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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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. 

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. 

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?

IS EWING A LEGIT CANIDATE FOR THE HEAD COACHING POSITION?

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?

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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!

The Bulls have one of the top five point guards in the league, Derrick Rose.  They have a solid power foward they stole with the 26th pick in the 2009 draft, Taj Gibson.  Joakim Noah has developed into a rebounding machine; he’s good for a double-double everytime he steps on the floor.  Luol Deng is a decent strong scoring threat and defensive stopper to opponents long and athletic wings. 

I give Del Negro props for teaching his young squad defense, but other than that, he didn’t get everything he possibly could from his roster.  In critical momemts of a game, fans expect the best players on the team to be on the court, not with Vinny.  Rose and Noah (when he was healthy) were watching on the sideline. 

Tomorrow’s announcement will be marked on my calender as a great day and  until the beggining of next season, I will flip back to May, look and smile, thinking of the postive future the Bulls could have.

We all know, the Super Bowl is the Mecca of American sports.  Once upon a time, it was the MLB’s World Series, but these days, football has past baseball as the number one watched or paid attention to American sport. 

With this said, a Bull’s victory to even the series at 2-2 would escalate past the Super Bowl in my 2010 sports enjoyment.

Lets look at the situation.  The Chicago Bulls have been called the worst team in the playoffs.  They did have the worst record and didn’t even secure a spot in the post season until the last game of the regular season.

The Bulls then got the lucrative eight seed, to face off against the monster we all know as Lebron James.  The Bulls are the supreme underdog.  Many columnists thought the Cavaliers were going to sweep the Bulls, but Chicago won game three to kill their dream.

Even though they lost game two by 10 points, the Chicago Bulls played perfect basketball.  They only committed four turnovers, defenders had their hands in the face of Cleveland shooters and the big men scopped up all the rebounds.  After this game, I to though, how would we win.

The answer, ended up being Chicago’s back court.  In game three, Rose scored 31 and Kirk Hinrich added 27 points.  They pushed the tempo.  Instead of settling for jump shots, they ran the ball down Cleveland’s throat.  As soon as the ball was inbounded or  a re-boundwas grabbed, most likely by Joakim Noah, the Bulls were full speed down the court.

Chicago has to repeat their marathon performance if they want to take game four.  The Bulls have been playing with a chip on their shoulder.  I think being called a bad team and the worst in the playoffs has reached the pride of Noah, Rose, Hinrich and even Luol Deng, who has been playing well.

Winning, not only game four, but maybe game five.