully healed he really started tearing things up on the offensive end of the floor. He hasn't quite lived up to the expectations fans had for him this season, but he's getting there. As the leader of the team in scoring with 18ppg he is up from last year's average despite the slow start, but his assists and shooting percentages are down a little from his Rookie of the Year campaign. He's steadily finding the groove, though, and there's little question that by the end of the season he'll be back on top of his game and having critics oohing and ahhing again.

Bulls riding Rose's wave

Derrick Rose has the types of skills that bring video games to life.

He has the ability to leave opponents' heads spinning with the type of quick cuts he makes. He has proven that over and over during the Bulls recent four-game winning streak. The second-year point guard is averaging 25 points a game over his past seven games and is playing like the player everyone in Chicago grew to love last season when he earned the Rookie of the Year Award.

"That turbo button is a little bit different in the last six, seven games than it was early in the season," Bulls center Joakim Noah said of Rose. "He's been playing at a really, really high level so that definitely gives a boost to our team when D Rose is playing like that."

It's no coincidence that the Bulls have found their stride at the same time Rose has found his.

Post-Game: Could the Bulls be GOOD?

Luol Deng is always my emotional barometer for the Bulls, meaning that when he's happy and talkative, it's probably with good cause. I've always felt like nobody in that locker room takes the game more seriously than Deng, to see him in such a good mood and talking so positively about the team speaks volumes.

Derrick Rose led the Bulls tonight towards their season-high fourth straight win, scoring 30 points and chipping in 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Taking 23 shots is a lot for him, but his offense was on point tonight--so much so that he got the line ten times. That's exactly the sort of game Rose is capable of every night, and it was enough to fuel Chicago towards a big home win tonight.

What was interesting in this evening's game was the substitution patterns Vinny Del Negro used, opting to play Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah only minimal minutes despite really hot play of late in favor of Taj Gibson and Brad Miller, both of whom played their Magic opponents very tough tonight. Miller especially got into Dwight Howard's head, causing the big guy to have an off night which certainly didn't help Orlando's cause much.

I'll tell you this: the Chicago Bulls
are starting to look suspiciously like the team everyone thought they could be coming into the season. They still have some work to do closing out games, but they do look good. Maybe Vinny can breathe easy for a while longer...

I tweeted something similar to that during the Bulls W over the Magic: @bullbearsock: These Bulls appear to be good at basketball and fun to watch. 2010 is different/odd, but I am loving it


The Vinny Distraction

It's hard to explain what's going on in Chicago right now. For about two weeks now there have been a number of reports coming out of the Windy City indicating that Vinny Del Negro, the team's head coach, could be fired any day. The GM of the team passed on giving a definitive show of support to his coach, and there were even rumors that preliminary background checks were being done on potential replacements.

But somehow, Del Negro has survived, but that doesn't mean he's out of the woods, even taking his team's four-game winning streak into considering. One gets the impression that he's one more embarrassing loss from getting shown the door, which in most cases would be a huge distraction for an NBA team.

Not this one, apparently.

"We're not worrying about it all," said Bulls Player of the Month, Derrick Rose, who averaged over 20ppg in December. "That's in the front office, and they have to make that decision. We're just trying to play basketball right now."

Click-a-Bull (Kirk/Caron, Rose, Gar/VDN, James Johnson)

I already posted my quick reactions to the Kirk Hinrich/Caron Butler trade rumor. Here is a little more detail on the finances / cap implications ...

Caron Butler to Miami or Chicago?

Even before the whole gun thing with Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, the Washington Wizards had been a disappointing team this season. Finally healthy, many expected them to compete with a big three that should be among the league's best. Instead, they're 10-21, one of the worst records in their conference, and the discord in the locker room just seems to grow and grow.

Before the incident, Wizards brass was reportedly looking at some sort of major trade, likely in the next two weeks according to former Washington Times' beat writer Mike Jones. Originally believed to be shopping Arenas and his monster contract, the recent happenings make it more likely that a different Wizard is moved, and the chatter right now is that could be Caron Butler.

VOTE IN THE POLL ---->

According to Jones, a source close to the situation is suggesting that Butler could be packaged up with the seldom-used Mike James and sent to the Miami HEAT or Chicago Bulls. From Chicago they'd likely be looking for Kirk Hinrich and the expiring contract of Jerome James. There was no mention of who might be offered up from the HEAT.

The offer for the Bulls would be a huge upgrade in talent that wouldn't compromise the team's desire to pursue a marquee free agent this summer. Mike James and Jerome James are both expiring deals in the $6 million range, and both Hinrich and Butler make in between $9.5 and $10 million this season. Financially it would even help the Bulls because Butler has one less year on his deal than Hinrich does—something that could prove to be very helpful when it comes time to extend Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose.

