Doug Collins and the Bulls??
Marc Silverman's about as good a reporter as there is in this city, especially for a radio guy, and he caught an interesting nugget in a story the other day and followed up on it today.
Sam Smith, in The Sporting News, quoted Jerry Reinsdorf the other day saying Mike D'Antoni would have been amenable to bringing Doug Collins to the Bulls as an assistant coach.
There wasn't a follow-up question to Reinsdorf, so Silverman asked D'Antoni about it today on the "Waddle and Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000.
Here's what D'Antoni said;
"Doug’s been a friend, we played the same years in college and then we were at the Olympics trials together, so I’ve known Doug for 40 years probably and he was great. And we talked about it and jumped back and forth and I think one of the cities he would do that is Chicago, he wouldn’t do that many places and he probably wouldn’t do that with many guys, but we have a special bond and that was just something that we threw out at each other when we were talking through the process, but you’d have to ask Doug that. I don’t know if we ever got to that point but it was an interesting concept."
It's a weird concept. I'm under the impression Collins doesn't even want to be a head coach, can't imagine him wanting to be an assistant - for anyone. Probably nothign to do it, but it was interesting.
Comments
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*Chicago Just Dodged 2 Major Bullets
Posted by: bculz | May 16, 2008 01:17 PM
Doug Collins has way too much pride to return as an assistant coach under anyone. Money talks, but he'd only return as a head coach. He's a bit old school like Hubie Brown now though, so I don't think he would be able to handle the NBA players of today. I gotta say though, those days he coached the Bulls with MJ against the Bad Boys Pistons and Ewing's Knicks were some of the best and most intense basketball rivalries I ever watched and enjoyed even though we lost most of those games, but those were the games that made MJ a legend.
Speaking of which, Charles Oakley was a solid Krause draft pick that no one mentioned in the other blog post. Just one of the very few good ones for JK unfortunately.
Posted by: Edgar | May 16, 2008 01:51 PM
So how does this work, you kiss Marc Sivlerman's butt, Carmen DeFalco kisses yours, who kisses Carmen's? Mac, Jurko or Harry?
Roman responds: Are you coming to the run Sunday?
Posted by: Julie B. | May 16, 2008 01:57 PM
JB: I think the Romanator is kissing your's
Posted by: Seedy Backslash | May 16, 2008 04:05 PM
Sorry, no. My kids are in a fashion show Sunday morning. I was thinking I'd possibly be able to meet up with everyone at Oz park afterwards or at that bar on Halsted that your friend mentioned. What time do you expect the end of the race to be and subsequent festivities to ensue?
Posted by: Julie B. | May 16, 2008 06:02 PM
Oh, great, no wonder Dantoni darted to knicks as fast as he could. Genius Jerry shows how badly he wants to hire Dantoni by suggesting he should bring in doug collins to shore up the defensive side of the ball. Hard to believe anyone would want to work for these guys, maybe they can suck in some assistant who is desperate for a shot at a head coaching job, otherwise they'll be left dusting off some has been that no one else wants. Good thing we still have sam smith, the rona barret of roundball, to keep us informed of all the gossip that someone wants him to print.
Posted by: tazz | May 16, 2008 06:09 PM
What about Chris Collins..he would be much better than Doug!!
Posted by: bculz | May 17, 2008 09:10 AM
Judy Collins would be better than Doug.
Posted by: Villano | May 17, 2008 04:18 PM
Where is this bar on Halsted, and what time will you all be there to consume a few adult beverages?
Posted by: Villano | May 17, 2008 04:20 PM
It is a shame that the Bulls did not pick Pau Gasol, and retained a whole bunch of mediocre players who are not even on the same level as the Spanish league!
Posted by: Spanish-Chicagoan | May 17, 2008 05:32 PM
When Collins got fired in his former tenure as Bulls HEAD coach, there was all sorts of innuendo about his "personal behavior" that was unacceptable and could be a source of great embarassment to the team. In the media, it was always sort of vague as to what this behavior issue was. What was it, and why is it apparently no longer a concern ?
Posted by: Ron | May 18, 2008 09:51 AM
First and foremost, you don't go anywhere in the N.B.A. without the HORSES, and a little LUCK. We can't predict the latter, but the former shys away from us like leprosy.
I say Paxson should coach next year, then have a personal talk with Doc Rivers and see what a difference a stable makes to ones resume.
Come to think of it, make Reinsdork the Assistant Coach and avoid the talk altogether!
Posted by: Anthony Navarro | May 18, 2008 10:12 AM
mark...i have to give you credit, that was funny!
