Some say he’s pouting because Tyrus is becoming a new fan favorite and he resents it. Diaw has also nosedived, probably because he has Thomas breathing over this shoulder and cutting into his playing time. Sometimes the pot gets stirred and the results aren’t always positive.

It’s only been 2 weeks and I’m already sick of hearing about Tyrus. Tyrus had tuned out Vinny (and vice versa) so he wasn’t going to do any better here. Given that it was clear he wasn’t in the team’s plans, he became complacent (i.e., he wasn’t about to change his ways), even with the availability of an extension looming. He probably probably saw the trade as a wake up call to stop playing around and get serious.

It doesn’t matter that it’s Larry Brown. Sometimes it takes a change if scenery for a player to “get it.” Anyone with sense would see this as a time to listen to the coach and play your heart out to get those extension dollars. This is the perfect opportunity to rehabilitate your image. Anything less than this and we’d all be talking about what an idiot Tyrus is for failing to capitalize on this fresh start. So, I wouldn’t use his recent play as an indictment of Vinny. If anything, it’s Tyrus just making the decision to do what the coach wants (and not just TyrusBall).

We all know what Tyrus is capable of doing. The only issue is his ability to sustain it and improve. As I’ve written before, some of that is on the coach and team, but the player has to shoulder considerable responsibility, too. No way was Vinny telling Tyrus to launch 20 footers in transition. Didn’t matter: Tyrus spent his summer shooting and he wanted to showcase his range in inopportune moments. If he stops making bad plays now, that’s hardly a reflection on Vinny as Tyrus has known all along what he should be doing. The guy was a highly talented bozo here. Keeping him on the Bulls was like throwing good money after bad. Cut your losses and move on (Kenny Rogers, holla if ya hear me).

The comments made by the Bulls post-trade really stick out to me. If you listen to Deng and Rose and others, everyone says the SAME THING about the trade: the new guys are very professional and that it was a great trade. Unless the outgoing guys were not professional, why even comment on the new guys’ professionalism? You don’t hear any of them saying that they miss Tyrus, or that they need to make up for his athleticism. I know that nobody is going to hang Tyrus out to dry in an interview, but even when Noce left, the players were like “we’ll miss his toughness.” I’m sure Tyrus made the players crazy, too.

Bottom line is that we should all wish Tyrus well and let it go. I have a feeling that his “student of the game” persona will be short-lived and we’ll soon see what we saw in Chicago (just with less yelling at the coach).