After a day of over-indulging, sleeping on the couch through football snooze-fests and thinking of things that we all have to be very thankful for (the Bulls being 2-8 not being one of them)...
I find myself thinking the same thing(s) over and over about the Bulls' dysfunctionality and anemic performance in virtually every catagory...

Say and think what you want about player's abilities and needing to find it within themselves to play well regardless of their surrounding situation(s) (coaching, player chemestry, etc..)...
And that they are "professionals" and get PAID to do just that and dig it out no matter what...

But that is idealistic thinking - for modern times.
In the good ol' days, perhaps....Players like Bird, Magic and Jordan would dig deep and bring it from within....pushing themselves above and beyond in the most difficult adversities....when players got paid according to their talents and accomplishments AFTER they accomplished them.

But one must remember that the NBA is not the bold and brash league that it once was. And players with true class and polished talent are far and few between these days.
The NBA is merely a SHELL of what it used to be....riddled with spoiled rotten gang-bangers that tatoo themselves into oblivion, punch their own team mates, choke their coaches, and turn the used-to-be revered court into brawl-fest wrestling rings.

And THAT is why coaching is even MORE critical, now more than ever.
Heck, even the dynasty BULLS didn't get to the next level until Jackson took over, and then he did it again in LA.
A true SUPERSTAR leader AND coaching have to be together....at the same time....and it almost seems like over the years, the NBA has groomed itself to be this way, for marketing, money, to fill seats, to sell merchandise, and whatever else.

Scott Skiles has revealed his coaching ability cards and his hand is weak.
And he doesn't have any wild card (superstar/leader player) on the team to help his hand....and even if he DID - he'd probably run his mouth and piss that player off and end up benching him too.
So it is (or should be) obvious that while Skiles HAS turned the Bulls around and gotten them back into the playoffs....he does NOT have the ability to take this team any further. And the players are turning their backs and tuning him out.

So in the end - only two things will fix this and get the Bulls back to the finals, although not necessarily in this order:

1. Fire and replace Skiles - with the RIGHT coach for THIS team.
   
2. Trade whatever players are required to get a genuine go-to, take-over-the-game LEADER on the team, whoever that may be.