We’re going to take Bulls General Manager Gar Forman at his word.
He stuck with his themes at the press conference this morning where he talked about the firing of Vinny Del Negro. (I watched the conference online). Forman deserves the break, he was thrown out to the wolves to explain this. He was the guy standing in front of LeBron to take the charge. He stood there like a man.
He said the team had gotten better under Del Negro (something John Paxson echoed) but a “new dynamic” was needed.
“In order to take the next step, we need a new voice,” Forman said.
Fair enough.
So who you got? Who is out there that is going to be that much better?
Forman said he is the point man on the coach search, but he would not talk names. The Bulls have said — after bringing in a rookie in Del Negro — they want a coach with NBA head coaching experience. So here is a list of guys currently on the market:
Doug Collins (which would be a second dance in Chicago, so probably not), Lawrence Frank, Kevin McHale, Maurice Cheeks, Byron Scott and Dwane Casey.
Any of those names blow you away? One of those guys leap off the page and say, “Wow, he’s way better than Vinny?”
Scott has had success — and success with top point guards in Jason Kidd and Chris Paul — but he has lost both teams after a few years and been let go because players no longer responded. Is he the long-term coach for this young team going forward?
Maybe there is somebody else out there, a rabbit they are going to pull out of their hat. Of course, then there is the question of signing him — remember that two years ago the Bulls had long conversations with Mike D’Antoni (who would have been a great fit with his system) but the deal fell apart when owner Jerry Reinsdorf and D’Antoni talked money. Top coaches cost, and the Bulls didn’t want to pay it.
And here we are. They have let go of a solid coach that got the team to play hard, saying they wanted a new voice and dynamic.
So, who do you have that’s better? The pressure is now on you three — Forman, Paxson and Reinsdorf. This is your summer, this is your call.
