Credit Chris Broussard, ESPN The Magazine

The decision to fire head coach Vinny Del Negro has already been made, according to sources with knowledge of the Chicago Bulls' thinking. The fact that the Bulls' front office has not been able to settle on a replacement is the main thing keeping the embattled Del Negro employed, the sources said.

There were discussions recently within the organization about having John Paxson, Chicago's executive vice president of basketball operations, take over the team, but Paxson ultimately decided against it. Then, according to sources, Chicago contacted former Bulls coach Doug Collins, a candidate for the job two years ago when Del Negro was hired, but Collins was not interested in coaching the club.

Pre-emptive link post before IB bitches...

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/news/story?id=4774723

well that's good. Now hurry up and do it

_________________
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

The question remains, who replaces him then?

The only available guy I sort of like is Avery Johnson. I think he would be good for DRose and I also think he would help attract some of the free agents.

I would like to see Avery get the gig, if only for the fact that it would get him off my television...

No No NO on Avery!

The guy I want is Byron Scott.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

If this report is true, then why doesn't Vinny just resign? Why put himself through this torture when your fate has already been determined?

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

right. Avery would be a disaster here. Scott's really the only decent option you'll find mid season anyway.

_________________
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

Carrie and Sam Mitchell in...

3

2

1...

_________________
"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

What about Lawrence Frank? I heard the Bulls were said to be doing background checks on him last week.

_________________

I would take Frank over Avery in a heartbeat, but would still rather have Scott.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

frank would be a slight upgrade over vinny and avery but i dont want him. At best he's an average coach. I dont consider him a good candidate

_________________
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

What areas make him only a "slight" upgrade over Vinny? IMO he is more like Skiles than he is Vinny.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

he's much better at clock management but he's not good at player development, never really has anything innovative going on offensively(when kidd left that offense was boring as hell) and i've never been impressed with his team's defensively. I also am not sure how much he really gets through to players.

_________________
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

I dont believe any of this because Danny and Terry's peeps said they were not going to fire him this season.

_________________

When did they say this? What I heard them say was they heard they were planning on firing him, just were not ready to do so yet. So basically agreeing with this report.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I just called TB and left a message on his machine, telling him that VDN has basically been fired. That way, when he checks his messages on Wednesday, he can come on the air Thursday and tell us that he knew VDN was going to be fired on the preceding Tuesday. It's legit.

_________________

They both said that he would not be fired this year. They said that their peeps were telling them that they did not want to go through the embarassement of firing him mid-season after all the coaching crap in the offseason.

_________________

So they're looking at a permanent replacement instead of an interim? I call bullshit. I'd rather have an interim and a full interview process as soon as the Celtics are finished.

Why would you want Doug? He has never won anything, burns out himself & players and you will be looking for a new coach in 1.5 years. For everybodys sake let Doug stay on my TV doing great work.

Yep. PG's have played big roles under Byron Scott so that would be a good choice imo.

I'm surprised none of us has mentioned Jeff Van Gundy. He was a pretty damn good coach too.

_________________
"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

Van Gundy and Byron Scott are 1 and 1a in my book.

Once again, Joey Meyer.

all things considered, Joey is a great choice.

#1 The Bulls dont want to pay big money. They dont even want to pay decent money. This is why you can eliminate all the "name" guys for this season.

#2 Joey is a good coach. He knows his guard play.

#3 He knows Chicago. Not that it is a difference maker, but doesn't hurt.

#4 He is in the NBDL right now, this is the kind of guy they need a Coaching Lifer.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Okay, which one of you jokers is boll?

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/20 ... ent-204669

Hey where is the game day thread?

what a mess. now the entire basketball world knows vinnie has been fired but hey they cant make up their minds on a replacement so theyre gonna send him back out to coach his little heart out until they can find someone to take his place. good job bulls management

+1

Has anyone yet put out a missing persons report on Forman and Paxson, geez man up!

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

This. They need to stop playin fuckin games and come out of hiding already. Make a damn statement or something. Makes Chicago sports look even more inept that it already did

_________________
"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

What is the point of the usage of "SOURCE"?

Doesn't that basically mean that it's not totally made up?

What kind of breaking news would it be if there wasn't a source?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

He'll get back to you...