Bulls are insignificant right now.

[Eli]

This series is unbelievable. I will never talk shit about Noah again.

Yes you will.  sHe's still an idiot. 

Pshaw.  Watch this clip again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUuQxaAZ7HU

That is one smart lady.  The anticipation!  The instincts!  It's where amazing happens.

[Pre]

Vinny Del Negro is a stupid fucking cunt.

Someone should shiv him.

[Eli]

Vinny Del Negro is a stupid fucking cunt.

Someone should shiv him.

I'm 99 percent sure that the Bulls win this series if they have anything resembling a competent, normal coach.  What an abortion of a coaching job.

The Bulls spent all game getting killed in the paint, unable to defend the rim and Tyrus only got 16 minutes.  And Vinny's offense in the second half was apparently to have Gordon dribble for 18 seconds and launch a jumper. 

I hate everything about everything he chooses to be.

[PenFoe]

[Eli]

KD on the game.  I tried to cut it down so I wasn't posting almost his entire article, but it's all worth reading.

Because I know that it's a coach's job to create an atmosphere suitable for winning. It's a coach's job to prepare his or her team. It's a coach's job to do what's necessary, with the parts he has, to come out victorious in competition.

Vinny Del Negro did none of these things in Game 7, or for most of the series, for that matter. All series long the Chicago Bulls were getting by on talent and talent alone, playing as essentially the sum of their parts and no more, utilizing one-on-one ball, and only coming through with a passable rotation because John Paxson traded all the players (like Andres Nocioni) that Del Negro used to hurt his team with, or traded for players that stopped him from giving minutes to guys (like Aaron Gray) who were hurting the team.

Chicago could not put itself in a position to win in the second half of this game because Vinny Del Negro ran with a four guard lineup that could not set a screen to save its life on offense (because, newsflash, 6-2 guards aren't really great at setting screens on 6-7 forwards), and was consistently dominated in the paint on defense. If Boston hits its usual rate of free throws in the third quarter, or if the team makes a few more of those gimmies in the paint, this could have been a 25-point loss.

Why? Because Vinny Del Negro could not think on his feet, adapt, and put his team in a position to win.

I don't know what he has against power forwards, but tossing out 20-year old rookie Derrick Rose as a weak-side helper is just the height of ... well, you know what I'm getting at. It's hard enough to try and get Rose to understand NBA-level defense on opposing point guards, how's he going to know how to act like Udonis Haslem in the fourth quarter of a Game 7? And yet, that's what Del Negro was asking of him.

Did you see how many hats, all in one possession, Joakim Noah had to wear? He had to show on a screen and roll, contest a shot in the paint, try to block out his man, try to block out the opposing power forward, and do all this within a five-second turn. For a guy in his second year in the NBA. I wouldn't ask Dwight Howard to do that. Why? Because the Magic would lose, and Dwight Howard would be angry with me.

But that's Vinny Del Negro. He's turned what was a top-flight defensive team under Scott Skiles that covered all angles, moved the ball offensively, and had a drive-and-kick offense into predictable, one-on-one mess that was bailed out in the second half of the season by Chicago's solid offensive talent, and a post-trade deadline schedule that was rife with crummy and injured teams.

...

So, this seems like the easiest analysis in the world, because it is. "The coach is a bum." Real groundbreaking. But I'd be lying to you if I wrote about anything different, this morning. It's my job to tell you about what was the biggest difference in a game between the winners and the losers, with an emphasis on touching on subjects that wire services and newspapers can't focus on due to space, time, and content limitations. That's my gig.

[air2300]

Excellent article by KD.  There is no chance that Pax will get rid of VDN, is there?

[MAD]

Excellent article by KD.  There is no chance that Pax will get rid of VDN, is there?

If he does, it would as President, not GM.

The offseason moves begin in earnest this week, when the Bulls are expected to make director of player personnel Gar Forman the general manager. John Paxson will be elevated to a new position, akin to team president, overseeing Forman, who will take over day-to-day operations of the front office.

[air2300]

Excellent article by KD.  There is no chance that Pax will get rid of VDN, is there?

If he does, it would as President, not GM.

The offseason moves begin in earnest this week, when the Bulls are expected to make director of player personnel Gar Forman the general manager. John Paxson will be elevated to a new position, akin to team president, overseeing Forman, who will take over day-to-day operations of the front office.

