Full Court Press

iF ONLY Pete Myers could speak English....he may actually be a decent coach!!!

If Lenny Wilkins were available, he'd show everyone a thing or two about how to properly apply this team.

Is Don Nelson leaving the Golden State Warriors?]

Ricky responds: There was some speculation he would after last season.

Long Live Phil Jackson

Anthony sez: "If Lenny Wilkins were available, he'd show everyone a thing or two about how to properly apply this team."

That's what we need .. a 100 year old coach with 1,000 wins, and 1,001 losses who's getting ready for his dirt-nap.

Is Red Aurbach still available?

The Bulls got rid of Skiles.Some of the players didnt like his style.Maybe now Rheinsdorf can secretly give Deng,and Gordon the money they want.Teach Tyrus Thomas,and Noah how to shoot and play defence,and put a jato bottle on Ben Wallace.Face it the Bulls have no inside game and live by the jumpshot.If they dont play terrific defence every night,unless they are playing bums they will have close games,and lose plenty of them.Skiles wont go to the hall of fame,but who on this team will make an Allstar team?Ben Wallace if he can walk on the floor?No coach will make a big difference.The Bulls need some roster changes..Pax make like some other GMs and you coach this bunch of yours to the conference finals. You think you have that kind of a team.Go do it!

It won't matter who the coach is as long as Reinsdope has control.It will be business as usual. Draft good, young players, trade them and get nothing in return and continue to be a Farm Team for the rest of the NBA.

Folks are downright angry with Paxson but he is doing something about this problem and that means he is concerned. I have ALWAYS suspected that Skowls was a skunk by the way he was hired. If any of you remember - he went to JERRY REINSDORF for his deal like a weasel. And from that day forward, the BULLS have been doing everything in their power to accommodate their COACH. Its made Paxson's job more difficult than it had to be. And Paxson fired him the same way he was hired - behind closed doors.

I don't know about you, but given the chance to play for someone cool like Isaiah or for someone who looks like a pit bull with veins oozing venom - I think umma go with Isaiah. And this is exactly what happened with Eddy Curry. Paxson had to deal with stuff like that, which has NO PLACE in NBA basketball. Paxson aged overnight after making that deal and it set us back as a franchise. Just take a good look at teams that have parted with their Center and you see what that does for you. Aint no sunshine when he's gone!

Paxson woke up and said I cant do my job with this guy on board. Record is bad every year at the start. Players are not making the allstar team. And we can't sign any free agents without overpaying. Time to make some changes. I am giving the fans, players and myself a CHRISTMAS gift! Thank you PAX!

Anyone that was truely shocked that Skiles was fired is nuts. Shocked by the holiday timing ok maybe but you had to know it was coming. Unlike past years slow starts, the games lost this year were not lost late in a hard fought game, they were lost before the fourth quarter started and in some cases before the first quarter ended. Skiles never had control of this team at the start of the season. If you have any doubt of that fact think back to last year. There was a big flap caused over Wallace wearing a head band and he was benched for it. No one seems to have either noticed or commented on Ben wearing the head band this year. Was this team rule dropped and nothing said? Why not after making such a big deal over it last year? Was the reason Gordon and Deng didn't get extensions signed because as Gilbert Arenas claimed Gordon told him in his blog there was no real negotiations or because they were tired of playing for Skiles and wanted to find out what their worth on the open market would be next off season? If what Arenas claims Gordon told him is true about his own situation did Gordon have any right to say that he had "heard" the same was true for Deng? Shouldn't Gordon have left Deng's situation out of the conversation and let Deng speak for himself? Could it be that the reason Gordon didn't get a better offer was that prior to the start of the season he would have gotten a better offer had he been part of a sign and trade deal for Kobe that never happened and when it failed to happen they didn't feel he was worth what he thinks he is worth because the Lakers didn't think he was worth it? Could it be Pax sees what Tyson Chandler is doing since he got away from Skiles and doesn't want to have the same thing happen with Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefalosha?

