KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune wrote a piece today the other day about the Bull’s search for a new head coach. He believes Rick Carlisle is high up on the list:
Paxson said in Milwaukee on Monday he would meet with Boylan and his staff Thursday, with even players assuming Boylan won’t be retained. If that likely scenario occurs, look for Paxson to move quickly with interviews for potential replacements.
Rick Carlisle worked in Portland with John’s brother, Jim, who serves as a Bulls consultant. Jim has stayed close with Carlisle, who also interviewed for the Bulls’ coaching vacancy when then-general manager Jerry Krause hired Tim Floyd. Carlisle also is rumored to be a candidate for the expected vacancy in Milwaukee, so the Bulls might have to act fact if they desire to hire Carlisle.
Other names mentioned in the article were Larry Brown, Mark Jackson and Tom Thibodeau.
Rick Carlisle is a very attractive coaching candidate and exactly the type of personnel that Paxson likes to hire – reliable, experienced, talented. That said I’m not convinced he’s a step forward, he’s basically the re-incarnation of Scott Skiles. Carlisle is a control freak that wears on his players. In both Detroit and Indiana his communication skills with his players was heavily criticized. Carlisle isn’t progress, he’s just a safe choice that can Chicago some amount of it’s dignity back. But he isn’t the man to change their squad’s style of play. He isn’t the man that’ll win over the hearts and minds of his players. He’s a stop gap signing.
I don’t envy John Paxson’s decision. He’s stuck between a rock and a hard place right now and there’s no clear direction to right the situation. The Bulls desperately need to regain some semblance of stability, the best and the quickest way to achieve that is by making a head coaching appointment. However, choosing the right man for the job is going to be extremely difficult, perhaps the most difficult decision of summer across the association.
The Bulls have lost their players, the team’s performances in the second half of the season were wild. You couldn’t depend on them for anything. On any given night any team could show up. They sorely need a head coach that can galvanize and bring together the troopsm, to get them to play as a unit again, to give consistency of effort and execution.
But where do you go for a head coach? What direction? What style of coach? What changes can benefit the team?
Chicago still has no post game. Nothing that Tyrus Thomas has shown so far is enough to convince the Bulls that they can depend on him to be the answer next season. Chicago can’t become a run and gun team because run and gun teams need a point guard who can run the fastbreak. Chicago’s own announcers snicker at the thought of Hinrich leading the charge. He simply doesn’t have the creativity required to get the job done. Ben Gordon is no better. They could run their offense through the high post and utilitize Noah’s passing better but none of the other Bulls big men are quality passers. Gooden is the best jump shooter and Tyrus has shown some progress but not enough to convince anyone they should be spending more time away from the hoop. It’ll also hinder Ben Gordon who needs to dominate the ball to open up his scoring. He’s not going to light up 20 a night moving off the ball for layups, that’s not his game. The truth is that there is no discernable style of play that openly screams out as an open and shut solution for the team.
Then comes another truth. Chicago might be playing their best game plan already. Here’s another truth, a controlling coach might be the best thing for this roster. They don’t have the post scoring or the prolific one-on-one scorers to get away with poor execution. Kirk Hinrich doesn’t have the ingenuity to be a full time playmaker. He’s far more effective fulfilling a coach’s orders than creating his own off the bounce. A controlling coach would help him and make their offense more effective.
It’s a tough decision. No matter his decision their’s a decent chance that John Paxson will either alienate or limit half his roster. That’s tough to take, especially when there’s no clear cut answer or future direction to guide him.