Rose scores 30 to lead Bulls over Magic 101-93

Derrick Rose(notes) made a statement and issued a warning.

If there are any doubts about his ankle, forget it. And if anyone wants to count out the Chicago Bulls, forget that, too.

“If we continue to play this way, good things are going to happen for us,” Rose said.

Like this.

Rose scored 30 points and the Bulls beat the Orlando Magic 101-93 on Saturday night for their season-high fourth straight win.

For all the speculation about coach Vinny Del Negro’s job status, the Bulls are playing their best ball of the season—and so is Rose, who finished two points shy of a career high he set against Atlanta last month.

Slowed by an ankle injury early on, he started the new year on the right foot after averaging just over 20 points in December.

“I was just trying to attack,” he said. “I’ve told you that I’d do anything to help my team win, and that’s what I was doing out there tonight.”

Gar sent the correct message

There was an interesting contrast in the last couple of days between two struggling Central Division rivals.

Indiana president Larry Bird gave third-year coach Jim O'Brien a resounding show of support, saying if any players have a problem with the coach, the players are more likely to be leaving.

Bulls general manager Gar Forman was asked Tuesday if second-year coach Vinny Del Negro has full support of the organization and replied “Our organization is behind what we’re doing. We’re still optimistic with where we’re going. I don’t think anyone is happy with where we are today and our goal is to get better each and every day."

I've got to declare Forman the winner in that exchange. If you're paying money to watch a 12-17 team (or 9-21 in the case of the Pacers), do you really want to hear that a coach has full support of management? No, things need to improve.

Play better and there will be no reason to make a change -- that's the only message worth sending right now.

Happy New Year

If Derrick Rose and the Bulls keep playing the way they have over the past week, there's no doubt that the new year will be much better than anyone could have hoped for at the end of the old one.

The reigning rookie of the year started off 2010 in style on Saturday night, scoring 30 points and leading his teammates to a 101-93 victory over the Magic.

"It's great," Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro said after his team's fourth consecutive win. "Our guys are playing with confidence. We're sharing the minutes a little bit. We've got more bodies to go to. All of that's a plus. [We've] got to continually attack and play more sound. We turned the ball over a little bit in some key times, but I was very happy we kept attacking. We got to the [free-throw] line 27 times and we shot it well at the line. A lot of positives overall. To beat Orlando, one of the top teams in the league, is a good confidence [boost] for our team."

A huge boost is more like it. This win was the Bulls' biggest of the season to date and it proved to the young team that when they play well as a group they have the ability to compete with the upper echelon teams. After weeks of frustration, misery and speculation about their coach's future, the Bulls locker room has suddenly turned into a more confident and much happier place.

Johnson starting to gain Del Negro's confidence

The Bulls have two rookies on their roster, forwards Taj Gibson and James Johnson, and they have followed different paths through the first third of their first season.

Gibson, 24, out of USC, worked his way into the starting lineup quickly when Tyrus Thomas got injured. He has started 18 games, averaging 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds.

Johnson has played in 22 games but averages a little more than 10 minutes a game. Now, though, coach Vinny Del Negro's confidence in Johnson appears to be growing.

"He makes some mistakes, but his preparation is better, and he can do a lot of things off the dribble," Del Negro said of Johnson. "I try to give him a little feel for the game. He's a good kid with good intentions. He's just got growing pains."

Del Negro said it is inappropriate to compare Johnson to Gibson.

Click-a-Bull (Vinny, Kirk, Vinny,Tyrus, Salmons, Noah)

Just in case you missed it yesterday ...
Decision to Fire Del Negro "Already Been Made"

I cannot believe it took this long ...

Sources: Del Negro firing closer

The decision to fire head coach Vinny Del Negro has already been made, according to sources with knowledge of the Chicago Bulls' thinking. The fact that the Bulls' front office has not been able to settle on a replacement is the main thing keeping the embattled Del Negro employed, the sources said.

There were discussions recently within the organization about having John Paxson, Chicago's executive vice president of basketball operations, take over the team, but Paxson ultimately decided against it. Then, according to sources, Chicago contacted former Bulls coach Doug Collins, a candidate for the job two years ago when Del Negro was hired, but Collins was not interested in coaching the club.

Phone messages left for Paxson and Bulls general manager Gar Forman were not returned.

WHO SHOULD REPLACE VINNY DEL NEGRO?
VOTE IN THE POLL ---->


Bulls thrive with Hinrich setting tempo

Tyrus Thomas' return from a broken arm will get most of the attention, but the addition of Kirk Hinrich to the starting lineup for Saturday's 96-85 win over New Orleans was another important factor.

The most noticeable statistic was the Bulls posting a season-high of 28 assists - 4 better than their previous best, set against Golden State on Dec. 11.

Hinrich finished with 14 points, 7 assists and even knocked down 3 of 5 attempts from 3-point range. Derrick Rose contributed 9 assists and also scored 14 points.

