Skiles Out as Bulls Coach
The Bulls pulled the trigger on Scott Skiles the day before Christmas, giving the coach a pink slip for the holidays. Chicago is in last place in their division with a 9-16 record. It’s not the first time that the team has started off slow. The past two years have seen the team get off to horrendous records, only to catch fire as the season wore on. If they are to do that this year, it will be with a new coach.
Skiles molded the team into a grind-it-out, blue-collar team with no superstars, but who won with solid defense, ball control, and opportune scoring. The team is certainly better off today than it was when he took over in 2003. He and GM, John Paxon, brought in loads of young talent, cut the dead wood, and made the playoffs the next year, winning 47 games. Unfortunately, that seemed to be just about the ceiling on how far the team could go. The next year was another rebuilding one, followed by last year’s 49 wins, and then the current debacle.
Whoever takes over next will inherit a team with lots of young talent, and if needed, a trade could be worked out rather quickly with a number of teams for a disgruntled superstar, if that’s the decision.
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