http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/bask...ex.html?eref=T1 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Walsh entered the picture last Monday when he interviewed D'Antoni at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. That talk was sandwiched between D'Antoni's two interviews with Chicago Bulls general manager John Paxson, who spoke with the 2004-05 Coach of the Year on Sunday night and again on Monday morning in Phoenix. On Friday afternoon, at his home in Scottsdale, D'Antoni also talked to Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who has a home about 200 yards away from D'Antoni's. But in the end, Chicago couldn't match the New York offer. Walsh also interviewed Avery Johnson, early favorite Mark Jackson and Rick Carlisle, who has landed the Dallas Mavericks' opening.</div> Couldn't? No, wouldn't.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (o.iatlhawksfan @ May 10 2008, 02:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>So do you guyz go for Avary Johnson?</div> If he doesn't get any other offers by the time we get around to making a decision, and if he's willing to take minimum wage.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/bulls/2008/05/re...t_in_phoen.html <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>REINSDORF, D'ANTONI MET FRIDAY Sources have confirmed that Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and Mike D'Antoni, the man who wants to be the Bulls next head coach, met Friday night. The meeting was likely arranged in order for Reinsdorf to judge whether D'Antoni will be committed enough to the team's philosophy of defensive play that Reinsdorf could sign off on his hiring should general manager John Paxson decide D'Antoni is his man. Reports out of New York Friday had the Knicks ready to offer Mike D?€™Antoni a five-year contract worth approximately $30 million or more to become the team?€™s next coach. An ESPN report Saturday said the offer from the Knicks was four years and $24 million. But one of those same reports was wrong when it had the Bulls preparing to an offer to D?€™Antoni by Sunday. The Bulls have absolutely no plans to extend a contract to D?€™Antoni by this weekend according to those in the know, though parameters of an offer likely were discussed between Reinsdorf and D'Antoni Friday night. An offer of four years for $18-20 million from the Bulls is possible should they decide to sign D'Antoni. The Bulls, true to Paxson?€™s promise, remain without a timetable or deadline to find their next head coach. D?€™Antoni, who met with Paxson earlier in the week and is said to covet the Bulls?€™ job, but may have to decide to take an offer by the Knicks or wait until the Bulls ultimately decide whether to offer him a contract. What is certain is that D?€™Antoni will not be returning to the Phoenix Suns, who will owe him $8.5 million for the two years left on his current contract should D?€™Antoni not take another job. The Suns are not expecting D?€™Antoni?€™s situation to be resolved until Monday at the earliest. A source close to Avery Johnson?€™s situation said Paxson had to postpone an interview scheduled with Johnson, recently fired as coach of the Dallas Mavericks, due to a conflict. The Bulls have shown a willingness to reschedule but there is a sense that Johnson is serious about sitting out next season and collecting money from the Mavs, who would owe $12 million over the next three seasons if Johnson decides not to return to coaching. Johnson may also be waiting to see if the Atlanta Hawks will be in the market for a head coach once they hire a new general manager. Tom Thibodeau, Boston Celtics assistant, could also be interviewed by Paxson if a D'Antoni deal is not done soon.</div>
Can't really blame D'Antoni, I think the Knicks were offering him almost twice the amount Chicago was.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (such sweet thunder @ May 10 2008, 02:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Okay, new game. Pick SST a new team to follow. Anyone want to play? I'm leaning Portland.</div> I'm leaning Utah or NOH myself. Damn, this was something that really could have gotten my Bulls pulse racing again. Look for the NYK francise to be in much better shape than ours 3-4 years from now.
I'd go with New Orleans personally. But this is great news. No D'Antoni in Chicago! Apparently Paxson wasn't too keen on him. Paxson told D'Antoni they would have to bring in a top defensive assistant if they hired him, same thing Kerr tried to do, Paxson-D"Antoni was never going to work out. Things we've learned the last few days: 1. Paxson interviewed Tom Thibodeau in 2003. 2. Mike D'Antoni declined an offer to have Thibodeau on his staff last year. No surprise here. That means Avery Johnson or Tom Thibodeau will in all likelihood be the Bulls new head coach (Mark Jackson is the longshot). I'll take their brand of play any day. Our team would have been horrible trying to fastbreak, Gordon, with that pull up jumper, is the only one with a useful fastbreak scoring move. Thabo, Thomas, and Noah in theory could be great in a fastbreak offense, but have been horrible when we've tried to fastbreak here.
well I don't know if 24 mill over 4 years is a deal the Bulls should be looking at. I'm not sure too much on how great a coach D'Antoni is, just because of the players he had it's hard to determine how much involvement he had.