Is there still Time to turn the season around? yes. Will it happen? I guess we'll have to wait and see. But Skiles had to go regardless.

Can't believe no one has suggested this yet, obvious coach for bulls is Isaiah. He's a chicago guy isn't he? And he's proven he can get along with players of dubious character in indy and nyc so should do fine with the direction the bulls are headed in.

Uptempo style might work for bulls, for awhile. Until the players realize they need to sprint and defend and rebound to win that way. But as far as running up and down and firing up threes, yeah they should be great at that. Except for thomas, who doesn't think he needs to run hard, and doesn't really handle or shoot well in a half court game let alone full court running attack.

As long as gordon just has to shoot he'll do fine too, in fact may as well save energy and just leave him on the offensive end, standing on the 3pt line and also just leave wallace on the defensive end of the court. That way they won't have to waste any energy going up and down the court and they can do what they are good at. Bulls are playing 4 on 5 on one end of the floor anyway when they're on the court so might as well admit it and just let these two stay on one end. Then you can have the athletic guys run up and down really fast so you have that yearned for uptempo style. Hey it worked for womens basketball in Iowa for years, maybe the bulls can bring it back to the pros.

I still can't believe they just fired the coach that got them to the playoffs for 3 straight years. Has everyone forgotten the Cartwright and Floyd years? Skiles only had a couple of decent players. He was sunk when they drafted Noah and didn't get garnett or kobe or gasol.

Now its the Noah/thomas era, 4 years of developing young guys so they'll go on to be players somewhere else, like curry and chandler. In the meantime, the bulls do have the two undersized bens with the oversized egos to form their team around. Yep, there's a couple of team leaders. Hard to believe Skiles couldn't get the best out of those two, obviously not a player coach if he couldn't get either of them to be anything more than limited role players.

Actually, I'm suprised skiles started them, or let them play as long as he did. Must have been hard to put up with their me first attitude and poor play, but hey its the nba, the players with the big contracts call the shots. NBA coaches are mostly irrevalent with teams full of overpaid complainers like wallace and gordon and thomas. May as well bring back Tim Floyd.

Hey Mark M. Villaino, first of all you probably wouldn't know a good coach if he picked you SECOND to last, instead of the usual LAST in those eigth grade pick-up games because he saw some SPORTS WRITING potential. Second, Wilkins was my answer to who would have figured out how to put this reeling puzzle together, nothing more, and third, Lenny averages NINE YEARS PER CARRY so give the guy a break, DOH!

Oh yeah, the 'i's have it.

Skiles repeated the mistake(s) of Tim Floyd. By not playing the General Manger's (Paxson/Krause) highly touted draft picks, the coach (Skiles/Floyd) drives down players trade value and retards their development. (See the first Bulls-Celtics/Tyrus Thomas-Glen Davis matchup).

And even if a coach and GM are fishing buddies, ala Floyd/Krause, the coach will get canned over such blasphemy.

Prior to last season's tip off, Skiles had the opportunity to start the debate: Who was the best Bulls coach, a Jordon and Pippen-less Skiles, or Phil Jackson under the same conditions? This debate couldn't get off the ground because Skiles the coach is quite different from Skiles the player.

I loved Skiles gritty/gutsy play in college and the pros. Skiles played with more heart than talent and always played his best under pressure situations. Not Skiles the coach.

Any Bulls player who thinks Skiles quit on them is wrong. Skiles didn't quit, he choked.

Paxson fired Skiles but he should be only half done. Next he needs to fire himself. He is the "decider" who decided to give the next to worthless Wallace his retirement contract (when those who knew him best refused). He drafted the skill challenged Thomas with the second pick of the draft. He drafted Noah with a lottery pick (he would have done better drafting the original Noah). He traded Chandler for nothing. The drafted a slow, poor shooting, grab and hold point guard and an undersized streaky shooting guard with lottery picks. Paxson brings to mind Christmas past and Jerry Krause in his ineptitude.

