Chicago Sports Review

The chairman has spoken. In an interview Monday night with the Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson, Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t mince words in expressing his disapproval of Mike D’Antoni becoming the new head coach of the New York Knicks.

“I’m disappointed in him,” Reinsdorf said. “I don’t know what else we could’ve done. He chose to go to New York knowing there was a good chance we would make him an offer. If he had really wanted to be in Chicago, he would’ve waited. Instead, he misled us. It’s not the end of the world, but it is somewhat rude.”

In case you missed it (and Bulls fans can be excused for giving up on the NBA season sometime in January), as recently as Friday it appeared the Bulls were the most likely destination for the now ex-Suns head coach.

So what happened? How did the Bulls go from being the front runners in hiring a coach who has won 232 games in four seasons to losing out to a Knicks team that spent this past season not as a legitimate NBA team, but as a league-wide joke?

Perhaps the real question is why is anyone in Chicago surprised by this?

By now everyone should know the Kobe Bryant-to-Chicago rumors were just that, rumors. There was never anything there. But clearly the Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol rumors had some substance, each player did get traded after all. And if the Bulls weren’t talking to Minnesota and Memphis about those players, they should have been.

But back to this situation. Why didn’t it get done? Reinsdorf said it had nothing to do with money:

“The second subject, I said if we need to get something done this weekend we shouldn’t even bother talking because it will take longer than that,” Reinsdorf said. “He said nothing had to be done over the weekend.

“I also said if this proceeds to where we want to make an offer, we don’t deal with coach’s agents. He said that’s not a problem and that money wasn’t the most important thing anyway. He said he wanted a job where he was going to be happiest. He said he didn’t want to coach the Knicks.”

And that, in a nutshell, is why this deal didn’t get done. It was widely reported the Knicks were going to make an offer to D’Antoni, yet Reinsdorf still didn’t feel the Bulls could come up with an offer over this past weekend.

In attempting to avoid a PR nightmare - fans questioning if the Bulls will ever be able to make a big move - Reinsdorf confirmed all Bulls fans worst fears.

The Bulls lost out to the Knicks because New York quickly made a decision. The coach who has won 232 games over four years isn’t coaching in Chicago because the Bulls needed more time to make him an offer while the Knicks - the league-wide joke - had no trouble coming up with a contract D’Antoni couldn’t refuse.

And though Reinsdorf won’t admit it, and D’Antoni will never say it, it was about money. D’Antoni came from a Phoenix franchise that gave away draft picks (that turned out to be Luol Deng and Rajon Rondo), let star players leave (Joe Johnson) and sold off valuable role players (Kurt Thomas) all because Robert Sarver didn’t want to pay the luxury tax.

So when D’Antoni is told by the Bulls it will take a while to make an offer he should be skeptical. This is the same Bulls team that this season owned the league’s ninth lowest payroll in a major market. In 2006-07 they boasted the league’s fifth lowest payroll.

You can blame D’Antoni for taking a Knicks job that is almost certainly an uphill battle. But you can’t blame him for not taking the Bulls job.

As for Reinsdorf’s allegations, maybe D’Antoni did mislead the Bulls. Maybe he even flat-out lied to them. But that’s not the point.

The perception of the Bulls remains that they are a second-class organization who continue to rely on the Ben Wallace’s and Jim Boylan’s of the world while others compete for the Kevin Garnett’s, Pau Gasol’s and Mike D’Antoni’s.

That may be fair, it may not. But make no mistake that is the perception. And instead of playing the woe-is-me card and blaming D’Antoni, maybe the chairman should do something to convince Bulls fans that perception is false. Of course, that’s not happening:

“I can’t worry about perception,” Reinsdorf said. “I have to worry about making the right decision. This is a very critical hire. If you make a mistake, you set yourself back. Tim Floyd didn’t work out, Bill Cartwright. Scott Skiles, we thought we had a good one, but he’s gone with two years left on his deal. We’ve been set back.”

At least I can agree with one thing Reinsdorf said. The Bulls have been set back.

I got the call late last night. As a sports radio junkie, I knew there were rumors the Heat were looking into trading Shaquille O’Neal and that the Suns were a possible suitor. I literally laughed off the report of a Shaq for Shawn Marion trade, though.