Lakers. PJax. I sorta feel like I owe him for something rare in my lifetime - championship Chicago teams... no, dynasty!
Paxson is inept. His supposed two main guys, Carlisle and D'Antoni, are snatched away before he even knows what happened. Ugh. Well, I guess he warned us. There is no timeframe and he is only looking for a "new vibe." Bush league.
I don't think Carlisle or D'Antoni were ever Paxson's 2 main guys. Carlisle was just the "good old boy" with JR. Paxson paid his dues by interviewing D'Antoni, but I figured we weren't going to sign him when Reindsorf went on the radio last week to specifically say that the franchise will only hire a coach that maintains the organization's philosophy of a strong defense. It seems like Paxson really likes Thibodeau (he already interviewed him once in 2003), and has interest in Michael Curry. If we go the established route, Avery Johnson always fit our philosphy a lot better than D'Antoni, and would be a better fit. Also saw Michael Cooper's name floated around somewhere the other day.
Honestly, I would've loved having D'Antoni as a coach. Paxson and Reins screws us once the hell again with their inability to decide or be quick. It's not just the fact that we aren't getting D'Antoni that makes me angry, it's the fact that Pax and the Bulls management think that deals are going to sit around and wait for them to decide on what it is they need. Our organization is failing because of the inability to be decisive. D'Antoni would have been a perfect fit here because even though he isn't necessarily a defensive coach, the Bulls do not need too much defensive coaching because they know how to defend pretty well with the exception of Ben Gordon for the most part, but he's learning and is becoming more effective. What we need is a coach that can help run our offense and D'Antoni's style would have helped develop our offensive rhythm. Ben Gordon would have flourished, Deng would have gotten alot better, and Hinrich as well. So all in all, thanks Pax and Reins, since we lost D'Antoni why don't we fu$$ around and lose Avery Johnson aswell.
My prediction is Pax and the new coach are fired from the Bulls in summer of 2010. Pax is getting lapped by the other teams.
You have to wonder what the calculus is here. On the P&L side, signing the guy for $6M seems like a loser. On the R side of the equation, if SST and others aren't the only ones to bail on the Bulls, less butts in the seats means less R. Could it possibly be that D'Antoni can't win a championship, in Pax's mind, and that's the sole (and enough of a) factor? Ummm..... NAH.
Well first off, Ben Gordon was our second best defender at guard last year, only behind Thabo Sefolosha. I am going to call BS that we will have a good defense because our players have defense embedded in them. We didn't play defense with Boylan as coach. We had Gordon playing defense hard against the opposing point guard, and Thabo on his man. But we had Kirk, Hughes, Nocioni, Deng all giving up tons of open threes because they didn't want to chase their guy out there. Nocioni played no defense whatsoever. Aaron Gray played some decent positional defense, but was slow. Thomas, Noah, and Gooden would have a pretty block now and then, but had no idea how to rotate defensively in the paint. Our defense was horrible, and outside of Gordon and Sefolosha, our players need a hell of a lot of instruction on the defensive end of the court. Now the obvious choices are get one of Avery Johnson of Tom Thibodeau. But if Thibodeau signs with Phoenix, and Johnson decides to sit the year out, what do our options look like? We will likely have Flip Saunders as a possible option, as Joe Dumars doesn't want to lose Michael Curry it seems (especially to a division rival no less...of course, Saunders might take a year off if he gets canned...but then again, if they are in the finals, they really can't can Saunders), but so then if not Saunders, then Curry. Tyrone Corbin is the other assistant available. Michael Cooper is always there, and Mark Jackson...although he doesn't have any experiecne. I think Jeff Van Gundy might come into play if this happens...someone said if the Bulls wanted him, he could be convinced to come back to coaching (despite saying he will not for family reasons). My list right now is: 1. Avery Johnson 2. Tom Thibodeau 3. Jeff Van Gundy 4. Michael Cooper 5. Michael Curry 6. Tyrone Corbin Although I would be very disappointed if we didn't have one of the top 4.