Gosh...I sure hope I dont ever take over the Losingest team of the new Millenia and then take them to three straight playoffs in my first three years!!

I guess that doesnt cut it anymore.

Sadly, low post scorers in the NBA don't grow on trees. and the one's who the Bulls could get such as Pasau or Curry are one dimensional. The Bulls should never have traded Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas. Thomas was a luxury they couldn't afford. The next best thing might be to go hard after Jason Kidd now that Skiles is gone.(since Kidd said he would never play for Skiles.) Offer Gordan and maybe Nocioni. Kidd makes others around him better and at least the Bulls would be beter and taller with more playoff expierience at guard. I'm not sure how that matches up with the NBA's salrey cap, but player/talent wise it does.

The Bulls had changed this year and there was a obvious sign. For the last couple of years, after games, Bulls players did not go and shake hands with the opposition. They were warriors and followed the lead of the coach. Maybe a wave but nothing else, it was us vs. them, win or lose it wasn't that easy to get over what just happen on the floor. This year, after the games players started going over and chatting with the opposition. You just got your butt kicked and you want chat about what?
The players were thinking about themselves. Well, that attitude will cost them because I just don't think they have the fire. Hinrich and Nocioni play their hearts out for this team and physically and emotionally show it. If Deng, Gordon, Wallace and some of the others thinks this is just a job, they will find a lack luster career from now on. They quit on themselves and now may have a hard time getting their reputations back and even the money. Skiles trained them, show them one way to make it. Everyone was affraid of the Bulls because they played so hard. Now what do they have? Wallace is old and too set in his ways, Gordon is short and doesn't think or try hard enough on defense, and Deng could just become an average small forward, there are lots of those in this league. This coach gave them the opportunity of a life time. How is adding a scoring forward going to help now?
On Paxson and not locking up Gordon and Deng, you may have pushed the team back several years. How do you over come this? Trade Wallace would be a start, he seems to be a cancer without respect because he was a member of one championship team? Injury prone, terrible shooter, attitude sucks. If he was at Best Buy, he would be stocking shelves in the back. Norm Van Lier would have kicked Wallaces butt, period.
Maybe we deserve this.....

Who cares? The NBA is now like professional wrestling - except the athletes aren't as talented. With the recent Donaghy Debacle, it became evident to anybody who could think critically for themselves that the outcome of NBA games (some of them, most of them, all of them?) was predecided beforehand...so who cares about which coach is in charge of which team?

I had the misfortune of actually watching part of the Celtics/Pistons game last week - the players were walking up and down the court. Nobody played defense. Nobody hustled. Nobody cared.

Any sportsfan with the IQ of a bar stool shouldn't care either.

I don't know if the Bulls want to repair the busted negociations with Deng and Ben Gordon (they should) but if they lose them -- forget it.
The one person the Bulls should part with is Wallace.
Waaaasted pay for what he's produced. If the guy can't score two feet from the basket, then what? Too small to post up with most centers in the league -- did you see the way Garnett toyed with him? -- and the rest isn't working. Upside is that the team isn't accountable for the whole of his contract.
Firing Skiles on Xmas Eve was bad. Is it really his fault if the team shoots 35%?
NOW who's gonna come in? Not like there's a large selection available, and college coaches are too busy right now.

Lenny Wilkens?

Isiah Thomas?

How about Hubie Brown? Not saying he can help, but I think he is a dead ringer for Captain Christopher Pike from the old Star Trek episode, The Menagerie.

I bet Paxson hires his brother.

From what I heard on ESPN, the players came to Paxson and he went to Jerry who said "Fire HIM". With Skile's reputation, I bet you one of his criteria was to not lose the team. And I bet there were young and old players in that meeting. So many that Paxson HAD to go to Jerry.

