A lot of posts have been made here calling for VDN to be fired as soon as possible.  I certainly agree that he is not a very good coach and that is an area that needs to be upgraded for the team to get better.  Ok fine, he sucks but there are a few reasons why I don’t see him getting fired this season.

1. The Bulls have had injury issues to 3 of their top 7 players. 

Rose is just now bouncing back from the ankle problem and looking more like himself.  Tyrus is still out for a while longer, and Hinrich’s return is day to day.  The team as constructed, even being optimistic, is about a .500 or a little above that with everything going well (no major injuries, improvement from the younger guys like Noah, Rose, and Tyrus, vets maintaining the level they played last year).  There are two unproven rookies and 3 horrible vets as “depth” to help sustain injuries.  To put it simply, right now VDN doesn’t have much to choose from.

2. A tough early schedule.

Looking at the schedule, I can honestly say I expected the Bulls to have about 7 or 8 wins at this point.  They just so happened to have won some games I thought they would lose (San Antonio, @ Cleveland) and lose some I thought they would win (particularly these last two home games with Toronto and NJ).  What has many of us freaking out is how bad they looking doing it and how offensively and defensively inept they have been since the circus trip.  Some of this has to do with the injuries; some has to do with VDN.  Overall it’s a wash because they are still at 7-12 with a lot more home games coming up and guys (hopefully) coming back from injuries soon.

3. Vinny is still under contract.

JR is not going to pay two coaches at once, so the chances of getting a Jeff Van Gundy or Avery Johnson, guys with cushy TV jobs that can afford to wait for the right situation, are zero.  That means promoting one of the assistants (Bickerstaff?).  The problem I have with this is, the assistants are already over there and they obviously aren’t making much of a difference now so how much of a difference will one of them make without VDN? My guess is no difference.  Pretty much like when that guy who shall not be named took over for Skiles.  The teams sees these guys everyday so what difference is one of them going to make unless he has some radically different philosophy ala Phil Jackson versus Doug Collins?

As I see it, barring some major PR catastrophe or unless the team once healthy continues to get blown out, VDN will finish out the season and (hopefully) be replaced at that point.

I thought this was pretty interesting. I don't live in Chicago anymore so I had no idea the Bulls were involved in opening a high school. I know I'm reading too much into this but JR, Gar and Tyrus Thomas were on hand for the ceremony. Maybe Tyrus is in pretty good with JR.  Could this type of interaction with the boss help him get an extension? I was just a little surprised that it was Tyrus as opposed to say Derrick Rose.  Then again, it is a college prep after all so maybe Derrick wasn't the ideal person to bring out (sorry I couldn't resist).

Like a lot of you, I spent a lot of time speculating on things the Bulls can do to get better for the future.  One plan of action that the appear to be following is utilizing cap space on a free agent next season to try and take the next step.  It's been discussed on this blog in several posts that the Bulls will need to clear some additional cap space in order to sign a max type free agent (Bosh, Wade, LeBron) because with Salmons likely not to opt out and Hinrich still under contract, they will basically need to let Tyrus walk to have that kind of money.  I'm no salary cap/luxury tax guru, but I think a trade with the Houston Rockets could possibly help both teams this season and for the future.  A trade of Brad Miller, Kirk Hinrich, and Tyrus Thomas for Tracy McGrady and Luis Scola works for both teams.

How it helps the Bulls:

Tracy McGrady is often injured as we all know.  However, he is a bonafide star when healthy, we would be giving up two guys who will be coming off of our bench and one who we may possibly let walk for nothing.  He will miss the first month of the season but we have John Salmons to start at the 2 anyway.  He could really give us a go-to scorer in the playoffs as well.  Luis Scola is a solid PF that can score with his back to the basket, rebound, and defend.  The key to all of this is, that's $26 milion coming off the cap for 2010.

How it helps the Rockets:

Yao Ming is out for the year and they have no center currently so Brad Miller can move right in and be the starting center.  Kirk Hinrich gives them a solid guard than can play either 1 or 2, defend, knock down threes and run the offense.  The Rockets can take a one year flyer on Tyrus who, given a new team, new environment, contract year etc and see what he can do.  They get 3 starting quality players on a team that will be without McGrady for at least the first month anyway and won't have Yao at all.  Also, they will have about $17 million expiring in Tyrus and Brad Miller for 2010.

Luol Deng will play for Britain in the Olympic Qualifier this summer.  That's two guys now, with Nocioni wanting to be the third.  It's also possible that Ben Gordan may do the same (having been born in London).  There are positives of course, but right now, I can only focus on the negatives such as injuries, being worn down by the playoffs, etc.  

I recently came across this article on nbadraft.net and I think it's hard to argue with.  It basically makes the point that a superstar (if not more than one) is generally a prerequisite for winning the NBA title.  Also, check out the link to Robert McChesney's article on Real GM called "The SuperDuperStar Theory", which was written prior to the above article.  Perhaps that top draft choice for 2007 will yield a future superstar.