Job on the line
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Head Coach Vinny Del Negro is under the hot seat. The pressure he has been building up for him to turn his team around from their bad stretch. The Bulls started the season out 4-2 including wins against the San Antonio Spurs (pre-season number two in Western Conference) and Lebron’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
Since then, they have 4 wins in their last 20 games and find themselves with an 8-15 record. In the past week and a half, they have lost to the New Jersey Nets, who had only one victory before the Bulls, and have lost by 25 or more points to the Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics.
The beginning of the woeful play was originally blamed to injuries. A few players had to sit out here and there but it wasn’t any worse than some of the other teams who have defeated them. Besides Tyrus Thomas’s present forearm fracture, the team has been healthy.
The real story behind the possible firing is how the team is playing. The Bulls are not competing. The scoreboard is a reflection of sluggish sloppy basketball. Players faces do not have the look of confidence needed to win in the NBA . Offensive sets are not crisp. Defensive rotations are slow if not missed.
Blaming the players can only go so far. At some point, the target has to be aimed at the guy who is supposed to make his team gel together. Instead they look confused and seem to get in the way of each others game plan. In certain games it looks like the team has quit playing. This always comes back to the coach.
Has Del Negro lost the team? Are they playing horrible basketball because they don’t like the game plan?
John Salmons has said in countless interviews that it is not his fault. In an ESPN interview, he also said the players came into the season with Del Negro and nothing has happened to separate them.
On the other side of the story, there was an anonymous Bull quoted to say “If we were losing close games, you could blame the injuries, but this?”
ESPN, Sports Illustrated and any other sports media on any medium keeps bringing this point up. Last year the Bulls went to the playoffs with a 41-41 record and played a second round 7 game series against the Boston Celtics no one will ever forget. A lot of sports writers say it was one of the best series in play-off history.
Like mentioned before, the Bulls should be a decent team. Championship is a word not coming to mind, but a 5th or 6th seed who will compete and give opponents a tough entrance to the next round is what they should be.
Del Negro has to find 5 guys in the lineup who will play a huge block of the game with dedication. He needs to do this in a timely manner if he plans to get through this season.
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