Full Court Press

These guys need a babysitter...

seriously,.............................................................................................................WHO CARES!!!!!

Why didn't they keep Skiles then?

I agree with stuckinwisconsin. If you are looking for a Skiles clone then what the hell was this train wreck season all about?
No collage coaches please. That does not work in the NBA and the Bulls already had their Tim Floyd nightmare.

Rick Carlisle has got to be better than most of the available candidates out there but they still need a real star player and unless they get a miracle lottery ball it will not happen in the draft.

The Bulls problem isn't the coach. THE PROBLEM IS THE ROSTER!!! The Bulls have no All-Star, no team leader, and therefore no one to build a team around. Their talent is average at best.

Paxson is delusional because he thinks changing the coach will significantly improve this team. They need some significantly better players and that is not an easy thing to accomplish with the ninth draft pick and little in the way of desirable trade bait.

Prepare yourselves for another decade of mediocrity.

Skiles was doing fine - the front office was screwing up the team. Until that's fixed, no coach will do.

I'd hate to see Izzo leave MSU to get into a bad situation.

What's the point of Rick Carlisle didn't the Bulls fire guy with a similar temperament right before Christmas. The Bulls are the youngest team in the NBA and will tune out Carlisle. He's got the same resume as Skiles--successful coach then player breakdown. Tom Izzo would be an interesting candidate. Izzo is definitely a teacher (which Paxon wants), a respectd coach, and a developer of young talent. With the Bulls Tom Izzo would have some talent to work with unlike Tim Floyd who's probably still shell-shocked from having absolutely no talent with his days as Bulls coach.

I don't have a problem with Carlisle getting an interview, but oy, like stuck said, they should have kept Skiles.

Brown would get things on track - but it's clear he's a short term solution.

Generally speaking college coaches don't fare well in the NBA, but I'd be all for Izzo getting the job. He doesn't seem like an ego coach or a guy who succeeds only on recruiting.

Izzo's not leaving State. No way.

Greg Couch says: Either way, the Bulls next coach is going to be a re-tread or a flier.

Such uncanny insight! Pitino and Floyd failed at the NBA level but seriously sooner or later someone has to come from either the college,former player or assistant ranks because NBA head coaches don't just fall from the sky and and those that have been head coached with limited sucess ( i.e. made the play-offs but haven't won it all) can only be recycled so many times. And in reality anyone they hire will be a flier because there is no guarantee that even Moses could lead an NBA team to the promised land.

Skiles is going to open a can of whup ass on the Bulls next season. I'm sure he already has circled their "play dates" on his calendar.

The Bulls need a guy who they can respect. Someone who has won a championship. Maybe from the dynasty years. Someone like Scottie Pippen or even John Paxon himself. Otherwise these guys are not going to respond.

Rick Carlisle didn't exactly show control over time with the Indiana Pacers team during his time there, so I'm not exactly sure how this will translate to this Bulls team. Granted he had the likes of Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Tinsley, Jermaine O'Neal, to name a few, that almost no coach would have been able to handle, but the lack of control over the players (and the losses of course) still ultimately cost his job and I don't think he will be respected enough by this current Bulls team to lead them. I could be wrong, but my opinion.

As for Izzo, no way he goes to the Bulls. This should almost be a non-story. The guy has no NBA experience whatsoever and the Bulls already learned their lesson from Tim Floyd. Plus, this goes against all that Paxson has already said in his plans to search for a new head coach.

Larry Brown - too expensive. You know it and I know it, Roman. The Bulls are not going to spend that kind of money for a head coach, period. Is he the best fit to coach this team? Yeah, I think so, but not with the money he'll be commanding and he'd also be a threat to Paxson's job eventually as well. Reinsdorf likes his lap dogs the way they are. No way he'd invest in a german shepard.

I think I can see a scenario where if Dallas or Phoenix lose in their playoffs early, then there could be some interesting talks involving Mike D'Antoni or even Avery Johnson. I kind of like the possible D'Antoni angle if that ever surfaces.

Personally, I thought they should have just kept Skiles and cleaned house on the player roster from there and keep the guys who were willing to actually listen to him instead of cowering to lack of confidence from his demanding way, but guys like Culzie and Southside Keith would surely have gone ballistic in the blog posts if that happened. :)

I do agree that we should go after Larry Brown, but he is going to ask for too much money, and if he gets a better offer he will up and leave like he's done in the past. Van Gundy is saying he doesn't want to coach next year, and I sure don't want a College coach again. So I think Rick Carlisle is our best choice right now, and he should have a different way of thinking since hes been off work for a while. And isn't Paxson that wanted a no nonsense coah in the first place and that's why he hired and drafted accordingly so if he find someone to coach the group he put together, then he should start unloading them, one by one.

