Hey, the Bulls are on today

July 7th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

The NBA summer league is not all that important to anyone. I doubt even Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley will deem it important tonight, though maybe they will. Who knows. What I do know is that while most teams sit almost everyone of interest while the most marginal of NBA players get 35 minutes a game, the Bulls are different. They have a new coach with no experience, a team full of young athleticism, and oh yeah, Derrick Rose.

In other words, the Bulls’ summer league is going to be pretty cool.

Today — the game starts at 4 p.m. central, streaming here — I’m predicting four things:

1. Derrick Rose will look every bit as fast as he did in college.
2. Tyrus Thomas will do one amazing thing, and one incredibly stupid thing.
3. Joakim Noah will scream at least five times.
4. Vinny Del Negro won’t even try to call a play.

If those four things happen, we might have Nadal-Federer-level genius at hand. Or not.

Cautious excitement, Vinny Del Negro-style

June 12th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Every time I’ve talked about the Vinny Del Negro hiring, I’ve said at least one thing: I’m confused, but cautiously excited. It seems to entirely possible to me that Del Negro is Mike D’Antoni Lite — someone who learned everything he needs to know from Seven Seconds Or Less, and who wants to defend in the interim. Some sort of sneaky rogue pilfering ideas from his genius co-workers. I will take this pilferer, and gladly.

After his press conference yesterday, that caricature sounds an awful lot like reality. Check out these quotes:

“Do I feel totally prepared right now? No,” he said. “And that bothers me. But by the time those decisions need to be made, I will be.”

Means: I have little more than a philosophy. D’Antoni didn’t show me any inbounds plays. I’m working on it.

“If you look at greatness in any sport, all great teams have defensive resolve,” he said. “What I like tremendously about this roster is looking at Thabo [Sefolosha] and Tyrus [Thomas] and [ Joakim] Noah, they’re all versatile guys we would have loved to have had in the draft in Phoenix. They have versatility and can play and defend two or three positions.

Means: I know we have good defensive players on this roster, and I plan to use them. If you think Tyrus Thomas isn’t hard enough to start, you’re dead wrong. I like youth. I’m mentioning these guys by name for a reason — they’re going to play. A lot.

“Offensively, there’s no question my philosophy is to play the game fast and quick. With young players, they have a tendency to try to play fast but be in a hurry. They have to take their time. When you play fast, there’s an unpredictability to basketball that makes it exciting and interesting. We’re going to have to get the percentages in our favor with the unpredictability. But the defensive resolve, we’ll start with and try to play at a fast pace and put players in positions to succeed.”

Means: We’re not going to play fast just to play fast. There’s going to be order. But the minute I have Derrick Rose in my clutches, I will let him go. I will put players in a position to succeed, not succeed for them. I AM D’ANTONI DISTILLED.

“Obviously, you have to be a disciplinarian, but my style also will be to put my arms around them and take them to lunch and talk to them,” Del Negro said. “These are young players who need guidance. Just because you draft players at a high position and they wear the Chicago Bulls jersey doesn’t mean all of a sudden they’re professionals. It takes time.”

Means: Skiles was too mean to these fragile young minds. I believe the children are our future. You must occasionally touch them in reassuring fashion; none of this break-em-down-to-build-em-up stuff. I look forward to our first team campout. I’ll bring s’mores.

I like pretty much all of the above. If Vinny Del Negro is who he says he is, this could be the start of a long and prosperous professional relationship. Vinny has a vision. It’s just a bit blurry, is all.

Vinny Del Negro is not a magician

June 11th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

The Bulls unveiled their new never-coached-before head coach, Vinny Del Negro, with an introductory presser this afternoon. And he had this to say about his inexperience:

“I think that [question is] fair,” he said. “I haven’t coached before. But like I said before, as people get to know me and we get this team going in the right direction, winning builds confidence. There’s a young team here and they need some confidence.

“I’m not a magician, it will take time.

“It’s a huge challenge, but I feel very confident with people around me and the support staff I have. I can control three things: I know this team will be well-conditioned, well-prepared and competitive. It will compete at a high level.”

The good here that’s not expressed within these quotes: Del Negro seems to want to focus on defense and  implementing an up-tempo offense. Which with Derrick Rose likely on his way to Chicago, this is a very good thing. The bad here? Vinny Del Negro is not a magician.

Which, as anyones knows, is essential to head coaching success in the NBA. If you can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat, you can’t make grown men play as a cohesive unit. We are doomed. Eternally, eternally doomed.

Vinny Del Negro: Um, OK

June 9th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

It’s official, or at least as official as Doug Collins was last week. Which is to say, not really all that official. Still: Vinny Del Negro is the new coach of the Chicago Bulls.

In scanning that Tribune story, I kept waiting for a paragraph or two about Del Negro’s basketball philosophy. Is he a yeller? A teacher? A runner? A squatter? (A joker? A smoker?) Will he work well with some minor internal strife? Will he utilize Derrek Rose appropriately? What the hell will this man do?

That paragraph never came, not until this at the end:

Little is known about his basketball philosophy since he never has coached before. Del Negro interviewed for the Suns’ coaching job that Terry Porter landed on Saturday, but failed to make Kerr’s list of four finalists.

Well then. No one knows, apparently except John Paxson and Jerry Reinsdorf and Del Negro himself. The one thing we do know about Del Negro is that he’s never coached anywhere before. He has literally no experience. Since he was promoted from his radio gig in Phoenix, he’s always been a front-office guy. So instead of hiring him as an assistant, or as a special advisor to the general manager, the Bulls make him the head coach.

That sounds about right.

Update: Watson just messaged me with this question. This is basically a more concise version of the above.

Matthew: let’s play a game. i say a word or phrase, and you tell me the first thing that pops into your mind:

vinny del negro
go!

me: hair

Needless to say, that word was not “coach.”