MVN - Most Valuable Network

The crying of the Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are crying that Mike D’Antoni has taken the Knicks job, and Jerry Reinsdorf is now calling him rude, because he didn’t return his phone call. The Bulls had the best chance of signing him because of a myriad of reasons. The reason the Bulls didn’t get Mike D’Antoni is because they never made an offer. The Bulls are mad that D’Antoni didn’t wait for their offer, but everyone knows that the Bulls would have offered less then what he was making at Phoenix.

For Reinsdorf to make a public comment like he did about D’Antoni is the true definition of rude. Here’s what Jerry Reinsdorf said, “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.”

Why would he wait? John Paxson was busy interviewing all sorts of people for the job and he said he wanted to wait to talk to Tom Thibodaux of Boston and potentially Michael Curry of Detroit. Paxson said he wanted to get opinions of his team from a group of sources. Pardon me, but I thought that’s what a GM is supposed to do. Shouldn’t Paxson have his own opinion on what needs to be done?

The Bulls were trying to get D’Antoni to wait so they could get him for less money. If the Knicks had announced Mark Jackson as their coach, instead of D’Antoni, how much would have D’Antoni gotten from the Bulls? Mike D’Antoni said, “It’s not about the money”, and I believe him. Is there anyone that really believes the Bulls were going to offer D’Antoni anything close to what the Knicks offered? The answer is a resounding NO! Once again the Bulls have missed the boat and are blaming everyone but themselves. In their comments, they do their best to put down the Knick franchise and D’Antoni, while deflecting all criticism from them. All the Bulls had to do was make an offer, and once again they failed to do that; much like they failed to make an adequate offer for Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol when they were on the market.

John Paxson is the Teflon GM as nothing negative sticks to this guy. He and Reinsdorf put out propaganda to cover their inadequacies and people in Chicago buy it like nickel beer. Listen to this comment by Jerry Reinsdorf, “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.”

Jerry’s funny, when he says he won’t deal with D’Antoni’s agent, why not Jerry? Do you think he might leak it to the press like your low ball offers to Phil Jackson a few years ago?

Every player on the Bulls was texting and leaving messages to Paxson about their interest in D’Antoni coaching Chicago next year. The really wanted to play for him, because his style fits their style. Two years ago, they were a feared defensive team, with D’Antoni taking the offense to a new level; next season could have been big in Chicago.

When asked about why he didn’t make an offer, here was Reinsdorf response, “I assumed we’d have to go four years,” Reinsdorf said. “We gave Scott Skiles four years. That’s kind of the going rate for coaches now. And money isn’t an issue. Believe me; we can afford to pay coaches. Even if Skiles hadn’t spread his money out (over four years), we can afford to pay top coaches. And we were prepared to do so.”

No one doubts the Bulls can afford to pay top coaches. They are definitely capable, but not so willing to part with the money. In the aftermath, after everyone in Chicago says why isn’t Mike D’Antoni here. The poor fans get to read this garbage.

Everyone from Chicago tells me that the Bulls aren’t cheap; after all, they did pay Michael Jordan 30 million dollars a year in the 90’s. Keep in mind that before his agent got him the 30 million dollar payday, MJ was making 3.85 million a year.

I always though that Paxson was the problem but apparently, he is one of Reinsdorf’s greatest hires, “John’s one of the better decisions I’ve made,” he said. “I have total confidence in John. He’s done a great job and he’s an even better person.”

My guess is, Mike D’Antoni is the last person Paxson wanted in Chicago. That’s why he paid little interest to him as a candidate. It was the Bulls players and the press that put pressure on Paxson, eventually leading to Reinsdorf’s involvement. In the end, the Bulls are trying to save face after another blunder. I guess it’s all Mike D’Antoni’s and the Knicks fault again. Look for the Bulls to hire Tom Thibodeaux or Mark Jackson for roughly 1.5 -2 million per year. Also look for Luol Deng and Ben Gordon to get minimum offers and be unrestricted free agents next year. The Bulls fans will brag about how far they are under the cap, and how Pax is going to acquire that scoring Power Forward…Tyrus Thomas is still growing…and Dwyane Wade….

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am and is filed under Police, Georgia, Brian Cook, Andrei Kirilinko, Valdosta Daily Times, DJ Mbenga, Maurice Lucas, Wes Unseld, Rick Mahorn, Rony Turiaf, Amare Stoudamire, Pacific, Portland, Jerry Buss, Chris Mihm, Charles Oakley, Oden, Kings, Greece, NBDL, Elton Brown, ed ziti, Lee Riley, The Winner Within, Dallas, New Orleans, Stu Lantz, Aaron Jay Sapiro, Mavericks, free throws, Shaun Powell, Josh Tucker, referees, fouls, Javaris Crittenton, Jordan Farmar, Maurice Evans, Hornets, Bob Nightengale, Church, Willis Reed, Bets, Don Marbury, Vladimir Radmanovic, line, Betting, Colorado, Gambling, Larry Bird, Knicks, Smush Parker, Leandro Barbosa, Sacramento, Larry Brown, Grant Hill, Pau Gasol, New York, NCAA, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Eddy Curry, Isiah Thomas, Rockies, Mike Dunleavy, Indiana Pacers, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, Andrew Bynum, Luke Walton, Reggie Theus, Pat Riley, DJ Strawberry, Jackie Butler, Rick Adelman, Sasha Vujacic, Coby Karl, Trevor Ariza, Mitch Kupchak, Lakers, Ira Newble, St Johns, Don Nelson, Jerry Sloan, Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom, Baron Davis, Avery Johnson, Derek Fisher, Shawn Marion, Raja Bell, Devean George, Los Angeles Lakers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.