From my perspective, the Bulls need someone who can instill a sense of discipline in these guys, while still respecting their talents and strengths. The reason they made such a great run in the playoffs last year was the discipline and hard work Skiles and Paxson demanded. Rick Carlisle is a pushover. If the youngest guys on the team didn't respect Boylan, they definitely won't respect Carlisle. Tom Izzo is a great coach with a lot of knowledge and wisdom. I think he'd be the better option between the two, but I agree, Larry Brown would be the best.

Why not Coach K?

what is Dean Smith doing these days?

*Jeff Van Gundy -
*Pat Summit (It's going to happen, why not Chicago?)-
*Reggie Miller -
*Larry Brown/Rick Carlisle (tie) -
*With Norm Van Lier as an assistant coach on D -

Pax fires Skiles, now interviews a coach, Carlisle, with the same coaching DNA. If Skiles "lost" the team after taking them to the playoffs three years straight, how is Carlisle going to coach these guys any better? Sorry, the problem was/is not the coach.

How about Bob Knight?

Phil Jackson.................

Julie have you been at the glacouma meds again? Bobby Knight would be involved in a Sprewell/Carlisimo incident before pre-season is over.

Culzie, coach K isn't leaving the Duke comfort zone (hell he's royalty there) and Dean Smith is too busy playing golf with MJ but he won't do hanes underwear commercials with him.

Looking at some of the ranks of former player/ assistant NBA coaches Patrick Ewing would be an interesting candidate.

What's MJ doing these days? Demote Paxson to head coach (let him experience the yrs draining from his life) & hire MJ as GM.

MJ as GM would attract the best talent in the NBA & while the Bulls have no all-stars they do have a handful of good players that would start on most teams.

Bill Laimbeer. Successful WNBA coach of the year. 2 WNBA championships. He'd bring Rick Mahorn as an assistant. No one is going to disrespect those guys. Women or men. Coaching is coaching.

MJ Fan...MJ is a part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats I think being GM of the Bulls would be just a slight conflict of interest.

Maybe the spotlight needs to be on the G.M.'s office.........how about some canidates for that position?

Considering his history and the young talent on hand, Carlisle could probably get this team to point B. That being a 50-win team pretty quickly. The problem will be finding the guy to kick them up to point C after the players and management tire of Carlisle in 4-5 years. Whatever, they best do something fairly big. Cleveland and Detroit aren't going away and Skiles will have Milwaukee in the playoffs very soon.

"MJ as GM would attract the best talent in the NBA "

Uhhhhhh....what? Did you see his handy work at Washington and Charlotte?

Tim...gimme a break with Pat Ewing...

Patrick Ewing is like Chicago Public Enemy #1

What would I do with my Door Length Poster of Jordan Jamming all up on His Giant Head?

What's wrong with taking a look at Terry Porter, he had a stellar NBA career and has been a top assistant in the league for a while now. He was respected as a player both with the Bucks and the Blazers, and he can do as good a job as Carlisle...He was a point guard in the league, a leader and All-Star...he also played hard on the defensive end of the floor.....All traits Pax says he's looking for....Let's go in another direction maybe we can get the next Byron Scott...

culzie Patrick was at least hated with respect in Chicago unlike Bill Laimbeer who was hated with disdain. Besides how long did it take for Bulls fans to accept Rodman? Talk about Public Enemy #1.

Regarding that door length poster leave it there for nostalgic reasons just like the 6 framed front pages of the Sun-Times I have hanging in my computer room.

Tim Little - thanks for the nice mental image of Dean Smith in Hanes underwear.

I went on this blog to get more intelligent about the Bulls' future and who they might hire as coach. My bad. A really bad bad.

Please, no Bob Knight. No broken chairs, no punching players, no red sweaters.

Okay, see what I did here was make a joke. I can see where Tim now blames everything on glaucoma medicine, but Momma, surely you understand my sarcasm by now!

The red sweater would be about the only thing to qualify him for the job anyway.

Whoa, whoa - hold on a minute? What did I just hear? Larry Brown has resigned from the Sixers? He's on his way to Chicago baby!

