i was very impressed with what he said and what he had to offer. it seems like that in this very little time, he’s already got a very good idea of how he wants to handle things. he seems to want to be an impact on the players too (talked about learning about them personaly and all that). and plus i love the mention of toni kukoc and the fact that he played with larry hughes in golden state. now theres some trivia. and props to paxon for jumping in about the contract question. so its not a 2 year deal. but overall im really pulling for him and hope that the players wont ruin his career.

At least with me so far.

1. He can communicate. That was a big problem the last few years. Hopefully connecting with the players and making sure they know their roles will help them feel they can succeed in whatever capacity they’ve been called to fill. He sounded like one of the account managers where I work and if he can bring that aspect into coaching I think it will work with players who were sending off signals last year about the lack of communication.

2. He was a player. Sure, not the best player ever, but he did put in time there and he did, by his own recollection, pay attention to coaching methods and form opinions on them. If he can communicate and taps into the right scheme for the team they might listen to him.

3. Clean slate. He doesn’t have baggage. The new rookie won’t. The young players were called out and will be getting a fresh start. Not sure what that means for Gordon and Deng and some of the players who have been around a while, but it looks like he plans on giving everyone who is still on the team by the time the new season starts a clear role to play. Certain people on the bench one hopes.

Things that worry me are his adjustments during a game. Is he going to pick up real time coaching fast or is it going to be rough? Who will be his assistants? Will the players shoot themselves in the foot and not listen to new guy? Will they walk all over him? What will the chain of command be? No more player voting I hope. Can he turn what he says into reality? Norm gave his seal of approval on CSN tonight so I should just go along with it I guess. :)

But, if any coach said he wanted to play fast I’d foam at the mouth probably.

I have no doubt that he’s going to have a ton of “What the hell did Del Negro just do” moments, but if he can at least be the kind of coach that adapts and learns from his mistakes, I will be happy with him for the upcoming season. Getting the team to buy into his message is of utmost importance. He can’t come across as a Skiles-esque hardass, yet he can’t be a pushover like many rookie coaches. In-game adjustments are so crucial in basketball, if Del Negro commits himself to studying tape and communicating with his staff, I think he’ll be able to pick up on trends taking place during the game, like switching defenders, making a substation, etc.

It’ll be really hard for him to coach any worse than what we were subjected to last year, so let’s see what the guy has in store for the team.

were a great believer in our team.

throughout all of your questioning, you see the bigger picture. Pax clearly sees these young players biggest issues as being with their self confidence.

I mean, come on we got a LOT of young talent. we won 49 games for Christ’s sake.

Pax picked up wallace and PJ to deal with Detroit. He knows how to analysis what this team needs.

and right now, this highly skilled young team needs to believe.

it was a hell of a big box if you ask me … I just got the sense that Pax couldn’t help but envision Vinny D as the next Phil Jackson and that’s what pushed him over the edge to hire the guy. He definitely went a little crazier than Krause did back then (the assistant coach hire of Jackson was more bold than the head coach promotion) but maybe that’s what you need in this day in age. Experience? What experience? If Vinny had any coaching experience, he would’ve been inside the box!

VDN did as well as he possibly could today, imo. There’s still that hint of skepticism that comes with the no coaching experience issue, but overall after today I’m excited to see what happens with the team going forward. And I’ve now got a fair amount of hope that this could work out really well. I guess that means I’m lining up for the kool-aid.

It would have been so easy for him to blow the press conference – too much talk about accountability, any talk at all about needing a veteran presence, etc. I really admired, too, that he avoided any in-depth or negative discussion of any of the players, especially given he hasn’t even met with them yet. Skiles did make me laugh, but he was also pretty brutal on some of the players.

it was mentioned in today’s press conference, the bulls need a leader. that lack of leadership played a huge role in this hire, pax belives VDN can lead this group of guys, but more importantly, they must have an on-court leader. in comes d rose, and all is good. i am fine with the bulls struggling next year, as long as our young guys, plus, hopefully, d rose are showing improvement, as well as showing a sign that this group is going to grow together, and improve together.
I am excited about the hire, hopefully, some top notch asst coaches will follow

what he could have said to make evryone here NOT like him. To me he wasn’t that impressive at all. I also wonder what the reaction would be if the Bulls didn’t have the first pick. I think most people are just excited to finally move on to the draft and finding out who’s taking Hinrich’s spot on the roster.