"Kirk made sure everybody was on the same page, in the right coverages," center Joakim Noah said. "It was good to have him out there. It was like having two point guards."

Del Negro's right in this sit-uation

For nearly two months, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro was remarkably patient with his underperforming veterans, but he finally got tough Tuesday night -- yanking John Salmons and Brad Miller from the starting lineup at the beginning of the second half of the Bulls' 88-81 loss to the New York Knicks.

It's about time.

Now, I'm not saying that all of the Bulls' woes are because of Salmons and Miller. All I'm saying is that everybody on a team -- including veterans with a proven track record -- must be held accountable for their actions.

''I just thought Taj [Gibson] came in with some good energy, like he always does, and Kirk [Hinrich] always comes in with some thrust, and I felt like we needed to kind of jump-start it a little. We did that in the third quarter.''

Whether it was the lineup changes or something else, the Bulls were much better in the second half against the Knicks and nearly rallied from a 22-point deficit.

Tyrus is Back, but For How Long?

After missing several weeks with a broken arm, Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas returned to the lineup Saturday night and played a spectacular game. Not only did he lead the team with 21 points, but he also chipped in 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, while shooting 59% from the floor. His athleticism has been sorely missed on a Bulls team that has struggled mightily in the seven weeks since Thomas first left the team, raising questions about how this season might have gone differently so far had Thomas not only been in the lineup the last couple months but playing this well.

That's all idle consideration, though. The fact of the matter is that he hasn't been playing, and Thomas's contract situation makes him one of the most interesting side stories for the Bulls from here on out.

We all know that Chicago will have a reasonable amount of cap space to work with this summer, but in order to spend that money on a marquee free agent the team would have to renounce its claim on Thomas, who's up for an extension this summer. In other words, they can't have a Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson and also keep Tyrus Thomas. It's going to have to be one or the other.

Will Bulls try to remove all doubt from next year's cap space?

Watching the Bulls dish out a season-high 28 assists with Kirk Hinrich starting at the two-guard for the first time this season, I couldn’t help but wonder if the Bulls will try to go all-in on free-agency by trading John Salmons.

Salmons hasn’t played as well as the Bulls hoped and scored just 3 points off the bench in Saturday’s win over New Orleans. That’s not even the biggest issue, though. Salmons has an option to terminate the final year of his contract, worth $6.7 million, next summer.

There’s a good chance he will, since a decent number of teams will have cap room and even if he signs for a smaller yearly salary, he might be able to guarantee himself a greater guaranteed income over the next few years.

If Salmons doesn’t opt out, it would put a huge dent in the Bulls’ cap space. Without Salmons’ contract, the Bulls have around $33.1 million in commitments, which should give them more than $20 million to spend on free agents.

With that in mind, would they try to remove the doubt and deal Salmons for an expiring contract? That all depends on how much another team would value Salmons. The 6-7 swingman has been a good defender this year, even while his shot isn’t falling.

Just in case you missed my last post (and cannot scroll down on your own), here it is: Why the Bulls Must Trade Luol Deng: To Keep Joakim Noah and win a Championship

This post is meant to be a continuation of a previous post: 2010 NBA Free Agency = Fantasy Auction Draft (& a Bulls' FAIL!). The basic premise was that the Bulls (and most teams) will miss out on the big prizes next summer (Wade, Bosh, LeBaby) and end up overpaying a "second-tier" player (Joe Johnson, Amare, Rudy Gay).

Having one of the latter three would not necessarily be a bad thing (as I put second-tir in quotes to emphasize that all 3 of those guys are really great players, and not second-tier at all), all three would make the Bulls a much better team next season ... BUT would wind up hurting the Bulls in the long-term. This post will (hopefully) explain why, and (see title of post) why that will eventually force the Bulls to trade Luol Deng to keep Joakim Noah. So with that as background, here we go!


First, we have to look at the general composition of an NBA team in terms of salary structure. The salary cap and player contracts make all of this very complex but for my purposes, I will dumb it down. Basically, each team can afford to have two maximum contracts and one other very-near-max contract (or some similar combination), then fill in the remainder with smaller contracts (read: role players). To illustrate my point, let's use the NBA Champs from last year - the LA Lakers:

Salaries (from basketball-reference.com)
CSV ▪ PRE ▪ About
Rk Player Salary

1 Kobe Bryant $21,262,500
2 Pau Gasol $15,106,000
3 Lamar Odom $14,148,596
4 Derek Fisher $4,700,000
5 Sasha Vujacic $4,524,887
6 Luke Walton $4,420,000
7 Adam Morrison $4,159,200
8 Trevor Ariza $3,100,000
9 Andrew Bynum $2,769,300
10 Jordan Farmar $1,080,000

Decision to Fire Del Negro "Already Been Made"

I cannot believe it took this long ...

