The fact that the Bulls couldn’t seal the deal with a coach who wanted to coach here, when the players wanted to play for that coach, and when the fans wanted that coach after selling out that shitty arena for years with horrible, horrible teams… I’m just disgusted. This franchise is bush league. It is just a matter of time before the exodus begins. I can see Lu leaving, Ben leaving, trading Tyrus Thomas – Paxson can see the talent, he just can’t nurture it. He cares more about toughness and discipline than winning. And now it seems like they lowballed Avery Johnson as well. It is beyond ridiculous, players are just ripping the organization. Get ready for the next Bulls coach – Doug Collins.

I’m already over caring about next season

we can find comfort in the fact that there’s still Pete Myers and Ron Adams on the staff.
:-(

why would avery join the bulls if they wont pay him more then what he is making by taking time off. Unless he is desperate to get back to coaching he would lose tons of money. If the bulls arent willing to pay D’Antoni, they arent gonna pay Johnson? If they do, that would add injury to insult.

Personally, I thought D’Antoni would have been a nice addition to the team. He is well-respected by players and I think the listless losers on the current Bulls roster would have been energized with him at the helm. I didn’t buy the “no defense” talk because the Bulls have better natural defenders than the Suns. Moreover, Pax’s and Reinsdorf’s insistence that the Bulls retain their identity as a defensive-minded team is laughable. This team has no identity! At a minimum, his hiring would have brought some excitement to a team that is bordering on irrelevancy.

I did not go into this thinking “D’Antoni or bust,” so although I am disappointed that the Knicks got him, I am more disappointed with Paxson’s (and maybe Reinsdorf’s) general handling of the coaching search. These repeated statements about how this will be done on the Bulls’ schedule ignores the realities of how these deals are done. If someone is available, you make an offer or else that person gets hired elsewhere.

As I understand it, Pax’s approach was that he was going to interview everyone on his list and not make a decision until all interviews were held. Guess what? Carlisle and D’Antoni have been hired. Johnson is probably not going to coach for anyone next year. Mike Dunlap (who?!) has been hired by Arizona. Who is left? Tom Thibodeau? What if he doesn’t work out or stays with the Celtics? Mark Jackson (who has said he would only coach the Knicks)?

There is a lot of speculation that losing D’Antoni came down to money (which is reasonable given Reinsdorf’s involvement). Please remember that the Bulls raised ticket prices this season, making us the third most expensive ticket in the NBA. Is the team purposely trying to insult its fans at this point? Remember that we are paying for the privilege of a losing team, incompetent coaching and an overall boring product. Can someone remind me why I still care?

spoke to Reinsdorf?

Reports indicated that they were going to meet this weekend.

I wonder if Reinsdorf stated that the Bulls weren’t prepared to offer financial terms comparable to the Knicks?

And while this isn’t a disaster for the franchise and doesn’t presage doom, it certainly isn’t a positive development either. If people were reticent to get excited over D’Antoni, who was an established head coach with a gaudy winning percentage, then there definitely isn’t any reason to get excited over an obscure Boston assistant with no head coaching experience.