Posted by: pv1 | May 19, 2008 08:41 AM
Yeah Edgar, but Oakley was what, 85', 84', thought you put the terms at 20 years, not 30. Course Pip was an 87' trade, and Horace is the only one I can think of. And they traded Oakley, too. If Doug can get Agent 0, and Caron Butler to come, maybe.
Posted by: Chuck | May 19, 2008 11:06 PM
Chuck, I did put the terms at around 20 years, but then we got into the discussion about Krause draft picks. Oakley happened to be Jerry Krause's first draft pick made in his era in the infamous (how quickly some people forget!) Keith Lee and Ennis Whatley trade. Oakley was drafted the year after Michael Jordan and of course, he became Jordan's first teammate enforcer against the hated Pistons, Cavs and Knicks rivalries at the time. Good memories though. I know this is old school to some people, but it's not that old to me since I was in high school at the time. Can you imagine this current Bulls team playing against these teams back then? I don't care how different the era of NBA basketball was in the mid to late 1980's, this current Bulls team would have been pushed and bullied around silly without any retaliation whatsoever. If anyone cares to disagree, then let's continue that discussion and I'll win the debate again, guaranteed.
I'd overhaul the entire core (Deng, Hinrich, Nocioni and Gordon) for Agent 0 and Butler in a heartbeat! Problem is, I don't even think Washington would take that offer and I would bet my car that they probably would still ask to include a 1st round draft pick in return. Pretty sad.
NBA Draft lottery tonight. The Bulls have a 1.7% chance to win #1 or 2.8% chance to win #2. Obviously I'm just dreaming here, but we all know that the this lottery system is rigged anyway (anyone out there who thinks the NBA lottery system isn't rigged has got to be the most naive NBA guy out there), so if the Bulls somehow miraculously win #1, would you draft Beasley or Rose?
Posted by: Edgar | May 20, 2008 09:27 AM
ROSE Edgar!!! After watching Chris Paul how could you not. But I dont think you can make a mistake 1-10 of this years draft.
Posted by: Keith Lifetime Southsider | May 20, 2008 11:58 AM
Oh, definitely agree on Rose over Beasley for our Bulls team, but either one of the two would certainly bring some actual leadership potential that is sorely needed on this Bulls roster. I'm getting tired of these quiet personality types on the team and thank goodness for Noah stepping up his game in the 2nd half last season. With all these coach searching distractions in the news lately, I wonder what our current players have been doing in the offseason so far? Most of them better be around the Berto Center frequently trying to improve their games and their team play! Any word from the Sun Times Bulls beat writers about the players' offseason so far?
Posted by: Edgar | May 20, 2008 02:33 PM
NBA Draft lottery tonight. The Bulls have a 1.7% chance to win #1 or 2.8% chance to win #2. Obviously I'm just dreaming here, but we all know that the this lottery system is rigged anyway (anyone out there who thinks the NBA lottery system isn't rigged has got to be the most naive NBA guy out there), so if the Bulls somehow miraculously win #1, would you draft Beasley or Rose?
Posted by: Edgar | May 20, 2008 09:27 AM
WOW...EDGAR...you got no cred for this prediction....but you nailed it. Do you still think the lotto is rigged?
Posted by: Bculz | May 23, 2008 09:05 AM
My brother and I had a heated discussion the other day about the NBA lottery when I told him that I felt that it was rigged. He asked me why I would think that and why would the NBA do any favors for the Bulls? I basically told him big city, big market... Bulls had a disaster season and losing fan base... last thing the NBA needs is dwindling attendance in Chicago where the sport of basketball is now becoming a 4th option behind football, baseball and hockey, especially with the Blackhawks renewed interest in players like Kane and Toews. Derrick Rose is also a hometown kid and a point guard who can potentially revitalize a team's spirit and fan base. I then gave him examples of Cleveland drafting LeBron at #1 defying the odds and just so happened that LeBron grew up in Ohio.
I mean really, I could go on and on with examples, but in the end, my brother still said it didn't make any sense for the lottery to be rigged in the Bulls favor. He agreed, however, that it was a "flawed" system, but not necessarily rigged. To me, I think it's more than just a coincidence, but hey, it's my hometown basketball team so I'll just embrace it as pure good luck. I was expecting us to discuss who the Bulls would be picking at 8 or 9 by this time. Now it's all speculation on coaches and possible trades....
Posted by: Edgar | May 23, 2008 10:10 PM
Edgar...whats a good pick 3 for power ball?
Posted by: Bculz | May 24, 2008 09:59 AM