Sources: Del Negro firing closer

The decision to fire head coach Vinny Del Negro has already been made, according to sources with knowledge of the Chicago Bulls' thinking. The fact that the Bulls' front office has not been able to settle on a replacement is the main thing keeping the embattled Del Negro employed, the sources said.

There were discussions recently within the organization about having John Paxson, Chicago's executive vice president of basketball operations, take over the team, but Paxson ultimately decided against it. Then, according to sources, Chicago contacted former Bulls coach Doug Collins, a candidate for the job two years ago when Del Negro was hired, but Collins was not interested in coaching the club.

Phone messages left for Paxson and Bulls general manager Gar Forman were not returned.

Chicago, which will have approximately $15 million in cap space next summer, would like to have a permanent coach in place well before the long-awaited free-agent bonanza of 2010 begins.

The Bulls would prefer not to promote an assistant coach, either Bernie Bickerstaff or Pete Myers, to interim status, but if they can't settle on a permanent replacement for Del Negro, they may have to go that route.

A strong run by the Bulls, who beat New Orleans Saturday night after the return of Tyrus Thomas from a broken arm, could delay Del Negro's eventual firing, but there is practically no chance he would coach the team beyond this season.

Del Negro's first season in Chicago was largely viewed as disappointing until the Bulls stunned the Boston Celtics by taking them to seven games in the first round of last season's playoffs. Coming off that impressive performance, this season's 11-17 record is a colossal disappointment.

There is no shortage of reputable coaches available. Byron Scott, who was fired by New Orleans earlier this season, would seem to be a logical candidate. Avery Johnson, who sources say is on the short list of coaching candidates for New Orleans and New Jersey next season, along with Jeff Van Gundy, Sam Mitchell and Lawrence Frank, have all had successful coaching careers. Scott, Johnson and Mitchell have all been named NBA Coach of the Year.

Click-a-Bull (Reactions to Blowing 35-point Lead)

Here was my immediate reaction after the game:
Bulls up 35 ... EPIC FAIL!

Random thoughts/numbers from the Bulls collapse against the Sac Kings:

- Bulls had zero turnovers in the first quarter, then had 17 by the midpoint of the fourth quarter. That is 17 turnovers in 30 minutes of basketball.

- Bulls scored 38 points in the first quarter, then finished with 98. That's 60 points over the last 36 minutes of basketball.

Here was Kmart's reaction today:
*Panic Button Pushed*

Lots of columns/articles/blogs out today calling out not only Vinny Del Negro, but the entire core of the Organization Gar, Pax and perhaps most specifically Uncle Jerry - and with good reason too. Last night's loss was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen. Pretty soul crushing to the point where I tried talking myself into one of my friends getting rich enough to pull a Mark Cuban and buy a team that I can become a fan of, so I can finally burn the bridge to the Bulls.

I even started thinking that I wish we never had Jordan, so I would have never known what pure greatness and dominance felt like every single night. I immediately regretted this thought entering my mind, although the fact that I even contemplated it is a testament to how much my Bulls faith has been shaken. It's not fair. And while it's completely understandable to go on a decade+ long drought in Milwaukee, Memphis, or some other 3rd tier market, it's not in Chicago. It's completely unacceptable, especially when you have been the most profitable team in the league for the last 20+ consecutive years.

And here are a few other reactions from the interwebs:

Kings 102, Bulls 98: Organizations lose 35 point leads

Unfortunately I was out and had to watch this one with the sound off, so I wasn't able to devote my full attention to this game and the complete nuts-and-bolts to this collapse. But is there really any detail needed? maybe it's just...

Wow.

Well, not entirely 'wow', since if I had to pick a team that would blow a 35 point lead, it'd be a team who has one of the league's worst offenses, a unit that could go completely in the toilet at any time.

The Bulls were never 30+ points better than the Kings, so the fact that they looked so good in the first half was a bit of a mirage. A lot of it can be attributed to Andres Nocioni in his return to the United Center, a -28 in 16 minutes, shooting as if he had something to prove against old pal Luol Deng, though it was just reaffirming what we learned last year: when he's not hitting shots he's useless. (again: this is the guy Bulls fans give a standing ovation to while Ben Gordon got booed whenever he touched the ball) And at 1-7 from the field, 1 rebound, and letting Luol Deng completely abuse him on the other end, it was one of those nights for Noc. But the Kings have a real coach who eventually got that and pulled him for the rest of the night.

And that was just a minor point where Paul Westphal proved the difference between him and Vinny Del Novice. It could've been how Vinny didn't give any of the starters any in-game rest during a game where they were up so big (and have a game tomorrow night for that matter). Or the usual lack of execution in close-and-late situations.

