The Bulls have went through bad trades, bad drafts and a list of coaches longer than the brattiest little kid’s Christmas wish novels…they have developed from lists.

Finally, one last time, they have made some moves and decisions to prove Chicago has a winning mindset instead of simply only being an organization in the NBA.

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It starts with Derrick Rose, who is a top MVP candidate and is leading the Bulls to the top of the Eastern Conference with a 21-10 record as he is eighth in the NBA in scoring and assists with 24 points and eight assists per game.

The Bulls  have won 12 of their last 14 games and have done so in every aspect of the game from shooting, defense, managing turnovers and rebounding.

The above is a statement of gratitude to the Chicago Bulls front office for its will and completion of getting players and coaches the team needs to win.

Tyrus Thomas, John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich were all traded because they didn’t fit in the puzzle. Thomas had problems with authority and couldn’t put productive games back to back. Salmons played great at the end of the 2008-09 season when the Bulls traded for him at the deadline, but as last season went on he too became inconsistent and wasn’t reliable for anything except 12-to-15 shot attempts a game. Hinrich, one of my favorite Bulls, will be missed but he was overpaid and with Rose playing at the level he does, there was no longer a need for him on the team.

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The three of them were traded for expiring contracts which gave Chicago enough money to get the type of players they needed: an inside presence in Carlos Boozer, a shooter in Kyle Korver and perimeter defense in Ronnie Brewer and Keith Bogans.

Sure, the Bulls wanted to get one of the bigger names in the summer’s free agency circus but they didn’t land a LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire or Chris Bosh. Instead of giving up, they got an all-star caliber player in Boozer and continued to shop for role players to help the team to get out of the bottom of the playoff bracket.

The Chicago roster can not be spoken about without the mention of the two big men who put fear in opposing offenses.

Joakim Noah, who I was upset with the Bulls for drafting, has proved to the world he is a top center in the league. Noah is averaging a double-double for the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds a game and bothers every teams inside scorer with his great defense. I forgot to mention he is averaging two blocks a game.

During last year’s rookie season, Taj Gibson showed he could be a force on the court as he was a steal with the 26th pick in the 2009 draft. This season he is coming off the bench to score eight points and grab five rebounds  game. But when Boozer missed 15 games because of a broken hand and Noah first had surgery on his thumb, he put up starter numbers in starter minutes including four double-doubles and has season highs of 18 points and 18 rebounds. He also averages a block and a half a game.

Last season’s coach Vinny Del Negro didn’t do anything for the Bulls except upset fans and players on the team. He led the squad to another 41-41 record and an early departure from the playoffs. He might not have had a championship roster but he didn’t play his cards right to win games when he had the chance to.

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With that said, the Bulls hired Boston Celtics assistant coach and defensive mastermind Tom Thibodeau to teach the Bulls how to play the game. Thankfully, it seems to be working out as Joakim Noah said he is learning more about the game than he ever has on the Bulls-Nets broadcast. Thibs has brought a defensive emphasis and cohesiveness to a team based around young players.

For the first time since the championship run with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, the Bulls are towards the top of the conference and are being looked at as a contender. Chicago may not make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but they will make it past the first round and will give whichever team its playing a run for its money.

2010 has been successful for the Chicago Bulls and should be the gateway for a great 2011.

Chicago Breaking Buissness’s Bob Goldsborough reported the luxuries of Thibodeau’s home and gave money amounts for the homes of ex-Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro, who was fired after the Bulls disappointing 2009-10 season and the coach who was fired a season before Del Negro, Scott Skiles.

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Highland Park is 35 minutes away from the United Center, the Bulls game day arena, and nine minutes away from the Bulls practicing facilities in Deerfield is in a great location for travel to both venues and is a nice neighborhood with plenty of lavish houses, so it doesn’t surprise me.

I wonder if Skiles told Del Negro about Highland Park and then Del Negro spread the word about the suburb to Thibodeau.

Although Del Negro is in Los Angeles coaching for the Clippers, he still owns the home in Highland Park he paid $1.2 million for. Does Del Negro think he has a reason to ever come back to Chicago because I don’t know anybody who would be happy being his neighbor anywhere in Illinois, especially in the Chicago land area.

Skiles bought his home in the suburb in 2205 for $1.4 million, but lost a grand when he sold it in 2008 after getting canned by the Bulls.

It would make sense for Skiles to still own his house since he is in Milwaukee, only a hop, skip and a jump from Chicago and he is still liked by Bulls fans. Skiles actually made an improvement and the players followed his game plan; the total opposite of Del Negro.

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Thibodeau moving to Highland Park could mean two things:

He is going to get fired after the season such as Del Negro did.

or

He moved there to spite the other two coaches, to prove he can turn the Bulls around.

