Bulls likely to hire a new coach next summer, so why change now?
Late in the Bulls' loss at New York on Tuesday, they took the ball out of bounds at midcourt after a timeout trailing by 3.
They ended up throwing a long pass toward the basket, in the general direction of Joakim Noah. Fortunately for the Bulls, the Knicks knocked the ball out of bounds.
Confused as to why the Bulls would try doing something they haven't done all season in a key situation? So was coach Vinny Del Negro after the game.
"It was going to Derrick (Rose) on an isolation at the top," Del Negro said. "Kirk (Hinrich) must have thought (Noah) was open for an easy layup. I'll have to look at the film a little bit."
Naturally, the second time the Bulls took the ball out of bounds in that sequence, this time under the basket, Rose threw a pass past Taj Gibson and out of bounds.
Those two plays characterize the Bulls very well. They've been a careless team this season, prone to silly passes and unforced errors.
The constant stream of turnovers was their biggest problem while squandering the historic 35-point lead against Sacramento on Monday.
In the final 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, the Bulls went 0-for-6 from the field. And, yes, 6 shots in 10 minutes is a ridiculously small total.
This has been an embarrassing month for the Bulls, with the 30-point losses against Toronto and Atlanta, the 35-point blown lead and a home loss to 1-19 New Jersey. The Nets haven't won since then, by the way.
Considering the recent history, it only makes sense for people to examine Del Negro's job security.
But there's an unusual factor at play here:
No matter what happens the rest of the way, there is very little chance Del Negro is still the head coach next summer when the Bulls launch a free-agent quest for Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, LeBron James and whomever else.
This was the case even before the season started.
The most important factor facing the Bulls right now isn't whether they can rebound to snag the seventh or eighth playoff seed. It's whether they can land one of those stellar free agents in 2010.
So it's possible management is thinking, "Why change coaches now if we're likely to do it again at the end of the season?"
The Bulls have had stretches of competitive play in between the embarrassing moments. They also had low points in the middle of last season and Del Negro managed to pull them out of it.
Remember the "Me First" game when the Bulls botched three fastbreaks because someone (twice it was Larry Hughes) refused to pass to Rose?
The Bulls' biggest issue this year has been their inability to play four full quarters or stay competitive when faced with back-to-back games.
That's mostly because they've had four players show up regularly - Rose, Noah, Gibson and Luol Deng - while everyone else has been disappointing.
They've been pretty good defensively, but scoring has been a chore with no true inside scoring threat and sub-30 percent 3-point shooting.
Maybe Saturday's return of Tyrus Thomas from a broken arm will help shake things up and improve the team's depth.
Del Negro seems to be taking the recent turmoil relatively well. The Bulls gave him a nice opportunity, along with $5 million or $6 million in guaranteed money, so why should he complain?
The longtime NBA point guard certainly knows what the Bulls should be doing out there, but he took the job with no experience in knowing how to get players to do what he asks.
As long as the Bulls show some effort, though, Del Negro figures to stay on as head coach in the coming weeks.