But it's bigger than that. The team is just poorly coached all around. They were able to (literally) run out to a lead off of Sacramento's first-half turnovers, but when it came time to run a real offense they had no clue. When it got close, one team knew they had a star guard who needed the ball at all times, and how to get it to him in the best place to operate, and that guard was Tyreke Evans and the team was the Kings. They similarly seemed to have little clue on defense as to how to handle Evans besides putting their 'stopper' (cough) Kirk Hinrich out on an island.

Del Negro Watch: A tale from Sloan

While Chicago Bulls fans try to digest the totality and the implausibility of their blown 35-point lead in Monday night's loss to the Sacramento Kings, here is a tale to help kill the hours (and the accompanying pondering of whether this is Vinny Del Negro's last game) between now and tipoff of their road game tonight at New York.

Once upon a time -- long before the Christmas Eve firings of Tim Floyd and Scott Skiles -- the Bulls had a guy in their head coaching position who would go on to have quite a bit of success in that field: Jerry Sloan.

Yep, the same Sloan who has been in command in Utah for so long (since 1988) that there have been an astounding 235 head coaching changes (including interim coaches) around the NBA during Sloan’s 22-season tenure with the Jazz.

But once upon a time, Sloan got the axe in Chicago. (Rod Thorn was the executioner, and he went 15-15 as the interim head coach before Paul Westhead was hired for the 1982-83 season. Westhead lasted just one year, Kevin Loughery then had a two-year stint, Stan Albeck held the job for one year and Doug Collins for three before Phil Jackson came aboard and stayed nine years.)

And when Sloan got fired, he knew it was coming.

The Bulls blew a 35-point lead last night

The evisceration should follow. It really should.

It wouldn't matter. Any pretense regarding any sniff of hope or potential or attempt at a warm glow gleaned from the idea of a Chicago Bulls team with a roster that slightly resembles this season's version somehow one day competing for a championship has been lost. Forever. Thing is, it ain't happening. Plug LeBron in, add a new coach? No way.

But that's not the battery acid spewing out of this battered esophagus. I'm not going to lie and pretend that I'm bemused by what happened Monday night, but I'm also not going to act like I didn't see it coming. I'm not going to lie and fake a haughty sense of indignity either, and I can't help but relay that after switching to watch a slate of other NBA contests with the Bulls safely up 30, I wasn't shocked in the slightest when I turned back to see the teams locked at 96 late in the fourth quarter.

Nor was I shocked to see how it all fell apart upon watching again.

Nor will I pretend like this doesn't hurt. Longtime readers know where my personal obsession lies.

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Now, any fan of any team could probably look up their squad's third-leading scorer from 1995-96 on YouTube, and find a fair amount ... but we had something different.

We had the Bulls. The red and the black. The team that meant something. The team that every fan waited for, the squad that had to finish of its own accord. The team that won 72 of 82, and was one of six championship teams in that glorious run.

This isn't to say that Bulls fans in 2009 don't deserve to be treated better. Any batch of fandom deserves to be treated better than how Jerry Reinsdorf has treated the basketball end of his sporting endeavors.

We just know what it is to love, to love something special. Not to love something for being plucky or entertaining or right there. Or out in the second round.

This isn't to brag, but we know what it is to know dominance. Continued and unrepentant dominance. Dominance that made every game an event. And while I had to sound like the old man that I am, those games were events. Even to everyone else. The two best franchises of the post-1998 era haven't even sniffed that. That idea that every regular season game counted. That it was yet another chance to win by 35.

And if I have to shuffle off, only being handed that turn? I'm OK with that. I really am. I'll never forget that feeling. Knowing that you supported the best. Knowing that they were working to make themselves — and, by extension, you — proud.

This is why I can't forgive the current Chicago Bulls organization. It's why I see right through Reinsdorf. It's why I have no hope in the personnel department. It's also why I know that someone who is coaching for the first time in his life shouldn't try to learn on the job on the game's biggest stage, for one, but also why I know why a guy like Vinny Del Negro was given his job.

A nightmare loss: Kings 102, Bulls 98

Not again? How about never before?

With 8:49 left in the third quarter, John Salmons hit an 11-footer to help the Bulls go up 79-44 on the Kings. For those who enjoy simple math, that represented a 35-point lead with less than 21 minutes to go. Completely and utterly insurmountable, right?

Historically speaking, it should have been. But, of course, it was not.

Sacramento outscored Chicago an astounding 58-19 the rest of the way, including 33-10 in the fourth quarter. No home team had ever lost after building a lead that huge. It was the biggest come-from-ahead loss in Bulls franchise history. Conversely, it was the largest come-from-behind win in Kings franchise history. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the biggest comeback since Utah overcame a 36-point deficit to beat Denver on November 27, 1996.

That’s some pretty epic fail right there. As John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times said: “There’s no way of knowing for sure, but the Bulls might be the first team in NBA history to be booed off their home court in a game in which they had a 35-point lead.”

Click-a-Bull (Rose, Tyrus, Noah, Paxson)

Putting it all on Rose will spell doom for Bulls

Nothing makes misery feel worse than witnessing euphoria. And it was against that agonizing backdrop that Phil Jackson and the Lakers strode onto the United Center floor Tuesday night and showed the Bulls what an embarrassingly good basketball team looks like.

At the morning shootaround -- more like afternoon, as the Zen Master knows how comfy the beds at the Peninsula Hotel are -- Kobe Bryant took dozens of shots from all spots on the floor. He was trying to adapt to what Jackson described as his "prosthetic," a splint on the fractured ring finger on his shooting hand. Apparently, things went well, because Bryant had 20 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, providing a visual lesson to go with the words of advice he was about to offer Bulls star-in-the-making Derrick Rose.

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The story du jour in Chicago, where the Bulls have folks more bitter than the wind off Lake Michigan, is that Rose must unleash his scoring talents and save this team from itself. With Ben Gordon gone -- not to mention the memory of a thrilling playoff performance against the Celtics -- the Bulls are cap-wise and win-foolish as they wait for the chance to lavish riches on an elite 2010 free agent. His name, according to folklore confirmed by a person with knowledge of the team's plans, is Chicago native Dwyane Wade. The consolation prize would be Joe Johnson -- the Bulls have specialized in consolation prizes since Jackson's dynasty was broken up.

For now, though, Rose's sublime point-guard gifts are wasted on the likes of John Salmons. Chicago has lost 11 of 13 after dropping a 96-87 decision to Jackson's Bulls, and eight of those losses were noncompetitive blowouts. Afterward, coach Vinny Del Negro spewed the idiom that a coach afraid for his job trots out in times like this -- lamenting injuries, praising effort -- but clearly it has been decided that there's no use in firing him now. Much better to put the pressure on Rose, a 21-year-old trying to find his way.

Bound by similar constraints and immaturity a decade ago, Bryant responded by doing anything and everything for his team. Those who didn't like it knew where to go. Now Rose is asked to do that for the Bulls, even though it isn't in his DNA or his job description as a point guard.

Tyrus Thomas to practice as early as Friday

Tyrus Thomas said last week he hoped to be cleared for contact by this weekend. Now, the Bulls are saying it.

Coach Vinny Del Negro confirmed Thomas could begin practicing as early as Friday. The starting power forward has been sidelined six weeks after surgery to repair a fractured radius in his left forearm.

"He has been doing some non-contact stuff and feels good," Del Negro said. "The quicker we can get him out there, obviously we want to do that. Against some of these athletic front lines, we've missed Tyrus' athleticism and his ability to come across and block shots and defend. And his offensive rebounds."

On second thought ... Pressed early Tuesday, Ron Artest admitted he didn't drink alcohol during games as a Bull as he claimed in a recent interview. Artest said he occasionally drank before games to numb the pain of losing but said the resulting attention from the story obscured his intent.

"I was trying to help kids learn from my mistakes," Artest said.

A sign of life

Sure, they lost to the Lakers -- nobody can be surprised by that -- but for the first time in over three weeks, the team has played with purpose. They played with energy for most of the game. They proved to everyone that they could hang with the best team in the NBA. The problem is, as it has been all season, the Bulls simply don't have the type of talent to match up with the elite teams in the league.

There is only one Kobe Bryant, as the Lakers superstar proved again by dropping home 42 points with a broken finger. But the Bulls don't even have the type of consistent scorer that can deliver when the game is on the line. Energy and passion can only take you so far.

The good news for Vinny Del Negro and company is that a loss to the defending world champions might have actually helped the Bulls crawl closer towards finally getting out of their funk.

"We just got to learn from this one and get better and improve," Bulls center Joakim Noah said. "When you get blown out by 30 points, how can you say we're improving? But I think tonight we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say we gave it everything we had. We put ourselves in a situation against the defending champs to win the game ... when we bring that energy we should be happy with ourselves."

Noah should be especially proud of his effort. He had 11 points, 20 rebounds and six blocked shots on the night. He knew from the start that the Bulls would come out and give the champs a game.

Jackson Tried To Push Paxson Into Coaching

John Paxson has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Vinny Del Negro should the Bulls make an in-season coaching change. Phil Jackson recalled how he pushed his former player into coaching following his retirement.

"I wanted him to be in coaching," Jackson said of Paxson.

"[Paxson] felt he was a little too combative for that and didn't want that side of his personality to come out. He quit after getting a double technical and getting thrown out of a summer-league game."

Could be interesting? But I think it would be viewed as a Twolves/McHale thing when they made him coach and said "you try to win with the crap team you built" - as a nice way of firing him from his GM role.


