Hopefully his departure will bring about a return to the winning culture that was once the cornerstone of Chicago sports.

Damn, didnt see this coming.
Paxson, you need to point some fingers at yourself as well. You didnt give him the proper pieces.

OMG OMG I LOVE JOHN PAXSON, SKILES IS FINALLY GONE!! THANK YOU!! OMG WHAT A MERRY CHRISTMAS!! MORE TYRUS!!

I kinda saw this happening because after two months this season he could not get a good rotation going and that has been what has hurt us this year. Beacuse of this i could see paxson shipping some guys out like hinrich because hinrich was like his jason kidd in pheonix a few years ago and would not let him be traded. Also this could be why deng has not developed into the stud that we all think he can be. I see alot of things happening to his team till the trade deadline.

This tells me that people on the team have gone to Pax and asked for Skiles to be fired. It also says that they were tuning him out all year long, which was evident by their lack of team play this year. I am afraid to see who they hire, because I don't know if anyone else will get the same amount out of this level of talent.

On Christmas Eve? That is low. They couldn't have done it yesterday?

I don't know how much that is going to change anything though? The players are the ones not producing.

Now lets get a young coach that likes to run and can teach big men!!

i dont agree with this, i dont think he was the problem, pax didnt give him enough pieces to succeed, and i especially disagree with it being right before x-mas, thats horrible.

I don't mind the timing at all. You gotta do what you gotta do. Gosh, if only Rick Adelman was still available.. I don't know who could be a target, maybe Tom Thibedou of the Celtics.. Let me also remind you that this was the same day the Bulls fired Tim Floyd so there is a history.

If Skiles wanted to be fired after Christmas instead he should've waited until then to assemble incompatible lineups.

Maybe Fratello? Doug Collins?

It better not be Jim Boylan, eww.. Maybe give Dwayne Casey a look?

Getting rid of Skiles isn't going to change the fact that this team shoots too many jumpers, has no post presence, and has its starting backcourt playing like crap. I really don't see this changing anything, outside of MAYBE Tyrus getting more minutes, and even then with their win-now approach that may not happen.

I fear an interim coach on the Bulls staff. We could find an American born coach who is succeeding with one of the top Euro clubs...the next Mike D'Antoni

shocking news. it wasnt skiles' fault paxson was too stubborn to trade away his players that he drafted for a go-to guy, like kobe, or a low post scorer, like gasol.

If Jim Boylan becomes head coach it would make no sense. He has close ties with Skiles so why would we want a rehash? Hopefully it is someone outside of the organization.

I am happy to see Skiles gone. In regards to timing, it is the nature of the beast for a sport that plays through the wintertime. I think Scott did all that he could will he was here however, the way this team is playing right now, changes needed to be made and I think that this will be just the start of more changes. Skiles is not the complete fall guy on this I agree however, it has to start somewhere and Pax is the man in charge for Reinsdorf at this point and time and unless Jerry is not happy with Pax, it is what Pax feels is right. We'll have to wait and see who will coach this team next, I am not sure of who is available out there however, it is going to be interesting the rest of this season.

Reinsdorf should go next.. He is the blockade that is holding this team from making significant moves. He clashed with MJ all the time back in the good ole days. I don't think he much cares for the Bulls and he basically said that when the Whitesox won the Wolrld series. He'd trade in all his championships with the Bulls for one championship with the Sox. How do you take that if your a Bulls fan? Hopefully he just steps down at some point and we can find a better suiter.

Pax also has said that he expects to make some personnel changes as well down the road. Larry Hughes, Pau Gasol anyone?

Larry Hughes? Are you stark raving mad?

I think the players (too many long jumpers and not enough competitive spirit) and Paxson (where are the big guard and low post scorer we have needed for 4 years?) are FAR more to blame for the slow start than Skiles.

Someone else said this, but who else could've maxed out this talent the way skiles did the last two years before this?

I don't know if ANY coach would have had this team at .500 two years ago relying on 2nd year players almost exclusively
after the Curry trade left us an incomplete team with no scoring bigs and Tyson was out of shape after signing his contract.

Skiles is a GOOD coach, not a GREAT coach. We always say on this board he is an A-B coach not a B-C, but is there someone available now who is that's suited for this team?

I don't think so, which is why I don't see why Pax didn't give him at least another month or 2 to try and turn this around.

I think Pax must have someone in mind. Skiles is still getting paid his contract so if he didn't have anyone in mind he would've at least waited until the end of the season.

Skiles can take a bad team and make them respectable but he can't take a good team and make them great. Paxson is probably on the hot seat now. They will probably have an interim the rest of the year and then look to see what coaches get fired and what new opportunities await them before they make their decision.

