Maybe GM should coach these players

If you want justice, try this: John Paxson goes to the bench to coach the Bulls.

Let's see whether the club's general manager can win with this roster. At the same time let's see whether Scott Skiles should have.

The likely answer is no on both counts.

Paxson had two options when he awoke Monday: He could make a major trade to reconfigure the Bulls, or he could fire his head coach.

Inevitability trumped serendipity, and I say that because the Bulls-Skiles marriage never was destined to last.

Remember when the parties haggled over Skiles' new contract 2½ years ago before finally, awkwardly coming to terms?

I believed back then that Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf wasn't concerned with how much he would have to pay Skiles to coach. He was concerned with how much he would have to pay Skiles to not coach.

The day has come, and the answer is more than $6 million for the deal's remaining one-plus years.

So, Mr. Skiles, Merry Christmas! And to you, Mr. Paxson … a Happy New Year?

We'll see about the latter end of those holiday wishes. If 2008 is going to be kind to Paxson, something must start turning dramatically better for him.

Not much has to this point of the season. The players Paxson acquired are stinking up the United Center. The coach he first hired and just fired couldn't do anything about it.

Make no mistake: This is John Paxson's mess.

These Bulls are his Bulls. Their 9-16 record is his record. Boos in the UC are aimed directly or indirectly at him.

Skiles couldn't have been any happier with the players Paxson gave him than Paxson was over what Skiles was getting out of them.

If Skiles had the power, he probably would have fired Paxson. He couldn't do that any more than he could win a debate over whether to add LaMarcus Aldridge or Tyrus Thomas.

The coach always was the outsider in the Bulls' organization, a temp just passing through town. The GM is the insider, a lifer sponsored by Reinsdorf himself.

Skiles certainly was a co-conspirator in the Bulls' struggles. His abrasive nature, unyielding manner and profound impatience were bound to wear on players sooner than later.

That it took into his fifth season was remarkable.

Anyway, Skiles was supposed to change the Bulls' culture by instilling work ethic and intensity.

That worked for a while because the Bulls' roster was filled with NBA neophytes and aging veterans, two groups inclined to obey the coach.

But then the youngsters became veterans, some had contract issues, and the coach's message wasn't received as well.

The team that made three runs to the playoffs by playing harder than the competition started playing hard merely when in the mood.

When that happens, only three things can save a team -- talent, talent and more talent.

Paxson didn't bring in enough of it. In fact, a case could be made that the Bulls overachieved the past few seasons under Skiles more than they underachieved this season.

Regardless, a change had to be made and, as Phil Jackson learned a decade ago, no Bulls coach could fire Reinsdorf's general manager.

So the GM dispatched the coach instead.

As penance, Paxson should have to go down and coach the roster of misfits he assembled.