I’m not trying to just be contrarian here, but to me it was a very nervous conference, all the way around. I just felt like there were bullet points that Pax and VDH went over prior and bludgeoned the press to death with them. Also, and maybe i’m nitpicking, but he just looked a little scared. I can just see that “Dammit! They’re not doing what I asked them to do!” face starting to form. He was ranting a little bit, like he was trying to prove everyone wrong right away, and just didn’t give me the overall feeling of reassurance I needed from a guy coaching my team for his first job.

On the other hand, he did seem like a really good guy and I am definately rooting for him to do well. The fact that he wants to play up-tempo is intriguing, but then he said he wanted to play defense like the spurs as well, so he could just be saying what he thinks people want to hear (everyone on this site especially). Overall there’s just a HUGE wait-and-see factor with this guy.

On one hand I could see him being the next brilliant young basketball guru, on the other, I could see him getting railroaded out-of-town by a team that won’t listen to a guy that’s never used a whistle before. I just think that with so much uncertainty around this team right now, they needed a sure thing. Instead this guy is gonna be the biggest question mark of all.

that VDN claimed he will have a say on whom to draft when Pax said during the search, well idk what the exact quote was, but simply: “no, the coach will not impact our decision”..?

bit of information. You know how ever since the Bulls hired VDN, the “My Cousin Vinny” jokes have been flying around uncontrollably. Well, just think about the premise of that movie. Italian guy, in over his head, trying to be a lawyer, gets a huge case for his first job. Interesting. Sound familiar? How about, Italian guy, in over his head, trying to be a coach, gets a huge team (The Chicago Bulls!) for his first job. I smell sequel!!!

He said he would play a major role in the selection.

the only thing he said that i didnt like was when he was naming the coaches that have influenced him he didnt say D’Antoni.

What i like about this hire instead of an experienced coach is that i believe this will give Rose more of an advantage over beasley not only because of his floor leadership but also because he will give del negro a chance and not walk all over him like beasley might.

But, VDN just came in for interviews the week before he was hired, after some preliminary discussions in Orlando. Had Pax interviewed him early then brought him back later for a second interview, I think that gets into supporting the “settled” argument. To me, the fact that VDN interviewed last and was offered the job almost immediately really is more in support of the much mocked idea that Pax did finally find his coaching “soulmate.” And, having hit on the guy that felt like the right hire, figured why wait out the finals to do more interviews.

but let’s see what happens during the first losing streak. if VDN means what he says, Hughes and Gooden will play just enough to maximize their trade value, but not at the expense of developing Sefo and Tyrus.

VDN seems to be saying he’ll play the young guys over the high-salary vets like Hughes, Gooden, Kirk, and Noce. But Pax signed or traded for the vets. Unless Pax gets rid of some of them via trade, VDN will have to reduce their minutes. Rookie head coach + unhappy high salaried vets is not a good situation.

Hopefully Pax knows this and has a grand personnel plan, but the events of this offseason make me worry.

Del Negro is like the Obama of basketball!

Speaks very well and is very well liked, but experience is the main key.

After hearing him speak, I’m almost as convinced as Paxson is.

This guy will get guys to like him and play hard for him at the same time.

Obama/Del Negro 08!

ever made it onto Jonathan Hood’s show on espn1000 last night? And if yas, did he say anything interesting?

Was that he’d hire the most qualified people that were available, and that he’d empower them to do their jobs. Not only is this an effective management strategy, it is a fantastic way to mitigate VDN’s lack of experience. The selection of assistants is going to be an extremely important part of the team’s continued development.

What an offseason…after what we’ve already been through, we’ve got the Rose/Beasley draft decision, hiring of assistants, summer league (like we’re not all going to be going nuts going after every nugget about DRose’s performance in the summer leagues!), and potential trades, all in the next 10 weeks or so. Yikes!

year players.