28 Dec 10 Firing Vinny Del Negro Was the Right Move

Gregory Shamus/Getty ImagesIt was the right move for the Chicago Bulls to relinquish Vinny Del Negro of his coaching duties. Del Negro just could not cut it during his brief two-year stint. He was strategically overmatched on many nights by his contemporaries, failed to consistently place his players in a position to succeed, and had a difficult time making in-game adjustments. Something one would expect from someone learning in the midst of their first ever coaching journey at any level of organized basketball. Team vice president Reebok Green Bay Packers #52 Clay Matthews Realtree camo Jersey
John Paxson has made a lot of undesirable decisions in the front-office, but firing Del Negroafter the head scratching hirehad to be done. Del Negro was just not ready. Combined with a middling roster that could not overcome his inexperience spelled doom from the beginning. Sure, the former NBA guard led Chicago to back-to-back playoff seasons in his only two seasons and amassed a respectable 82-82 record in the process even with an inexperienced roster, injuries, and trades along the way. But with Del Negro at the helm, the Bulls were far from championship contenders. The bottom half of the Eastern Conference has been average at worst for several seasons. So making the postseason was nothing to write home about. If the NBA were the NCAA Tournament, the Bulls would have been Arkansas Pine Bluff or Morgan State. In the 2008-09 season, Chicago finished with the 15th best record in the league. 2009-10 was no different record wise, but Del Negro's bunch had the 17th best record. Not exactly on the path to a conference title. Taking the then NBA champion Boston Celtics to the limit in a memorable seven-game first-round series was believed to be push the Bulls needed to propel themselves to at least into the upper tier of the Eastern Conference. How much better could the team be with a healthy Luol Deng to go along with John Salmons, Brad Miller, Joakim Noah, and Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose who all played well in the playoffs? Not much better. Although Rose ultimately became an NBA All-Star, Noah improved dramatically and rookie Taj Gibson became a nice revelation, the group was still stuck in basketball mediocrity hovering either around or a few games below .500 for much of the season. Reebok Indianapolis Colts 18 Peyton Manning Realtree camo Jersey
The offense still was elementary, predictable and featured little ball movement. Sure, James Johnson, who was drafted ahead of Gibson, did not develop his game at all. Then there was Jarrett Jack of the Toronto Raptors tying his shoes at center court with Del Negro and his players window dressing. Blowing a 35-point second half lead to the lowly Sacramento Kings did not help matters much either, as well as dropping a pair of games to the win allergic New Jersey Nets. The press can speculate all they want about the March 30 Del Negro-Paxson scuffle leading to Tuesday's firing. But it was Del Negro's coaching inability that sealed his fate. Should Bulls fans trust Paxson and GM Gar Forman to attract a quality head coach in addition to signing one of the possible franchise changing free agents this summer? Considering the front office botched a deal that would have sent Pau Gasol to Chicago in exchange for Deng, signing Ben Wallace to a $60 million deal in a weak 2006 free agent class, trading the draft rights of Reebok Minnesota Vikings 28 Adrian Peterson Realtree camo Jersey
LaMarcus Aldridge to the Portland Trailblazers for Tyrus Thomas, and blowing the chance at securing a veteran NBA coach after Scott Skiles was fired, you make the call. One of the few decisions Paxson got right was turning in an index card with Rose's name on it making him the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Seven years of running in place in the Paxson era has gotten the Bulls in rebuild mode for the umpteenth time.Here's hoping this blueprint wor