Bulls Need to Land Right Coach

Sean Deveney - SportingNews.com

The firing of Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro on Tuesday came as no surprise. Del Negro, after all, has been a lame duck for months now, despite a respectable 82-82 record and two playoff appearances against some pretty long odds. He showed himself to be a so-so coach who got better as he went on, which is to be expected for a guy who entered the job with zero coaching experience. But the move to dump Del Negro wasn't really about how much he'd gotten done on the court. This was a move as much about July 1-that's the start of the free-agent season-as about the regular season.

If you are, say, Joe Johnson, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh, you're not going to be particularly pumped up to come play for a lightweight like Del Negro. He might not have hurt the team's chances at luring a big-name player, but he wasn't going to help much. Del Negro isn't a household name, unless you live in the Del Negro household.

On Tuesday, general manager Gar Forman was asked whether free-agent appeal will be a consideration when the team replaces Del Negro. " src="http://images.military.com/pics/basketball_del_negro.jpg" align=left P < summer.? this on going things other have we mind, your of back the in obviously But that. be will concentration my So personnel. our fits and team that find can coach best absolute to it want I about don?t search, coaching out go as ?But said. he do,? factor, a it?s think>

It had better be a factor. Forman said he would not commit to having a coach in place before the start of free agency, but that makes little sense. The Bulls will have $20 million in cap space this summer, and they had to work hard to create it, giving up the team's top perimeter threats (Ben Gordon last summer, John Salmons this February) and the No. 4 overall pick in the 2006 draft (Tyrus Thomas).

Now, Chicago must do all it can to make sure this summer goes just right, including pick the right coach. With more and more players rumored to be leaning toward staying put (LeBron James, Wade, Johnson), the Bulls risk having created cap space and being unable to use it, as in 2000, when they took their shot at Tracy McGrady and wound up with Ron Mercer.

Still, with the cap space and a roster based around point guard Derrick Rose and center Joakim Noah, the Bulls do present one of the more promising opportunities for coaches poking around the league's vacant jobs-it's a better gig than, say, the Nets or Sixers, or even the Hornets. That's sure to be noticed by top candidates like Avery Johnson, Byron Scott, Doug Collins or even Kentucky coach John Calipari.

"I know there's been a lot of talk about free agency," Forman said, "and what I can tell you is that what I believe is the biggest asset you can have is cap room and financial flexibility, because what those things give you is the ability to get better. We feel we've put ourselves in that position, and we feel we have a chance to get better."

The chance is there. But the coach must come first.

Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com.

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