New York Knicks coach says Bulls' Derrick Rose will be one of the best

In an interview with the Tribune at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni admitted having second thoughts about spurning the Bulls when they won the NBA draft lottery roughly 10 days later.

"I think the roster in Chicago is better and they've proved that," D'Antoni said then.

D'Antoni remains content with his decision to team with Knicks President Donnie Walsh but still admires Derrick Rose from afar.

"You don't think I ever said that?" D'Antoni said Thursday, chuckling, when asked about missing out on coaching Rose. "I love the guy. He's an unbelievable talent. I don't watch him practice. I just know he is and will be one of the best point guards in the league."

An assistant to Mike Krzyzewski for Team USA, D'Antoni watched closely when Rose scrimmaged the Olympic team as a member of the U.S. select team.

"I liked his attitude," D'Antoni said. "I liked his ability to ask everybody, 'What can I do to get better?' "

Chicago Bulls defeat New York Knicks 98-89

A game between franchises waiting for 2010 was played Thursday night in 2009. And it wasn't pretty.

Then again, with just their third victory in 14 tries, the Bulls are in no position to judge positive outcomes.

The Bulls took advantage of the Knicks going ice cold down the stretch and used big games from Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and -- yes -- John Salmons to prevail 98-89 at the United Center.

Danilo Gallinari sank one of the Knicks' franchise-record 47 3-point attempts -- two off the NBA record -- with 8 minutes, 35 seconds remaining for a 79-75 lead. The Knicks didn't score again until Chris Duhon hit two free throws with 3 minutes, 40 seconds left and they finished 14 points below their season average.

Deng, who posted game-highs of 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Gibson each scored four straight points in a game-changing 10-0 run after the Gallinari 3-pointer.

Gibson provided 12 points and 10 rebounds off the bench as the Bulls played just seven players.

Salmons scored 20, icing matters with a 3-pointer with 47.7 seconds left for a nine-point lead.

"That was huge," Joakim Noah said. "We need him."

Click-a-Bull (VDN, Rose, Rip(?), Bosh, "Watchability")

Replacing Del Negro won't get dramatic results

Two years ago, the Bulls were struggling in December with periods of lethargic play and bad home losses. After a 116-98 loss to the Houston Rockets at the United Center on Dec. 22, then-coach Scott Skiles was fired on Christmas Eve.

Because of that recent history, there has been much speculation that the Bulls' recent slide -- 10 losses in 12 games, including a host of blowouts -- will result in another pre-Christmas Scrooge-type firing, this time for Vinny Del Negro.

But the coaching change two years ago didn't have the desired effect. The Bulls were 9-16 when Skiles was let go and finished well out of the playoff picture with a 33-49 record.

A coaching change in the middle of a season rarely results in a dramatic turnaround -- and sometimes can exacerbate a bad situation.

OK, I get what he's saying, but it's incredibly short-sighted. Of course firing VDN will not swing the Bulls from their current pace (about 30-32 wins) to a 50 win team. We know that. Writing an article about that is stupid.
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Isn't the idea that firing VDN will not make us worse? We're on pace for 32 freaking wins!

So what if the firing makes that number 28 or 34 this year?? Wouldn't it be better to fire VDN and show that we have some direction or plan? Possibly trick a free agent with some talent into signing here next summer and playing along side D-Rose??


Monday recap: Hinrich's shots and Rose's role

Not much news going on at the Berto Center, where the Bulls are getting ready to face the Lakers on Tuesday at the United Center.

Guard Kirk Hinrich skipped most of practice to rest a variety of injuries, but is expected to play. Injured players Tyrus Thomas and Jerome James were both on the floor when practice ended, but were working out on their own. Thomas is still likely a week away from joining practice as he recovers from a broken left arm.

Hinrich looked good shooting around after practice and I was reminded something about his game. I’ve always thought Hinrich shoots better pulling up off the dribble. He’s not as good at catch and shoot. When he puts the ball on the floor, uses his speed to create an opening and goes up for a shot, he can be a very good scorer.

I’m not sure how the cold-shooting Bulls can incorporate that into their offensive game plan, but it would be a worthwhile goal.

DEFINING ROSE’S ROLE
There was some discussion Monday about Derrick Rose’s role in the offense, whether he should try to take things over and be more of a scorer. He does that sometimes, but it’s also obvious that opposing teams are sagging back waiting for his drives, because they know the Bulls don’t shoot well from the perimeter.

Here are Rose’s thoughts on the topic: “People are saying they want me to shoot more, but I’m the point guard, I can’t do that. I’ve got to pass the ball to people and get them open. So taking over as a point guard is getting people open and shooting it here and there. If I was the two guard, it would be something else. That’s just not my game right now.”

Asked the same question, coach Vinny Del Negro’s first response was, “What do you think?” in sort of an "isn't it obvious we want him to take over" manner.

