Merry Christmas!

I doubt anyone's surprised that Scott Skiles got fired, but doing it on Christmas Eve just seems mean. What's more, the team was actually improving -- they started 2-10 and they're 9-16 now, so the new coach may well wind up getting credit for an improvement that was already happening.

Meanwhile, John Paxson might want to consider firing himself. I supported the Ben Wallace signing at the time, but it obviously hasn't worked out very well. But trading away Tyson Chandler for nothing never made sense on any level. Then I've never heard of a team flirting with so many deals to acquire a superstar and then come away with nothing.

Comments

As much as I liked Ben Wallace here in Detroit I was glad the Pistons didn't match the Bulls offer. I already knew that the all work, no ego characterization of Ben was at least half wrong but we found we had to sit him late in the game or run a four man offense.

Posted by LowLife | December 24, 2007 5:43 PM

If anybody deserves to get fired on Christmas Eve, its Skiles. Well, Jerry Sloan probably deserves it more, but he ain't getting fired anytime soon.

Posted by too many steves | December 24, 2007 5:46 PM

While I agree the Christmas Eve timing is weak, it isn't unprecedented; as one of the Tribune writers recalled today, the Bulls did the same when cutting the beloved Artis Gilmore twenty-some years ago.

That the Bulls have improved lately may be an arguable point. The record is a little better. But the fact is the last three games they've been blown out--games where they looked listless, if not utterly disinterested--and I believe they get the Spurs next. Of course, the problems aren't all Skiles' fault. Has he put a spell on Ben Gordon and Kirk Hindrich that prevents them from hitting jump shots by the dozen? Did he build a team with a power forward at center? But you know how these things work.

Posted by KC45s | December 24, 2007 5:48 PM

Here's another story of Christmas layoffs.

Posted by Dan Kervick | December 24, 2007 5:52 PM

"I doubt anyone's surprised that Scott Skiles got fired, but doing it on Christmas Eve just seems mean."

A little balance, please.

It's Christmas for Ben Wallace's headband too.

Posted by Petey | December 24, 2007 6:00 PM

As far as I know, Skiles is getting the rest of his $4 million/year salary for this season and the next one as well, so it's not like he's spending Xmas looking at a check for two weeks' severance pay and wondering how he's going to feed his family when that runs out.

Posted by Swopa | December 24, 2007 6:15 PM

It's Christmas for Ben Wallace's headband too.

Nah. The headband has been around all season.

Posted by Al | December 24, 2007 6:32 PM

"The headband has been around all season."

Yup. But it's still going to be a very merry christmas for the headband now.

It's a merry christmas for Tyrus Thomas too.

Posted by Petey | December 24, 2007 6:40 PM

"I supported the Ben Wallace signing at the time, but it obviously hasn't worked out very well. But trading away Tyson Chandler for nothing never made sense on any level."

They traded Chandler away to create cap space for Wallace's contract.

In real world terms, Chicago basically traded Chandler for Wallace, which was a stupid deal.

Posted by Petey | December 24, 2007 6:42 PM

Christmas eve firing, the Al Davis Special.

Posted by Kevin | December 24, 2007 6:58 PM

I don't know, I think this works out pretty well for Skiles--better than if they'd been "nice" and fired him after the holidays. He presumably knew his days were numbered. Now he can stop waiting for the ax to fall and spend Christmas and New Year's with his family and friends (I assume he has a family and/or friends).

The alternative was spending the holiday week dragging his soon-to-be-fired ass and his bad team to San Antonio the day after Christmas, then back to Chicago, then to New York, then back to Chicago for an afternoon game Dec. 31.

There are worse ways to spend Christmas than as a millionaire with no work to do.

Posted by JB | December 24, 2007 7:48 PM

The reason why holiday firings happen so often is so that the high profile coach can avoid both abrasive and negative press coverage.

Posted by thehova | December 24, 2007 8:08 PM

I apologize.

JB made the point before and better than I did.

Posted by thehova | December 24, 2007 8:11 PM

and yet Issiah is still coaching . . .

Posted by nattyb | December 24, 2007 9:18 PM

Scott Skiles is the new Dave Dinkins

Posted by Comment | December 24, 2007 9:35 PM

I suddenly recall this Freedarko post from March 2007, quite prescient now:

Posted by nbt | December 25, 2007 12:31 AM

You do realize that many of your readers haven't a clue what you're on about? A hint, appropriately placed in the headline, would be nice.