With the new roster and Derrick Rose, the first Bulls all-star since Michael Jordan in 1998, and a strong devotion to defense, Thibodeau could have bought the house in spite. I could buy that.

Is Thibodeau going to be the first-of-the-three coaches to keep his job long enough to get Chicago to the promised land?

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Either way,  the Boston Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has been hired by the Chicago Bulls to replace Vinny Del Negro.

Thibodeau is well respected as a defensive master mind, helped the Boston Celtics become one of the best defending teams in the league.  Boston would never have beaten the Lakers in 2008 for the NBA Championship, if their team defense didn’t rotate and communicate like Thibodeau taught them.  It also helps that Kevin Garnett, one of the biggest mouths in the NBA, is on the Celtics.

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In his 21 year coaching career, he has traveled the NBA ranks.  He began as an assistant to the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves in 1989.  In 1991, he was a scout for the Seattle SuperSonics.  He has been an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and until this years post season is over, the Boston Celtics.

Thibodeau has aided his teams to finish in the top ten in team defense for 15 seasons.  This is impressive.

The Bulls were a solid defensive team last year.  Thibodeau will help them become great.  Joakim Noah wants to play defense and showed signs of defensive brilliance this season.  Kirk Hinrich is a good perimeter defender.  Derrick Rose is quick, giving him the ability to get in front of any match up and Luol Deng has great length and hoops to block shots from the corner.

They have the skills, now Thibodeau will give them techniques.

The question I have is, how does this help Chicago’s scoring?  The Bulls scoring was a huge problem this season.  The offensive sets resulted in Ros running around and trying to drive, or they were stagnant.  Three players roamed on the perimeter while Noah and Taj Gibson got faced until they needed to get a rebound.

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Maybe Thibodeau has more than one trick up his sleeve, plus,  he will have assistants and hopefully an elite talent after free agency begins.

The hire could draw big names.  Thibodeau is well known and respected.  Basketball players need to know their coach can or wants to win before they believe in the system.  Thibodeau helped win a championship in 2008 and was a part of the Knicks trip to the finals in 199 with Jeff Van Gundy, Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston.

Thibodeau should be a good coach.  Some assistants who are supposed to do well, stumble and fall.  Others coach a team to two three-peat championship run, aka Phil Jackson.  He will not reach Jackson’s level, but he could be the coach to get Chicago further in the playoffs than first round.  This would mean a better record, so they’re not the eighth seed.

On a faith level, I have 85% faith that he will help the Bulls get to the next level.  The doubts I have are on offense.  If the defense can get points off of its hard work than that doubt would be quieted.  The other doubt, is if Thibodeau is a coach the big named free agents want to play for.

Lebron James might want to be on the same team with Thibodeau instead of receiving the wrath of his zone defensive schemes.

Wade has been reported to question the loyalty of the Bull’s management.  Joakim Noah and Lindsay Hunter have been quoted in the media saying Lebron should come to Chicago.  Bosh has listed Chicago as one of his five destinations he would like to play for next year.

Then the Bulls fired Vinny Del Negro, so they’re in the market for a new man on the sideline.  Avery Johnson, Byron Scott, Lawrence Frank, Jeff Van Gundy and Doug Collins are all ex-coaches looking for a job.  ESPN has sources who say Phil Jackson has been contacted to return as the Bull’s Head Coach and University of Kentucky’s John Calipari has been in the news for the job as well.

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To add a little more controversy around the Bulls is the legacy of arguably the best player to ever grace the NBA, Michael Jordan.  It has been said players would not want to go to Chicago because they would be in the shadow of MJ.  The Utah Jazz’s power forward, Carlos Boozer, who is going to be a free agent, doesn’t agree.

I like these statements from Boozer.  Actually,  it makes his resume go closer to the top of the pile as a free agent pick up.

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He isn’t scared to play in the house Jordan built.  He is showing pride in himself as a player.  He realizes the 90′s Bulls were great, but why shouldn’t any other great players be a Bull?

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The Celtics have won the most championships in the history of the NBA.  This didn’t scare Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett going to Boston.  The Lakers are the second winning-est franchise in history.  This didn’t stop Shaquille O’Neal or Pau Gasol to moving to Los Angeles.   This didn’t stop Paul Pierce or Kobe Bryant from signing extensions either.

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If anything Jordan and Scottie Pippen created a winning atmosphere other players should love to play in.  Sure, the Bulls fell off for about ten years, but this was because of former Bull’s general manager Jerry Krause causing problems with the stars and college players with tons of potential not panning out: Marcus Fizer, Jay Williams, Chris Duhon, Eddie Robinson and Tyrus Thomas.

[picappgallerysingle id="8340084"]Since May 4th there has been a poll on Bullshome asking whether readers think the firing of Vinny Del Negro was a good idea.  To my surprise,  60% of the 80 voters think it was a bad idea.  Why?

