Evasion of Questions

I've never been up on Capitol Hill to witness a Senate fillibuster but I certainly feel like I was at one on Tuesday at the Berto Center. The Bulls officially announced the firing of Vinnie Del Negro and for 40 minutes General Manager, Gar Forman (sort of) answered questions regarding the last two years and the look ahead. Say what you want about Forman but one thing he is incredibly good at is evading questions head on. And that's one of the reasons he is now the main spokesman for the team. John Paxson (and we'll get to him shortly) was way too honest for his own good and he pretty much no longer speaks to the media.

Forman said pretty much all the standard pulp about how the organization appreciated Del Negro's two years of service and that Del Negro will get a good reference from the Bulls organization. But the reality is that there was incredible friction between coach and upper management and eventually the personality conflicts were way too much to overcome.  Forman went on to say that the Bulls will look for a coach who is a leader and teacher......Yada Yada Yada.

Del Negro made a surprise cameo after the press conference thanking Jerry Reinsdorf and the Bulls for the opportunity while also thanking the fans and his players. Del Negro was obviously under restraints from saying anything additionally if he wants to collect the final year of his contract. I certainly wouldn't mind being fired and do almost nothing for a year while collecting  two million dollars.

So that left it to Paxson to be the only honest person to speak. He should have handled the whole press conference since he is the man at the top of the totem pole but he only addressed the verbal and physical incident he had with Del Negro following a March 30th game. Paxson took full blame and apologized to almost everyone in North America but also let it be known that he is still comfortable with himself and will be around here for years to come.

So it pretty much was a day of acting at the Berto Center. Acting like there really wasn't much of a problem here for the last two years. The truth however is that upper management grew to dislike Del Negro and was close to giving him the heave ho back in December. It didn't happen back then but it became reality Tuesday and now it's back to the drawing board for a new coach.