Posted by KathyF | December 25, 2007 1:49 AM

Skiles fired but Paxton stays? Crazy.

The Kobe trade talk really got into the players heads - that and not signing them to long term deals.

Paxton is an idiot for not giving up Deng and getting Kobe. Now, he couldn't swing that deal if he tried.

Fact is, the Bulls just aren't that good, no matter who the coach is. A team full of jump shooters is not gonna win in the NBA, not even if you had Steve Nash running the point.

Bulls were always overrated.

Unfortunately, Skiles might be better off coaching college, where players still listen to the coach.

Ben Wallace is a bum and his career is over.

Tyrus Thomas is hugely talented but a knob, sort of a numbskull.

What to do now? Try to get overpaid Gasol? Probably the best move...too bad it's too late for Kobe...

Posted by TheCarpetMuncher | December 25, 2007 2:00 AM

"I suddenly recall this Freedarko post from March 2007, quite prescient now"

That's a great post.

I think pretty much everyone who loves the association isn't too fond of Skiles. My favorite bit from that post (and there are plenty of good ones):

Scott Skiles could have been many things. I mean, with that court vision, that sense of floor leadership, that never-quit attitude? And with that personality!? Sheeeeeeeit, String! He could have been a credit card collections agent, a Department of Corrections officer or maybe even a semi-professional animal torturer.

Posted by Petey | December 25, 2007 2:05 AM

"Tyrus Thomas is hugely talented but a knob, sort of a numbskull."

Isn't it odd how every young player who Skiles has ridden is a numbskull? Doncha remember how all the Bulls fans thought Chandler had to go since he was a numbskull?

Perhaps the real numbskull just got fired.

Posted by Petey | December 25, 2007 2:08 AM

KathyF: reading the first sentence was too much effort for you?

Posted by Thlayli | December 25, 2007 5:33 AM

Being a Bull fan in the Jordan years was sport fan heaven and the sports gods demand a generation, at least, of hell in return.Even the whiff of respectability the last two years was more than we deserved.

Sam Smith Chi Trib Bull beat writer gives a pretty good picture of how this came down.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-071224samsmithscottskileschicagobullsfired,1,5204384.column

Posted by rapier | December 25, 2007 8:17 AM

Sorry to make a completely un-original point, but it is kinda on topic ...

when a team does poorly or a business or what have you -- people demand the severed head of the lead coach, the CEO, or whomever is in charge on a platter, whether or not that person actually had anything to do with what went wrong (e.g. the business does poorly because of an entirely unforeseen drought).

Yet, when something happens to the US as a whole, we are supposed to rally behind the President? Back in 9/11 many of the same people urging us to stand behind GW Bush would have taken the exact opposite tack about any other leader faced with a disaster. Why the difference?

Posted by DAS | December 25, 2007 10:13 AM

As a Bulls fan, I was surprised to hear of Skiles' firing, but my immediate gut feeling was that it was ultimately a good thing, a hopeful sign.

After mulling everything over, though, I realize that it makes little difference now. This team does not have enough talent and has no future in terms of making anything close to a Finals or championship run. Might as well tear it up and start from scratch. Even a trade for Kobe would have left them too thin to accomplish much.

Paxson's rebuilding program started out well, but the fatal error was hiring Skiles in the first place and giving him too much influence over personnel decisions.

What would the current team have looked like with Curry and Chandler up front (minus Wallace and Thomas)? Pretty damn good, I think, but we'll never know. Sure, they never became the stars they were expected to be, but why give up two talented 7-footers for virtually nothing? Because they couldn't coexist with Skiles, who doesn't seem to realize that you need talent and size, not just floor burns, to go deep into the playoffs.

This team is doomed for the foreseeable future. Sad, because there were high hopes here for a successful rebuilding. Paxson had the power to make the final decisions and has to take the ultimate blame, but Skiles' tenure as coach was the tipping point leading to the collapse of those hopes.

Posted by JK | December 25, 2007 1:42 PM

for the record, some of us noted, at the time, that signing wallace was a mistake since he was past his prime, and the rest noted that singing wallace as a replacement for chandler was silly, which is to say that there two perfectly obvious reasons to question the deals.

what i don't remember is why matthew thought wallace to the bulls was a good idea....

Posted by howard | December 25, 2007 9:05 PM