All indications continue to point towards Mike D'Antoni as the next head coach of the Chicago Bulls...or is he? While Owner Jerry Reinsdorf & GM John Paxson are prepared to pay big money to lure the Cliff Claven-looking Phoenix Suns' head coach to Chicago, I'm under the impression reading the latest article at ChicagoSports.com that the Bulls have a "D'ecision to Make" in whether to continue pursuing D'Antoni or to look elsewhere for their next head coach. It's not that the Suns owe $8.5 million for 2 years in D'Antoni's case, let alone the Bulls on the $4 million hook for Scott Skiles. What might prevent D'Antoni from coming here is that he's not necessarily known for defense, something the Bulls & Suns didn't play much of last season. As for Avery Johnson, the Dallas Mavericks owe him $12 million over 2 years, and that might scare the Bulls away alone. Philosophy & money aside, I have this feeling that Paxson is prepared to wait this thing out longer, and ponder a cheap no-name assistant such as the Boston Celtics' Tom Thibodeaux.

Shark, I like your content but could you throw in a new paragraph every once in a while?

why hasn't Pax been let go?

I can't answer that one, but I'm a little skeptical that Mike D'Antoni or Avery Johnson fits what the Bulls are really looking for in their next head coach. Money aside, I think the Bulls are really looking for a coach who can teach defense to a sorry roster. As far as I know, neither the Suns nor the Mavericks play much of it in the Western Conference. To me, he lacks experience as an NBA head coach, but Norm Van Lier would give this team a swift kick in the rear that they really need. There were times last season where Norm wanted to pop both Mark Schanowski & Kendall Gill in the Comcast SportsNet studios before & after a Bulls' game. If not, John Paxson should borrow a page from Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, and coach this roster himself!

Everything I've read recently makes it look more likely that D'Antoni will end up with The Knicks (They've reportedly made a huge offer - which The Bulls will not match). If that happens, then perhaps Mark Jackson moves to the forefront. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but I'd feel queasy about any assistant.

Marc Stein is saying thats its still most likely gonna be the Bulls. If its not, Tom Thibideau is the name floating out there, which is basically the exact opposite of D'Antoni but I would be definitely interested in him.

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If the Bulls were really looking for a coach who can teach defense, they wouldn't have intereviewed Mike D'Antoni.

Saying that, this coaching hunt is extremely odd.

Paxson seems willing to miss out on good candidates at the expense of interviewing a full set of coaches. At the same time, there are numerous reports that the Bulls aren't interested in paying a ton of money for a big name coach (like Johnson and D'Antoni) so, if that is the case, why are we even bothering to interview them if they know the asking price will be too much ? I just hope that we get the best guy possible, not the best/cheapest option avaialable, and most news reports indicate the latter is the option the Bulls seem to be heading down.

I'm not saying Stein is wrong, but D'Antoni must be really interested in the Bulls if he's going to turn down a massive offer from the Knicks. On top of that, New York seems to be showing much more urgency to get a deal done while the Bulls are going through the coaching motions.

We'll have to see what offer they put out on Sunday. Thibideau would also be a good hire I think. He, along with KG, has done wonders for Boston's defense. They went from the 22nd ranked defensive team in 2007, to the third best defensive team in the shot clock era.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

ESPN is saying that the Knicks are setting up a 5 year, 30 million dollar offer and the Bulls will have til Sunday to put together an offer.

Folks, I think D'Antoni is headed to the Big Apple. I don't foresee Jerry opening the coffers for a coach that hasn't won a title.

If the Bulls' players tuned out, turned on, and generally disregarded Skiles, wouldn't they just laugh at a buffoon like Van Lier?

D'Antoni would be worse than Boylan - the Knicks can have him.

How so?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Boylan was easily the most overmatched Bulls coach since Tim Floyd and in my opinion the most the overmatched coach in the NBA last year.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Going to the Knicks, 4 yrs, 24 million. Looks like Paxson and Jerry are going to go on the cheap and hire some assistant from another team.

I think they aren't interested in having this team "learn to play" defense. Maybe they will follow the Suns pre-Shaq model of just trying to outscore the other team as fast as possible. I don't know if that's good, when you're likely to get bricks from Gordon, especially in crunch time.

I think Thibideau is going to be the guy unless they pay for Johnson, which seems unlikely given how the D'Antoni situation played out.

I'd be pissed if Avery Johnson was our next coach. I really want Thibideau.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

At the very least, they may as well interview him.

So if D'Antoni is such a great coach, why did Phoenix let him go so easily...without even asking for any compensation? Seems a little strange. IMO, none of the available "name" coaches excite me so I'm not really disappointed to see them go elsewhere. Paxson made the right choice with Skiles & I'm hoping he shows similar judgement this time.

Besides doing a good job with the Celtics defenese, what else has this Thibideau guy done that qualifies him to be a head coach?

Two years ago I thought Pax was a genius. Now I think he is a clueless dumbass.

Nas was right all along.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer