Bulls Hire Vinny Del Negro as Head Coach, Official, real, actually happened, true, yes. Options

[Balta1701-B]

Link. Third reported hiring's a charm, eh?

The Bulls have offered their head coaching job to Vinny Del Negro, which the Suns' assistant general manager is prepared to accept, sources said Monday.

A news conference officially announcing Del Negro as the 17th coach in franchise history is expected this week.

Del Negro, who has no previous coaching experience, first interviewed for the job on Thursday and quickly shot ahead of Kings assistant Chuck Person and former Minnesota coach Dwane Casey.

Those two candidates had second interviews with Bulls management, including team Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, last week. When Doug Collins withdrew from consideration for the job on Friday, signs started pointing to Del Negro.

[Steve9347]

He's my favorite of the favorites.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

F.U.C.K!

[Cowch]

What the hell? Never coached? Well, I hope he works well with young guys.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

I hope Pax knows what he's doing on this one. I guess I need to get to know more about this guy, maybe he turns out but I felt like Casey would have been the best choice. Oh well.. I'm wondering since Del Negro (Former Pg) means Rose..?

[soxfan3530]

Well, not my first, second or third choice for that matter, but good luck vinny!

[Balta1701-B]

What the hell? Never coached? Well, I hope he works well with young guys.

I have absolutely no problem with hiring a person who's never coached before if he's the right guy. I was pretty much thinking going for a guy who hasn't been in the big chair before was going to be the right call before this marathon began, and in the end I can't complain about that. An assistant might have worked better in theory, but without having met the guy, learned about him, went through the roster with him, etc., I have no way to say. But I have difficulty thinking that it's a terrible idea to pick up a first time head coach who played several years with the Spurs in the mid 90s.

[DutheDoduhon21]

i know absolutly nothing about this guy, never even heard of him till his name came up in the coaching search. if pax sees him as the best canidate i hope hes right. he oviously saw something in him, to put him over casey and person.

[dasox24]

Well, this hire is pretty much going to define Paxson's stay here as our GM. If he doesn't get this one right and we suck, then he's gone. But, I hope Vinny is the right guy b/c we really need to take it to that next level. If he was too inexperienced for Kerr to hire, and he was Kerr's right-hand man in PHX, then that does somewhat worry me somewhat b/c you'd think Kerr would know him better than anyone. Then again, maybe he just didn't fit what Kerr wanted to do with the team...

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

I was listening to Sam Smith on CTL (and consider the source) he was saying that Del Negro was like Paxson which suggests smart basketball, tough defense and he thinks he may try to implement the Phoenix style of offense because he scouted players that would fit into their system. Sam then went on to say that he would look at only players that fit into the fast pace system so that would be a good reason to believe when we draft Rose, Del Negro may bring the offense with him. The fact is, nobody knows much about this guy because he's never coached before..

[TeaLeafReaderII]

vinny del negro eh?

Bios and stuff will probably coming in the papers... is this guy a former point guard?

Right now, only thing I know for sure is that his name is pretty cool.

[GreatScott82]

Sometimes its a good thing to bring in some fresh blood. But it worries me that he has no previous coaching experience... Supposely he works great with young guys, thats probably a good thing saying we currenrly have the youngest team in the NBA. It will be fun to say his name... COACH VINNY D! At least we can now focus on the up coming draft, free agency and trades.

[eddog2]

I think Del Negro will do fine but I really would have liked to give Tom Thibbedeu a chance. I think Tom as Head Coach and Vinny as Assistant Coach would have been nice but I think Jerry was scared that the price for Tom would be too high especially if they won the title. Anyway, it is what it is.

As for Del Negro, his game reminded me somewhat of Manu Ginobili's except that Ginobili was a better scorer. Vinny had a similar hustle game without all the flopping. He was a good passer and a good outside shooter. He even somewhat looked like Ginobili but with more hair when he played. He was a player that made the most of his ability. He was more of a SG than a PG but he did pass the ball well.

Anyway, I think he can be successful. He's young (turning 42) and I think he'll be more relaxed and really try to teach our team instead of trying to beat them into submission like Skiles. I'm hoping his hiring means we are hiring Rose. I think he could really help our guards become better players. I'm really interested to see who we add as an our Assistant Coaches.

The clip below was from his playing days in Europe. He and Kukoc (I'm assuming Toni Kukoc) were on the same team and they won the championship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jVuVO-QXsk

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

As for Del Negro, his game reminded me somewhat of Manu Ginobili's except that Ginobili was a better scorer. Vinny had a similar hustle game without all the flopping. He was a good passer and a good outside shooter. He even somewhat looked like Ginobili but with more hair when he played. He was a player that made the most of his ability. He was more of a SG than a PG but he did pass the ball well.

Haaa, you were thinking that too? As soon as I saw him in a Spurs jersey I thought he looked alot like Manu. Thats pretty funny.

[dasox24]

I was listening to Sam Smith on CTL (and consider the source) he was saying that Del Negro was like Paxson which suggests smart basketball, tough defense and he thinks he may try to implement the Phoenix style of offense because he scouted players that would fit into their system. Sam then went on to say that he would look at only players that fit into the fast pace system so that would be a good reason to believe when we draft Rose, Del Negro may bring the offense with him. The fact is, nobody knows much about this guy because he's never coached before..

I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about the offensive system Del Negro will run. That will be a big part of how I end up viewing this signing for the time being. I think we have to assume he'll bring a strong defensive philosophy to the team, but if he also runs a style of offense like what D'Antoni did in Phoenix, I think that would be great for us.