Throughout this season, the Bulls quit on Vinny.  Blame can be put on injuries for a week or two, when three-fifths of the starting lineup were gone, but other than that there is no where to place blame, except on Vinny. 

He coached defense, but couldn’t get any scoring unless his team was shooting the ball well, which wasn’t often.  The only inside game was Noah and Gibson off of offensive rebounds or Rose driving.  More often than not, the Bull’s offense looked stagnant.

[picappgallerysingle id="8422923"]Vinny did get the Bulls to the playoffs two years in a row, but they had already been there.  Scott Skiles got them to the second round.  They got rid of Skiles because he couldn’t get them to the next level, so it only seems fair Del Negro get the boot as well. 

I am very happy with management’s decision to get rid of Del Negro.

LEAVE A COMMENT WHY YOU THINK VINNY DEL NEGRO SHOULD STILL HAVE THE HEAD COACHING JOB?

[picappgallerysingle id="7772471"]Would Hall of Famer Partrick Ewing be a good head coach and could he be the guy for the job in Chicago?

Ewing was one of the best scoring centers in league history.  His low post moves were on THE best when he played in the late 80′s and 90′s.  He was the rookie of the year in 1986, a 11 time all-star, 7 time all-NBA team selection and was put in the Hall of Fame in 2008. 

[picappgallerysingle id="3012454"]He had skills.  The great thing is,  he knows how to teach those skills to others.

Ewing took a job as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards in 2003.  Kwame Brown is by no means a star student or student at all, so we won’t count this against Ewing.

In 2004-2006, he was an assistant for the Houston Rockets.  Ewing helped Yao Ming with his low post game.  Ming stopped settling for a jump shot because Ewing gave him post moves.  Ming’s career best field goal percentage of .55 was during the 04-05 season. Hopefully, Ming will find a medical procedure to strengthen his feet and ankles and play again. 

[picappgallerysingle id="4674336"]Ewng is presently an assistant in Orlando.  Dwight Howard is a man child physical but without Ewing’s help, he doesn’t do anything offensively unless he gets the ball under the basket. 

[picappgallerysingle id="8742556"]He has proved he can coach centers but can he coach an entire team.  I don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind giving him a shot with the Bulls.  This is kind of funny though,  remember when Scottie Pippen posterized Ewing,  yeah, I had it on my bedroom wall.

The basketball world has had some kind of involvement with Ewing since his freshman year at Georgetown in 1981. In 29 years (excluding play before college) of basketball he has got to know something about the game.  He knows how to teach, so put the two together and I think he’ll be alright. 

Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson could definitley use some of Ewing’s moves down low.  This season the Bulls were an outside team.  They shot jump shots most of the time, getting the ball down low wasn’t a main priority.  Maybe they should make it option number one.  This would open up Rose and Hinrich on the perimeter.  Right now,  why would any team double Noah or Gibson?

[picappgallerysingle id="8627235"]Ewing isn’t my first pick for the job vacancy, but if he is the one Bull’s management pick up,  I won’t be upset.       

IS EWING A LEGIT CANIDATE FOR THE HEAD COACHING POSITION?

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Lets face it, no one thought Jackson was going to come back to Chicago.  It would have been a great story line and a moment to celebrate at the local pub for all Bulls fans of age, but it wasn’t going to happen.

He has a dream job for NBA head coaches.  Los Angeles is sunny all year long, he has a superstar (Kobe Bryant) with two or three years left in his prime, a strong supporting cast and he gets to mingle with celebrities.  He loves it in LA, why come back to the windy city with a young team in the development stage?

[picappgallerysingle id="8648226"]I said in my last post, it could propel him as the hands down number one coach in history, it would.  Maybe, Jackson couldn’t handle the challenge at his age.  It would have been awesome, but it isn’t going to happen.

[picappgallerysingle id="8358499"]I thought Calipari could be a risky choice.  I don’t like college coaches trying to make the jump to the NBA; it usually doesn’t work out.  Plus, he failed miserably in his first stint with in the late 90′s with the New Jersey Nets. 

He does have great strengths.  Calipari is known as a master recruiter.  In each of his three college coaching jobs (UMASS, Memphis, Kentucky), he recruited great talent and changed the programs around.  

UMASS was an NIT team before he got there.  He took them to the sweet sixteen and the final four.  Without Calipari, no one knew Memphis had a basketball program; he took them to the championship game.  He recruited Derrick Rose, who the Bulls selected number one overall in the 2008 draft.  Does the name John Wall ring any bells?  Enough said. 

[picappgallerysingle id="793900"]Calipari has ties with the summer’s top three free agents: Dwayne Wade, Lebron James and Chris Bosh.   

The Bulls need one of these guys if they hope to get to the “elite” level in the NBA.  Calipari could have brought one of them to Chicago.  Although I thought he could be a bust,  I would have loved him to be on the sideline, if that meant Bosh, Wade or Lebron would be in a Bull’s jersey.