LINKAGE

Pretty surprising for it to happen this soon. It's also really spiffy that he got fired the day before Christmas, thats pretty bad on behalf of the organization. As far as a replacement, I've always been a fan of Adelman since his days with the Kings. That kind of offense, the one the Kings ran, with great offensive ball movement and amazing transition games is what would exactly suit this Bulls team. All I want for Christmas is McGrady and Adelman coming to Chicago....

And you bring up Fratello?!? You're kidding? Most Sr. Citizens move faster than a Fratello offense.

Not sure how I feel about this move. It sure wasn't Skiles fault. Is it Skiles fault that both Deng an Gordon didn't accept an extension...or pull the trigger on a deal for KG, Kobe or Gasol?...which pretty much has made Deng and Gordon WORTHLESS!!!! Those two guys are supposed to be the GO-TO guys...and THEY are the ones that need to get their collective heads out of their asses! Personally I couldn't care less if both were gone tomorrow. They're as good as they are ever gonna be.

Personally I hope Pax makes a proactive move here and hires someone that's is available now....and I'm not talking about some old friggin has-been...or wait til the end of the year to get somebody's dreggs that got fired. Do I have any suggestions...no...but then again...it's not my job to know these things.

I don't think it's fair to group Deng with Gordon. Deng has played much much better as the season goes on. Gordon on the other hand, continues to shoot like 38% from the field. Grant it, we expected improvement from last year, but Deng's number are nearly identical as 2006, and no one was complaining about him last season.

Agreed. It's hard to call a guy "worthless" when he's averaging 18/7/2 per game while shooting 47% from the field.

Oh, and the radio guys in Memphis are going crazy over a proposed Gasol trade to the Bulls. They think with Skiles gone we'll see some changes, and while one "homer" was saying the Grizz should trade Gasol for BG and Deng, the other more reasonable guy said they could realistically expect Tyrus and Nocioni as good compensation for Gasol. He just doesn't fit their style of play, and teams know the Grizz basically must get rid of him.

I brought him up, that doesn't mean I want him. I really don't have a clue as to who should coach the Bulls. Its a wait and see sorta thing. All of them have their pro's and cons. I would say Hubie Brown just cause it seems like he loves us so much whenever were on TV but he's way too old and fainted during a timeout with the Grizz a few years ago so he's done for good. Yeah I wanted Adelman last year cuz he ignited that Kings team that sucked for so many years and made them a powerhouse for some time. Because of this firing do you think John mixes up his drafting style to fit the new head coach? It seemed like he picked his players based on the way they meshed with Skile's philosophy.

First i want to see Paxson look at a guy like Mike Budenholzer he is from the spurs organization, is the head assistant and is part of the reason that the spurs have won some championships in the resent years unlike the bulls. His style of play is some of the same as popovich(sp?) and that is the style that won them championships.

I also can see Paxson trading for a high draft pick and a player that will work will in the new system for a player or players that consist of Gordon, hinrich and/or Wallace plus another player or two (or some combo what ever it is worth) also for a small piece that the new coach wants to be in his system in order to make it work, that way when the new coach does get here then he can place two new young players into the new system and work with them one the things that they will need for his style of play. I would not mind getting a player of the caliber like a Jerryd Bayless a tall point that knows how to distribute the ball and also knows how to take a game over,or a player like deAndre Jordan who is a ligit 7-footer and has been compared to Dwight Howard he is coming into his own on the offensive end and also knows how to play stunning defense , and for the second first round pick because we all know that the bulls will not get anywhere close to the playoffs and might as well just blow the season for a good draft pick so another early first round pick that i would chose is a tall guard like Nicolas Batum that has the making to be a superstar player in the NBA and he also is a amazingly athletic and is also able to play solid defense. That would be a good new base for this franchise to grow on. It is time to start over the team that we have is not getting the job done so either make a big move for a star or start form scratch and work your way up again which ever Paxson wants to do.

I know Paxson wanted to hold Skiles accountable for not winning. I wonder if he is being held accountable for being stubborn and/or negligent by not providing a low-post scorer and a big guard who can score and defend. The team as it is currently constructed cannot go very far unless Deng or Gordon makes a major step forward into superstardom. I don't know if this is possible. Both Deng and Gordon showed how fragile they were by playing like crap when the trade rumors were flying and they didn't get offered the contracts they wanted. I don't know if it matters who is coaching. Will the new coach make the shots start falling? Will he stop Hinrich from getting into foul trouble? Will he get Has-Ben Wallace to do his job? I hope we start winning, but this team needs some help.