The days of the grueling task-masters are over. The new-age coach will have to do SOME COACHING!! Remember that people???? Thats when a coach communicates/relates/motivates with and to the players! Thats when a coach earns the players respect and verbally gets the players to buy into a plan and strategy - which results in court success. Its not demeaning and it makes SENSE. Some people get fired up when dogs and animals are mistreated - ITS HUMAN BEINGS that do it for me.

Some of you guys long for the days when you get to tell folks what to do simply because you OWN THEM with that paycheck. Well - the Bulls players got tired of getting e-mails and text messages from their buddies and friends on other teams who are getting paid the same or MORE and are enjoying the full NBA experience. The NBA is a fraternity - who do the Bulls think they are to stop players from shaking hands, praying and well wishing?!?! Ben Wallace LOVES those guys from the Pistons and have a relationship that goes beyond "punching the clock". He will probably never "hate" Detroit and I guess some folks just don't like it. I can imagine Kirk having to hide his text messages from Eddy and Jamal. That is complete FOOLISHNESS! And the folks that support this "control freak" stuff WILL NOT do the same in their professions. CEO's/Executives can be bitter rivals and still meet at the golf course and have vacations with their families, but not NBA Players. That is a shovel load of Bovine Feices!! I guess Ben Wallace is supposed to start shooting at Rasheed Wallace when they see eachother! Reinsdorf and Steinbrenner are and ALWAYS will be friends and brothers. When they start boxing, thats when you ask Wallace to start boxing his friends.

Bulls Real Problem: Lack of Offensive Identity/Structure

I'm a former MSU Spartan, multi-sport athlete and while I did not officially play basketball, I did make the squad twice and practiced with them for 3 years...so I know that offense inside and out (and b-ball offense in general)...which I believe is a huge precursor to why Skiles will always only be known as simply a "good" coach.

And, EVERYONE is STILL missing the MAIN problem, the BIG one...the one that all other problems (including defensive, low-post presence, bad shooting, turn-overs etc.) are simply a BYPRODUCT of. OFFENSE. Yes, Offense. NOT Defense. Who cares if you have great D, if you can't score, it doesn't matter. I'll explain in a sec. (ps - I'm also a former journalist but don't have time to look up stats....but the evidence is pretty substantial so look it up.) WE (THE BULLS) ARE "STATISTICALLY" THE WORST OFFENSE IN THE NBA. Now just think about that for a moment. It's funny how the Celtics are #1 in Offense....AND #1 in Defense. It's not always that way, but usually D and O go pretty much hand in hand. If you are bad at one thing, in this case Offense (like the Bulls AND the Bears), it puts a greater amount of pressure/stress on your Defense in the form of...more missed shots, more defensive possessions, longer rebounds, which create lower, more difficult recovery times for our own defense to set. Mentally, it also consumes a LOT of the Bulls ATTENTIVE energy too (ie. takes you out of your game), which causes you to make seemingly unrelated mistakes, BUT trust me...it's ALL connected. A good team that clicks on "all cylinders" fluidly has multiple components of their game in unision. So, then the converse of that MUST also be true: A team that has a really bad flaw, is probably gonna suffer in some other areas too.

I TRULY believe the Bulls slight improvements over the previous couple of seasons were mainly due to the fact that we have some ridiculous, unmatured talent, unique strengths in the form of individual players' skills, depth, etc. I also think that our progress...was ironically our Achilles Heel. We THOUGHT we had all the right pieces and our playoff expectations reflected that. BUT our lack of tactical, offensive strategy and offensive identity was slowly deteriorating the teams' moral, defensive identity and ability to out-talent and out-play other teams like they've been doing. No one seemed to see it unfolding, til just recently though. I predicted this would happen long ago after hearing Skiles speak and address certain Bulls' issues countless times...he was always so far from any specific, decisive, measurable understanding or course of action to fix or improve the Bulls...that I knew he never would. He's taken them down a road, where a lot of them have lost their own understanding of the game. Maybe why he didn't get along with Pippen...one of the proven, smartest, 50 greatest players ever...or why he didn't get a long with most of the Suns when he coached them....most of all Jason Kidd, who demanded to be traded.

