Skiles pondering lineup changes, Gordon to Bench, Sef to inactive list? Options

[Balta1701-B]

Doesn't it seem like every year, after about 4-5 games of Gordon struggling, we wind up sticking him on the bench until he finds his shot? Seriously, what's with this dude? Why in the world can't we ever get a good November out of him?

And Sefalosha to the inactive list in exchange for Gardner and Griffin...that sure ought to send a message to anyone who thinks that our SG spot would be covered just fine if we had to trade Gordon. Right now, they're saying Thabo isn't even good enough to be on the 12 man roster.

A busy Monday at the Berto Center featured a 3-hour-10-minute practice, a players-only meeting and Bulls coach Scott Skiles looking at lineup changes.

Beyond all that, one comment stood out.


"After what happened right before training camp with all the [Kobe Bryant] rumors out there, to start more would be a really bad thing," general manager John Paxson said. "I'm not going there."

In other words, it's on the current batch of players to dig themselves out of this mess — for now.

"I evaluate every day," Paxson continued. "Time will tell what direction we need to go."

A lengthy players-only meeting called by Adrian Griffin is a start. So are lineup changes, with players confirming Skiles began looking at some of several different combinations in the first of three practice days before a six-game trip begins Thursday night in Phoenix.

"We're not going to do anything crazy," Skiles said. "But is 1-5 the right time? 1-9? It's not even so much the record. It's the way we've played. This is different than wanting to hold, say, two guys accountable or anything like that.

"We have to find a way to get shocked out of our malaise. It's probably going to have to come initially from me and then see what happens."

At least one known lineup under consideration features guard Ben Gordon coming off the bench, according to players.

Skiles also said he would revisit the inactive list, with both Griffin and Thomas Gardner likely to be activated. That could mean struggling second-year guard Thabo Sefolosha could get an unwanted break.

"Our spacing hasn't been good," Skiles said. "So a change may be something that hopefully provides us more spacing. The other thing is we have to get better bench performances. If that means I have to take somebody out of the lineup because I like them matching up against some second-unit guys, then that's an element too."