First phase of the NBA trading season

The first phase of the NBA trading season gets underway this week as players who were signed this summer can now be put in deals. Most deals usually don’t come until closer to the February deadline, but this juncture expands the possibilities.

Some of the names who could come up (some a week later) include Brandon Bass, Paul Millsap, David Lee, Nate Robinson, Hedo Turkoglu, Antonio McDyess, Earl Watson, Mike Bibby, Chris Wilcox, C.J. Watson, Ramon Sessions, Rodney Carney, Andre Miller, Rasho Nesterovic and Marcin Gortat.

Of course, I’m here to help everyone and it would seem the early needs are with the Trail Blazers with Greg Oden out and Toronto with Jose Calderon uncertain with hip problems which could be serious. Anyone say Andre Miller? We know he hasn’t fit well in Portland, and they have Jerryd Bayless, though Bayless’ moaning about his playing time has upset some in the organization. Portland could use some size. So maybe they go for Rasho Nesterovic, who has an expiring deal and take Marcus Banks, who has one fewer season than Miller. Maybe Amir Johnson instead, though it depends most likely on what the Raptors want to do regarding Chris Bosh as they are up and down with a nice win Sunday to go to 11-15. So they try to make a push to keep Bosh or look for a major midseason deal? Lots of discussions certainly are to come there and elsewhere as well.

Presumably they will also be held in Chicago, where the Bulls have joined the Raptors as one of the early season disappointments. The assumption is the Bulls wait until the return of starting forward Tyrus Thomas to see what they have.

But would they consider some alterations in their plan to remain patient for the free agents in the summer of 2010? Because there’s a big ‘if’ to that. If John Salmons doesn’t exercise his opt out and chooses to remain with the team, as Carlos Boozer surprisingly did with the Jazz last summer when Detroit dropped its interest, the Bulls won’t have enough money to go after a maximum salaried free agent at the estimated $53 million to $54 million salary cap level unless they can make a deal for an expiring contract.

So here goes. The Bulls clearly are desperate for scoring. So what about the Pistons Richard Hamilton? The Pistons are likely anxious to unload some contracts with the economic decline in the area hitting the franchise combined with the lack of a championship contender. Hamilton just returned from injury, but the team is loaded with guards with Rodney Stuckey and big free agent Ben Gordon. Maybe something like Salmons, with a short team and possible opt out, and Jerome James? That would eat into the Bulls’ chances for a max free agent next summer, but they might not have that anyway if Salmons stays. So then maybe you look at it as getting a legitimate shooting guard with size and defensive ability, which is how you justify replacing Gordon with Hamilton, and still have enough money next summer to sign a mid-level free agent below the top tier players.

Sometimes the truth hurts…

“It’s not disheartening. They beat us. You’re going to get beat sometimes by teams that are better than you, and they’re better than us. I can’t sit here and be like, ‘Well, they’re not better than us, I think we’re better.’ No, they’re better than us. They beat us. They smoked us once and then they beat us again today.”

Believe it or not, those words were not uttered by a member of the Chicago Bulls. That rather fatalistic statement came from the mind and mouth of Chris Bosh after his Toronto Raptors were thumped at home 111-89 by the Atlanta Hawks. But it just feels Bulls-like, doesn’t it? Which makes it kind of fitting that Bosh is one of the players on Chicago’s “Summer of 2010 Wish List.”

At any rate, Bosh certainly could have been speaking for the Bulls after what happened this weekend. It seems so obvious now, especially in light of Chicago’s 106-80 loss to the Celtics at the United Center on Saturday night: This is not the same Bulls team that pushed Boston to the brink in the first round of last year’s playoffs. Not even close.

NBA Watchability Scale: ranking every team based on entertainment, not talent

Fact: I watch too much basketball. Way too much. I'm addicted to NBA League Pass and I'm not sure how healthy it is.

If I have free time, I'm watching NBA League Pass. Running on the treadmill or doing situps? NBA League Pass is on. Laying down on the couch? NBA League Pass is on. Lying in bed getting ready to go to sleep? NBA League Pass is on. Writing a column for SBNation.com? NBA League Pass is on (true story).

You all, I assume, will not be so obsessive. You might have an hour a week when you can conceivably watch an NBA game. There are so many of them each night and so many of them during the season that you're probably a bit overwhelmed. So how can you get the best bang for your (metaphorical) buck?

Here's one NBA addict's attempt to rank each of the 30 NBA teams in terms of "watchability," so you can make your decision on what games to watch. What is "watchability?" Much like pornography, you can't define it, but you know it when you see it. Winning is not necessarily the main determining factor. There are bad teams that are eminently watchable, and there are good teams that are really tough on the eyes.

Let's go 30 to 1. Without further ado:
I'D RATHER WATCH GOLF

30. Chicago Bulls