--------

I could go on and on. But the point IS....PLEASE....get off of all the other ill facets of the Bulls' problems...and let's all focus on getting a coach who doesn't just say all the right things, but that understands where to start fixing this team. It's not motivation, it's not D, it's not some cute little, nostalgic quip that was used 20 or 30 years ago, it's not confidence....not initially. Initially...if you give this team a fluid, unrestrictive refresher in basic, fundamental basketball offense....you will revive their focus, give them purpose, allow them to think less and play more effectively while having fun again...and then they can put more energy into decisively shutting teams down on the Defensive end.

--------

Want more specifics???? Keep reading.

I'll try to keep this simple for those of you that don't really know basketball but think you do.

If you go back and watch some of those games, where we convincingly beat top NBA teams, there was no consistency to what the Bulls were doing (in an offensive structured sense) WHEN they were winning that is. I mean it's obvious that they were shooting, hitting shots and playing great defense, duh...but usually they were just out there playing ball, running, fast breaking (ie. there were no set plays.) The problems arose at times when the shots WEREN'T falling. Sure a low-post player to dump it in to would've helped. BUT...NOT continuously shooting when you're not hitting, would've also helped too. Driving and putting more pressure on the D, while getting higher percentage shots would've helped too. Skiles not calling time-outs and plays would've helped too...he just gave the defense time to set and lock in, making it more difficult for the Bulls who have terrible Basic Fundamentals to execute what would've otherwise probably been a smart play....(Basic Fundamentals: no or improper use of high screens, which for a small guard team is suicide. 2) inconsistent movement on half court offensive, which makes is super hard for ball handlers, shooters or play initiators to get the ball and also increases the chances the opposing D will step into passing lanes and steal lazy, foolishly telegraphed passes, etc. 3) those weren't set plays when the Bulls were killing teams, those were playground runs, we just went out there and played ball.)

It's cute that Scott Skiles used to call time-outs and sometimes had successfully drawn up plays...who cares though, when the Fundamentals of the team are worse than most college teams. Over the course of a game, those tiny fundamental mistakes all add up, BIG TIME...and they end up equaling lost possessions, points scored from turnovers, etc. YES, low post presence would've helped...BUT, it was not the MAIN problem that the Bulls coaching could have fixed and can still fix. The Bulls simply forgot how to score, how to get good shoots, how to set each other up and they had no "bread and butter" to top it all off. The drive and kick is NOT bread and butter because it relies on successful shooting, which if you don't have, increases long rebounds, and decreases field goal percentage, etc. Driving however, which, WHEN they DID IT actually worked....and proved that they could've been playing a lot better than they were even without a big man because it means higher field goal percentage because of closer shots and the opportunity that you might go to the foul line, and even if you are missing at the foul line ...you get the other team in the bonus...and they either back up on D or we go to the foul line all night.

You could also see the lack of offensive knowledge, by the Bulls' horrible shot selection or by how often they either took ill-advised shots so early in the shot clock...or forced shots late into the shot clock or simply played one on one time and time again. And don't tell me they COULDN'T penetrate because when they DID...they were super successful at getting to the rim AND drawing fouls. BUT, they simply didn't do it (drive) enough. Probably because they were horrible at setting each other picks and screens to more effective beat their man. Or because even if they DID beat their man and get to the rim...no one was smart enough to instruct other Bulls to cut to the bucket on the weak side...ie. giving the penetrator a wide open person to pass to.

I could go on and on. But please....get off of all the other ill facets of this team's problems...and let's all focus on getting a coach who doesn't just say all the right things, but that understands where to start fixing this team.

Keith why did I know you would suggest Isaiah be brought to Chicago? He hasn't been sucessful anywhere else why would he be in Chi-town? Even he admits that he failed to get Curry to play defense and probably never will be able to.