Then my friend called and said it was real. ESPN’s Ric Bucher was reporting the teams agreed to the trade and the only hold-up was Shaq passing a physical. I still didn’t believe it, but the television and Internet confirmed it: my team had just traded away the perfect player for their system for a washed up, fat center. Oliver Miller, anyone?

The story of my allegiance to the Phoenix Suns franchise is a bit boring, so I won’t go into too many details. But basically, I grew up in a professional sports desert (Austin, TX) and I was a huge Kevin Johnson and Tom Chambers fan. When Barkley came to Phoenix in ‘92 I was hooked for life.

Until my team, the most entertaining team in the NBA, traded away the ultimate Mike D’Antoni power forward for a guy who won’t be able to run with Steve Nash or Leandro Barbosa. It’s enough to make me want to renounce my fanhood.

Living in Chicago for the last two-plus years, I realize it could be worse. Yes, I think this is an awful trade. But I also understand what the Suns are doing. They know they couldn’t beat the Spurs with their run and gun style. They knew the Lakers passed them up when they got Pau Gasol without giving up any of their rotation players not named Kwame Brown.

So, it’s a desperate attempt by my team, but it is an attempt.

I imagine the feeling I had last night is pretty similar to the feeling Bulls fans had on July 31 of last year, when they found out that not only was Kevin Garnett not being traded to Chicago, but that he was going to another Eastern Conference team - the Boston Celtics.

Or earlier this month, when Bulls fans found out they weren’t getting Gasol, a player the Bulls were rumored to be interested in going back to last season.

Before I pile on John Paxson too much, he’s not without his strengths. Paxson had a plan to build around successful, college players and he stuck with it. The result? He turned the Bulls from a 23-win team in 2003-04 into a team that has made the playoffs three years in a row.

Paxson did that almost entirely through the draft. In ‘03 he got Kirk Hinrich. In ‘04 he brought in Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Chris Duhon. In ‘06 they landed Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha and in ‘07 they drafted Joakim Noah. All safe, quality players that any team in the league would be thrilled to have.

But there are no superstars there. No Kevin Garnett, no Kobe Bryant, not even a Pau Gasol.

And that appears to be the problem with Paxson and the current Bulls management. It is clear they need a star and/or a low post threat, yet they continue to do nothing.

As good as Paxson has been at drafting, he’s shown no ability to take the Bulls to the next level through free agency or trades. His biggest signings have been bringing Scottie Pippen back to town (which failed miserably) and over-paying Ben Wallace. In four-plus years he’s traded away Jamal Crawford, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry for players that are no longer with the team. His only positive trade was stealing Luol Deng on draft day from my Phoenix Suns because our owner didn’t want to pay the luxury tax.

Now the trade deadline is two weeks away and it appears the Bulls are going to stand pat once again, hoping that if they can turn things around next year with this group of safe, low-ceiling players, they can once again be a middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference team.

So before I get too down on my team, I just have to look to the corner of Damen and Madison.

The Suns know they weren’t going to win a championship with the personnel they had, so they did something about it. Apparently, everyone except for Bulls management know they aren’t going anywhere this year and the team continues to do nothing. At least I’m not a Bulls fan.

You may not think it by looking at him, but Bulls coach Scott Skiles has been through a lot in his life. He grew up in a lower-class, blue-collar family, and later set the NBA’s all-time record for assists in a single game - 30. Recently he has been busy turning the Bulls around from perennial laughing stock to contender, or at least supposed contender. To gain more insight into the future of the Bulls, I thought it appropriate to first look back into the past to try and understand their coach.

Following a legendary high school basketball career in Indiana - winning the 1982 state championship - Skiles was inexplicably ignored by the in-state college programs, and went to Michigan State. He played for coach Jud Heathcote and made those Indiana coaches seem like fools. But after leading the Spartans to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since their 1979 championship as a junior, Skiles senior season almost never began.

What Skiles is probably most well-known for from his college days is his arrest for possession of ole’ Mary-Jane and Charlie. As it turns out, cops don’t like people carrying around marijuana and cocaine - go figure. To make it even easier on the police, Skiles was busted for drunk driving while still on probation.

Thankfully, the legal system in Indiana has its priorities in order. Charles Scruggs, Skiles’ lawyer had this to say following the sentence:

“This won’t interfere with his basketball at all.”

Obviously, basketball comes ahead of the due process.