[picappgallerysingle id="8222106"]The Bulls will keep digging through the names of coaches looking for a job until either, everyone says no or they find a guy they think can help the team.  At least I hope this is the game plan.  

Chicago doesn’t need another young, up and coming coach.  The young roster needs someone who is a proven winner and can mold five individual talents into one cohesive unit.

[picappgallerysingle id="8627052"]I hope their digging doesn’t result in scrapping the bottom of the well.

[picappgallerysingle id="8358780"]John Calipari is a winning college coach.  He took Memphis to the NCAA championship game two seasons ago and this season he caoched John Wall and Kentucky University to the elite eight.  In his first college job at UMASS, he took a NIT team and brought them to five consecutive NCAA tournaments including a final four appearance in the 95-96.

However, his 96-99 brief stop in the NBA was miserable.  He took the New Jersey Nets to the playoffs once in his three years.  They got swept by the Bulls, who won their sixth and final (currently) championship.

[picappgallerysingle id="2705380"]There is a huge connection in Calipari’s favor.  He was Derrick Rose’s coach at Memphis.  Rose and Calipari had a bond at the college level and they could be great at the next level.  He would be taking over a team with great character guys, who could be easy to coach, even though it didn’t seem to always work for Vinny Del Negro.

But, would his system work in the NBA.  It didn’t the first time.  I don’t think we can blame the players he had on the Nets.  Keith Van Horn didn’t live up to his hype but when he was healthy he was a decent spot up shooter.  Sam Cassel was a well thought of floor general and Kerry Kittles was an above average scorer.  He could definitley shoot the trey.

[picappgallerysingle id="4768866"]Calipari could be a good fit but at the same time he could be a bust.  For the first time since Jordan, the Bulls have a bonifide star, Derrick Rose.  For the first time since Rodman, the Bulls have a bonifide do whatever you need guy, Joakim Noah. 

They need a guy who will come in and get in done.  They don’t need a guy who be easy and treat the players like they’re still in college.  This is the biggest brightest stage a basketball player can reach.  It’s time to get physical, aggressive and demand respect.  Players and coaches earn respect in the NBA by winning. 

Chicago’s time to test the market is over, they need a guy who can come in and win immediately.  They have all the pieces there, they just need the right coach.

If GM Gar Foreman and owner Jerry Reinsdorf feel he is the guy, I’ll ride with the decision.  If he joins the team and wins, I’ll say I under estimated his ability, however, once he turns into a bust,  I’ll write, I told you so.

He doesn’t need to be part of the organization again.

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Yes,  I am talking about Doug Collins.  Collins was Chicago’s head coach from 1986-1989.  He got to the playoffs but couldn’t capture a championship.  Michael Jordan, the greatest player in NBA history, was on those teams.  Collins had MJ, Pippen and solid role players, but couldn’t get them to the next level.

With that said, how is he the right guy to get Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Luol Deng to the next level?  Kirk Hinrich is a solid role player and if the summer goes how I hope, the Bulls will have a superstar or at least a star or two to match Rose and Noah’s blossoming stardom. 

[picappgallerysingle id="436494"]Collins isn’t the guy. In eight years as a head coach, he got past the first round once.  Three of those seasons he didn’t even make the playoffs.  The one time he did, the Bulls got beat by the ”Bad Boys” of the Detroit Pistons in 1989.  He was fired after the defeat.  Phil Jackson, an assistant at the time, took over.  We all know the story from there.

[picappgallerysingle id="8603906"]After the Bulls, he didn’t coach in the league, until 1995 when the Detroit Pistons hired him.  He got Grant Hill and the Pistons absoultley no where; he was fired in 1998.  In 2001, he was hired by the Washington Wizards where he coached Jordan again when he came out of his his last superficial  retirement before he made it official.  Two seasons later he was canned after zero playoff appearances.   

[picappgallerysingle id="1327115"]Collins was a good player, first overall pick in 1973 and a four time all-star, but I don’t think he is a good teacher.  He is soft spoken and doesn’t demand anything from his players.  He is not a winning coach.  Sure he has a 332-287 (.536 winning percentage), but he can’t win when it counts. 

In 2008, before the Bulls hired VDN, owner Jerry Reinsdorf and General Manager Gar Foreman were talking to Collins.  He withdrew his name from the position saying, it wouldn’t work out because of his close friendship with Reinsdorf.

If it didn’t work two years ago,  why would it work now?  Again,  it wouldn’t.  Collins should just keep his cushy commentating job.  He isn’t great, but he gets the job done, same can almost be said about his coaching, except the fact he can’t win in the playoffs.

Instead of waiting a day as ESPN had reported from their sources, the Bulls jumped the gun and got rid of him tonight.

Thank you, the executive decision took way longer than it should, but thank you!