Yea, Gar Forman or Pax, the sad reality is that VDN is coming back.  Even if they wanted to get rid of VDN, Reisndorf wouldn't let them.  I just don't see Reinsdorf paying three coaches at the same time since I believe the bulls are still paying Skiles.  The positive is that since VDN was so bad, that there is no where to go but up.  Yay? 

[TDubbs]

If they re-voted now, JoKim would get my vote.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4135263

[Eli]

The positive is that since VDN was so bad, that there is no where to go but up.  Yay? 

I'm sure that Del Negro will be a better coach next year.  Mistakes are the best way to learn, and he made plenty of them, so he'd have to be really stubborn to not adapt and change at least a little bit.  It's just a matter of how much he's willing to learn.  Unfortunately, he spent a lot of season running around and explaining his actions by saying, "Because I'm the coach and that's what I decided," so maybe there isn't much hope.

On a related note, regarding what the Bulls need to do next year:

Del Negro listed interior scoring, smarter decisions and ball movement as areas for improvement. Noah, thankfully, mentioned the need to improve defensively so they can get in transition.

Joakim Noah for player-coach!

[PenFoe]

The positive is that since VDN was so bad, that there is no where to go but up.  Yay? 

I'm sure that Del Negro will be a better coach next year.  Mistakes are the best way to learn, and he made plenty of them, so he'd have to be really stubborn to not adapt and change at least a little bit.  It's just a matter of how much he's willing to learn.  Unfortunately, he spent a lot of season running around and explaining his actions by saying, "Because I'm the coach and that's what I decided," so maybe there isn't much hope.

On a related note, regarding what the Bulls need to do next year:

Del Negro listed interior scoring, smarter decisions and ball movement as areas for improvement. Noah, thankfully, mentioned the need to improve defensively so they can get in transition.

Joakim Noah for player-coach!

So basically: the same thing they've needed ever since they traded Brand.

You know who's a pretty good interior scorer?
LaMarcus Aldridge.

But, since that attitude doesn't help, the last mock draft I saw had them taking the big, slow, white dude from tOSU.

[RV]

The positive is that since VDN was so bad, that there is no where to go but up.  Yay? 

I'm sure that Del Negro will be a better coach next year.  Mistakes are the best way to learn, and he made plenty of them, so he'd have to be really stubborn to not adapt and change at least a little bit.  It's just a matter of how much he's willing to learn.  Unfortunately, he spent a lot of season running around and explaining his actions by saying, "Because I'm the coach and that's what I decided," so maybe there isn't much hope.

On a related note, regarding what the Bulls need to do next year:

Del Negro listed interior scoring, smarter decisions and ball movement as areas for improvement. Noah, thankfully, mentioned the need to improve defensively so they can get in transition.

Joakim Noah for player-coach!

So basically: the same thing they've needed ever since they traded Brand.

You know who's a pretty good interior scorer?
LaMarcus Aldridge.

But, since that attitude doesn't help, the last mock draft I saw had them taking the big, slow, white dude from tOSU.

If we're re-drafting the 2006 pick, I'll take Brandon Roy, thanks.

Any chance Blake Griffin will be available at #16? No big deal if he isn't, Hansborough and Harangody will be better pros anyway.

[Shooter]

So basically: the same thing they've needed ever since they traded Brand.

You know who's a pretty good interior scorer?
LaMarcus Aldridge.

But, since that attitude doesn't help, the last mock draft I saw had them taking the big, slow, white dude from tOSU.

B.J. Mullens is awful, awful.

[Eli]

Any chance Blake Griffin will be available at #16? No big deal if he isn't, Hansborough and Harangody will be better pros anyway.

If Blair is still around, I'd be happy with him.  He's not the answer to all low-post problems, but he can at least rebound.  The Bulls could use that.

[PenFoe]

Any chance Blake Griffin will be available at #16? No big deal if he isn't, Hansborough and Harangody will be better pros anyway.

If Blair is still around, I'd be happy with him.  He's not the answer to all low-post problems, but he can at least rebound.  The Bulls could use that.

This mock (I have no idea who this guy is, I just searched for nba mock and got this), has the Bulls taking Patrick Patterson (UK) and Wayne Ellington (UNC) with the first two picks.

Seems pretty good.

Here's another one with the Bulls taking Terrance Williams (Louisville) and Ellington with the two picks.  Williams is an SG/Point Forward type - there was a nice piece on him in SI at the beginning of the tournament.