Sorry JB - I read the words "Bob Knight" and had a "pavlov's dog" type of reaction. He makes my skin crawl. In doing so, I overlooked your superb wit, which clearly is hereditary. Seriously - do you think Izzo would leave MSU for an NBA job?

Ok Julie I'll back off the glacouma meds but in bubba's mom's defense sometimes we're not entirely sure you're being sacrcastic.
Ofcourse now I'm not sure if she was being sarcastic or actually thankful for the mental image of Dean Smith in Hanes underwear. I mean I've seen women at male stripper shows, they're worse than men in a strip joint. lmao

Pat Summit (It's going to happen, why not Chicago?)-

AWESOME observaton T.A. (Mr.T.????)

Roman, you should, one day before you move on, have a topic about Women's college basketball. That would then draw interest, and you all will see what I see. Fundementals being executed. The Bulls would be light-years ahead of the NBA (or 30 years back-depending upon how you look at it), if they had a coach like Pat Summit to intensely pursue flawless execution of simple rudimentary things.

It must just be that you all don't have photographic memories like me and have obviously forgotten all of my previous posts clearly describing my utter contempt for Bobby Knight.

Moms, no way Izzo would leave a plum college coaching job at a place where he is worshiped, to test the unstable waters of the NBA. I hope you can go to Roman's race-thingy. We'd have a grand old time dishin' and drinkin' waiting at the finish line for all the sweaty people. But we'd probably just end up talking about our kids!

Uh....Tim, why were you at a male stripper show?

I went on this blog to get more intelligent about the Bulls' future and who they might hire as coach.
~Bubba's Mom

Now...I am really questioning that ND degree??

Tim Little - yes, I was being sarcastic. Dean Smith stripped down to underwear....male Yankee fans....Jason Giambi in a thong....those images are the stuff of my worst nightmares.

Strip clubs are boring.

JB - I know little about Izzo or MSU; thanks for the perspective.

Larry Brown did just make himself available to coach...

I think Summit would be awesome, but neither the Bulls nor the NBA are ready for her, or even the concept of her...perhaps a grown-up and less contemptible Candace Parker could be in a position to coach, maybe 5-6 years from now.

Julie I was tending bar for the occasion as a favor to the regular barmaid so she could have her fun with her friends. And believe me when the women get drinking and the guys start dancing even the bar tender egts groped.

I generally have a pretty good memory but the last decade or so anything in print about Bobby knight has been forgettable as far as I'm concerned since I share your contempt for him Julie.
Izzo, like coach K, I am sure is making a more than comfortable living while being revered as royalty. After seeing how Pitino and Floyd fared in the NBA why would either off them leave? They're already household names, I'm sure they are in a position to retire comfortably if they choose to do so. What's the point?

TIM?

Scottie doesnt sound all that bad now does he? If not Scottie then Brown. Brown will right the ship, but how much will he cost? And you know he is gone with the wind if he has success. At least we know where scottie would be.

I think Carlisle is a good choice. Not a great one. There seems to be no great ones.

He is a believer in tough defence, He knows how to get a team rolling. He was coach of the year. Which means he has gotten results.

He would of still be the Detroid coach had they not gone after the Crazy man, Larry Brown. This guy got those guys working and beliveing, then Brown comes in and takes them to the promised land. Kind of like what happened to the Real Moses, did all that work and Josua took them on into the real promised land.

The Detroit boys could not stand Larry Brown, but you never heard them complain much about Carlisle. Same as the Indiana players. So, just because he believes in hard defence and all, don't not mean he is of the same cloth as Skiles, Skiles seemed to be distant on and off the floor. Just not a people person.

So, with all that is out there, unless they want to go with an unknown, unproved coach, Carlisle is about as good as it gets andd that "aint" half bad either.

I'm still laughing at the image of Tyrus Thomas shouting at Pat Summitt to "box this out b****"!

Tommy | April 25, 2008 02:32 PM - You are wrong man! I did smirk though.

Yes Keith, Scottie still sounds bad.

As bad as Tim getting groped by a male stripper. Please at least tell me you had plenty of alcohol and eye medicine?

I hope he tipped you!!

Julie,Julie, Julie (shaking my head) it wasn't a male stripper that groped me. Now I'm thiking you're off your meds. lol

Tiiiiiiiiim glad you cleaned that up! Sounds like the crying game.