Bulls make right move -- for all the wrong reasons

The Bulls finally made some sense by letting Mike D'Antoni go to the Knicks instead of persuading him to come here.

But who was responsible for not hiring D'Antoni as head coach, club chairman Jerry Reinsdorf or general manager John Paxson?

Published reports in Chicago and Arizona indicated Reinsdorf met with D'Antoni on Friday in Phoenix, where both have homes.

Assuming that happened, Reinsdorf presumably was judging how much D'Antoni wanted to coach here and whether he was inclined to place more emphasis on defense than he did as Suns coach.

Er, sorry, but shouldn't those determinations be Paxson's? If so, why in the world would Reinsdorf insert himself into the D'Antoni matter at all?

Reinsdorf always says he doesn't pick Bulls coaches or White Sox managers but he has veto power.

Why in this case would that ever come into play?

Paxson watched for years as D'Antoni coached Phoenix. He knows the Suns were very successful under him. He knows they were uptempo on offense and sloppy on defense.

Paxson interviewed D'Antoni, enabling his ears to fill in gaps his eyes might have missed.

So what purpose could Reinsdorf -- who admits he isn't even as knowledgeable in basketball as he is in baseball -- serve in the hiring process?

If Reinsdorf couldn't trust Paxson to determine whether D'Antoni is the best man for this job, the Bulls need a new GM.

That it's Reinsdorf's money -- along with that of myriad other Bulls investors -- shouldn't be an issue here.

The NBA has no salary cap for coaches. The Bulls do have a budget but in cases like this it should be unlimited.

If D'Antoni was the right guy, the Bulls should have hired him at all costs. If he wasn't, they shouldn't ever have seriously considered him.

(The latter might have been the case, by the way, despite all the posturing).

Anyway, for some reason the Bulls have sold out the United Center during the decade since Michael Jordan left.

Season ticket holders recently learned prices were increased for next season. This team has all the currency it cares to print.

So I doubt money, Reinsdorf's domain, was as big an object for the Bulls. The issue was whether D'Antoni fit the Bulls. Maybe Paxson and Reinsdorf tried to convince themselves he did.

The Bulls' organization always fancies itself as reflecting a couple core philosophies: Defense and hard work. D'Antoni always gave the impression he fancied offense over defense and easy practices over hard ones.

So it says here the Bulls are fortunate D'Antoni is headed to New York instead of Chicago -- as long as Paxson allowed it to happen there instead of Reinsdorf suggesting it not happen here.

Long ago Paxson should have known enough about D'Antoni to determine for himself whether this should be his head coach.

Paxson should know whether D'Antoni's deficiencies in defense and discipline would be less damaging than, say, Avery Johnson's thin skin and dubious game coaching would be.

Beyond that, Paxson also should be the one to decide whether the Bulls would be better with an experienced head coach or a first-timer like Boston assistant Tim Thibodeau or Detroit's Michael Curry.

If Paxson isn't up to that without Reinsdorf being involved in the process, the Bulls are in even more trouble than we thought.