It was a good thing the judge let him slide, though - his senior year he tore up the Big Ten, averaging 27.4 PPG, shooting 55% from the field, and adding 6.5 assists and 1.74 steals per contest. Those numbers were good enough to win him Conference MVP and First-Team All American honors. He scored more points that year than Magic ever did as a Spartan. Unfortunately, MSU lost in the Sweet Sixteen to a Danny Manning-led Kansas team that year.

Following his prison sentence, Skiles was selected #22 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1986 draft. His first few years in the league were fairly nondescript. It was not until his second season in Orlando, at age 26, that he really shined.

Playing with the young pair of Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson, Skiles went on a tear that year. He averaged 17 points, 8.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game on his way to winning the Most Improved Player of the Year award and his best year as a pro - on a terrible team.

Skiles played well for the next two seasons, and in ‘92-’93 led the franchise to their first .500 record at 41-41. It helped having rookie center Shaquille O’Neal, but Skiles had been the Magic’s first franchise player. It was during his Magic tenure that Skiles had the famous “fight” with the young Shaq.

Inexplicably, Skiles survived the fight; and despite their record, the Magic somehow landed one of the top picks and snagged Penny Hardaway out of Memphis the next year. Skiles stepped aside for the uber-talented Hardaway, but was on that year’s team and saw the franchise make the playoffs for the first time.

Skiles played two more years - one each for the Bullets and Philadelphia - before retiring at the age of 31. Perhaps Skiles’ NBA career is best summed up in this comment from TNT analyst Reggie Miller: “A very nice miller moment, Scott.”

Skiles would not stay away from the game for long, returning as head coach for the Phoenix Suns in the middle of the 1999-00 season, replacing future Celtics GM Danny Ainge.

Ironically, given that Penny Hardaway’s first year was the beginning of the end of Scott Skiles as a player, Skiles’ first year as coach was the beginning of the end of Hardway’s career.

Playing in 58 games that year, Hardaway averaged 16.8 points, a number he would never come close to again. Despite his youth, Skiles led the Suns all the way to the second round of the playoffs, where they lost to the first Kobe-Shaq Lakers Championship team.

The next year, while Hardaway slipped away, Shawn Marion was drafted and stepped in immediately at a high level. This may have been the first sign of Skiles’ ability to develop young talent. Despite being a rookie on a playoff team featuring All-Stars Jason Kidd and Clifford Robinson, Marion led the team in scoring and rebounding.

But the Suns played in a Western Conference that was pretty tough at the time. Despite their talent, they lost in the first round to the Jason Williams-Chris Webber Kings. The following off-season, the Suns made one of the worst trades ever - moving Jason Kidd for Stephan Marbury. There was not much Skiles could have done with the team, and he did not end up doing well. He was fired 51 games into the season, with a record of 25-26.

Despite barely being recruited out of high school, despite only playing in 2 NBA playoff games, despite getting fired by Phoenix, and despite being a hick from Indiana, Scott Skiles wins. It is just what he does. At MSU, as the best player at the school, he returned the team to the NCAA tournament after a prolonged absence. Playing in Orlando, he was the best player early on for an expansion franchise, and was part of them climbing the hill to .500 and reaching the playoffs. With Phoenix and the Bulls, he has won more than he’s lost. Every year he has been coach for a full season, he has made the playoffs.

What you see is what you get with Skiles. He will hold his players accountable, but that is only because he also holds himself to a higher standard, and will work harder than anyone. If you are willing to work, and actually want to improve, Scott Skiles is the coach for you. If you want to be lazy and fall back on talent and potential, it might not work - sorry Eddy.

All of this is well established. But Skiles’ only Championship came in high school, and that was a long time ago. Through hard work as a player and coach he has earned the respect of his peers - for his dedication, and knowledge of the game. The question now is - can he take the next step?

Taking a step back, being less hands-on and giving his players more responsibility is a move in the right direction. Just ask Ben Gordon:

“I think one thing I’ve seen from coach since I’ve been here, the first couple of years he was definitely on guys, because we were young and we kind of needed that. Now, he gives us a lot of freedom and with freedom comes a lot of responsibility. So we have to go out there and do our part. So I don’t think he’s what most people perceive him to be.”

At the end of the day, if he gets the Bulls’ ship righted and again leads them further into the playoffs, that perception will be positive - regardless of his mistakes or flaws.