Chris

Couldn't agree with you more. The NBA is all about entitlement, guaranteed contracts, and refusing to play (or even turn the ball over intentionally in Vince Carter's case) when they want to play for another team.
Unlike baseball, there is no farm system where these malcontents actually learn how to play.

Mariotti is dead wrong again. Christmas eve, so what. It wasn't soon enough to get rid of Skiles. Pax did the right thing. This team needed better coaching. Last year they couldn't win close games, this year they have no offense and a defense thats worse than the bears.

Kenny D...I could have saved you several hundred words...

1. Drafting guys without a police record and from solid NCAA programs is no guarantee they will be good NBA players.
2. Mini-me guard rotations don't work in the NBA today.
3. Forming a team based on zero inside game, over-reliance on outside shooting, and no starter than can be considered the top 15 at their position, is not a good recipe for success

Save the condescending mumbo jumbo for another blog...they aren't that good to begin with.

Why would a team fire it's coach in the middle of the season when they haven't interviewed a single coach to replace him. If the Bears are bad with Skyles, how will they be with no coach at all?

Kenny D:

Wow, you write as if you think people actually watch NBA games. You should get together with Sam Smith and discuss potential NBA trades -- that's a waste of time too. The NBA is the most boring major sports league in the U.S. (unless you consider soccer a major league sport). I would rather watch mid-season hockey games or a media interview session with Brian Urlacher or Shaq (now that's excitement) than another NBA game. And to think, the season only has something like 64 months left before we get to the NBA playoffs -- another seemingly 64-month season.

Here's an idea: make each game last only 15 minutes. Maybe we would actually see a game that might be close to entertaining.

It's hard to believe that people really think Skiles was the problem. Unless you take the all of nothing attitude that players don't care about anything but their guaranteed contracts and won't respond to a coach that my push them a bit, then yeah a cheerleading, best buddy coach would be the best and only option.

I think Skiles got the best he could out of marginal talents like Hinrich, Gordan, Duhon and Nocioni. Forget Wallace, he already has his ring and simply came to collect his big payday. No one is going to motivate that self-centered, phony has-been. Deng is the one who has flashed some star potential but is still very young and now seemingly can't get over not getting an acceptable contract offer. How is that Skiles' fault? Tyrus, is very young and immature and doesn't practice or play hard but the coach is supposed to reward him with playing time? Noah was a stupid draft pick b/c his limited skill set is not what is missing from the Bulls. The rest of the roster are role players that can contribute in a minor way.

I think Skiles has pushed this mis-matched group of players as far as they can go. Outside of Deng if he gets his head screwed back on straight and Thomas if he ever grows up, there isn't more growth that can be expected of the players on this roster. Paxson is the one responsible for this and he should have been the one fired. The Bulls will not improve without an overhaul of the roster. Paxson assembled a team and coaching staff that could take a horrible team to respectability and playoff appearances. Paxson hasn't shown that he could anything more than that. But yeah let's blame it on Skiles.

Tommy...agreed and well said.

I'm sure Kenny can list the # of NBA champs who played with 5 starters not considered a top 5 at their position (forget about top 15!).

Anthony sez: "Lenny averages NINE YEARS PER CARRY so give the guy a break, DOH!"

I'm glad someone caught that one.

BTW I was always picked third from last. (out of about 100 guys)

Kenny D. sez: "It's not motivation, it's not D, it's not some cute little, nostalgic quip that was used 20 or 30 years ago, it's not confidence....not initially. Initially...if you give this team a fluid, unrestrictive refresher in basic, fundamental basketball offense....you will revive their focus, give them purpose, allow them to think less and play more effectively while having fun again...and then they can put more energy into decisively shutting teams down on the Defensive end."

Truer words were never spoken.

Everything good begins with, flows from offense.

If a player can't put the ball in the basket, that player needs to be sitting.

I might make an execption if said player was putting up Dennis Rodman like numbers, (i.e. 12 to 16 rebounds EVERY FRIGGIN' GAME), while annoying the living Hell out of every player and coach on the opposing team.

But I don't see any defensive play