Next up.....

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

 *** Despite the Bulls horrible record and the story below, I hope the 
Celtics don't take this game for granted.  The Bulls have talent. Curry, when he 
decides to play, can be overpowering.  Crawford, when his shot is on, can be 
lethal.  Hinrich has already had 8 double digit assist nights (which is pretty 
darn good considering his team shoots 42%) and 6 double-doubles. Chandler has 
talent, but has been battling back problems all season.  The thing is they are 
terribly inconsistent and just haven't been able to put it all together.  But 
they have beaten some decent teams, including the Bucks, the Jazz, the Celtics, 
and the Hornets twice.  The one game they did put it all together, they 
absolutely wiped the floor with the Jazz.  
Of course this group of Celtics can't afford to take any team lightly.


Mount Skiles eruption only matter of time 
February 11, 2004 
BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST 
  

The answers to my multiple-choice quiz are (a) the revolving ad board; (b) a 
game official; (c) a writer; (d) Jamal Crawford; (e) the locker-room wall; (f) 
Benny the Bull; (g) the master blaster in charge of the United Center music; 
or (h) all of the above. 

Now, the question: On which object or human being will Scott Skiles finally 
vent his wrath and spew volcanic ash across the West Side? 
About the best tribute I can give this poor man is that he has kept his 
notoriously hot head in check, though the wild-boar look in his eyes Tuesday night 
suggested a meltdown is forthcoming. Skiles has every right to lose his 
equilibrium after 2-1/2 torturous months of coaching the Bulls, the NBA's 
post-dynasty stragglers, whose 14-38 record has little to do with him and much to do 
with a lack of maturity, talent and team health. The dumbest thing I've read this 
week was a column stating Skiles is the wrong coach for this team. Let me 
state right here, right now, that no coach is right for this bedraggled bunch and 
that a hybrid of Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Dr. Jack Ramsay, 
John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, James Naismith and the guy on "The White Shadow'' 
wouldn't fare better than Skiles. 
"We didn't show up. That's what it boils down to,'' Skiles said after his 
team wilted woefully in a 103-84 loss to the Indiana Pacers and an inspired 
ex-Bull, Ron Artest. "I could try and put a positive spin and say, 'We're gonna be 
all right, everything's OK.' I can't. There were a lot of plays where we 
weren't making extra effort to make plays to win a game. We got tattooed by a good 
team. 
"We were really soft defensively. We turned it over. That has to be a 
performance we'd like to forget.'' 
Unfortunately, the amnesia bank is already full for this season and, upon 
further reflection, the previous five seasons. Still, if you're thinking Skiles 
is discouraged, understand he missed the gene pool when the pouts were 
distributed. Unlike Tim Floyd, who mostly fought Jerry Krause and the media and forgot 
he was a coach, Skiles is a teacher. Unlike Bill Cartwright, whose message 
never resonated, Skiles commands respect from his players. I just wonder if 
he'll need a straitjacket before general manager John Paxson raises the talent 
level high enough to help him. 
"I don't get that discouraged,'' Skiles said. "I feel I have a good handle on 
who this team is and how it is made up. I know it's going to be a process. No 
question, some of our immaturity as a team shows up.'' 
The other day, Mad Pax took a potentially disastrous stand when he said he 
won't trade Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler and likely won't trade Crawford. It 
was the first indication he is committed to another two or three seasons of 
non-serious ball. If Paxson thought the pronouncement would inspire his kids to a 
crackling evening against the Pacers, the Eastern Conference's premier team, 
he was badly mistaken. They were overmatched from the second quarter on, 
leaving a Retro Night crowd to cheer a troupe of buffoons called "The Matadors,'' 
who wiggled their flab to all the disco-era hits. 
''Stayin' Alive.'' 
''YMCA.'' 
''Boogie Wonderland.'' 
If we must deal with Steve Schanwald's sideshows while enduring the extension 
of an endless rebuilding plan, at least Skiles has shown he can elevate the 
performances of certain projects. Curry, for one, is good for 20 points a night 
now that Skiles has whipped him into shape. Kirk Hinrich, for another, can 
only benefit from the lessons of a former point guard who still holds the NBA 
record with 30 assists in a game, for which Skiles can thank Shaquille O'Neal. 
No one doubts his ability to tutor. What we doubt is the ticking bomb inside 
his head and how long he'll be able to swallow losing. Floyd was worn down, 
Cartwright was worn down. What is the realistic statute of limitations on Skiles? 
"There are misconceptions out there,'' he said. "I don't understand where 
people get it that I'm not in control.'' 
Sure, Skiles gathered valuable perspective during his year-and-a-half of down 
time after being dumped by the Phoenix Suns. But don't tell me Skiles isn't 
the same S.O.B. competitor who refused to lose at Michigan State, once picked a 
fight with Shaq in practice and always played like the rebel rock star of his 
Indiana youth, John Cougar Mellencamp. From the days he led Plymouth High 
School to the state championship, he has expected to win. Even when he succeeded 
in Phoenix, reaching the second round of the playoffs in his second year, he 
admittedly was overbearing at times and managed to alienate his players. It's 
only natural to wonder if a lengthy period of failure will sour him on the 
Chicago experience. 
Which is one reason why Paxson should reconsider the ongoing youth movement 
and think about breaking up the kids. Curry is destined to be a one-way player, 
a scorer who will break hearts when he tries to defend and rebound. "I won't 
tell you what I said at halftime about his defense,'' Skiles said. When you 
see a similarly destitute team, the Atlanta Hawks, trade Shareef Abdur-Rahim and 
Theo Ratliff to Portland to free up megamillions in salary-cap room, you 
wonder if Paxson should make his own dynamic moves instead of subjecting these 
poor fans to more 60-loss seasons. Some of them still care, getting rowdy when 
the Pacers' Jermaine O'Neal took exception to an elbow in the second quarter and 
had to be restrained. 
But by the fourth quarter, with the rout in progress, the same old boos 
started to fill the cavernous barn. Your extended garbage-time lineup: Ronald 
Dupree, Rick Brunson, Marcus Fizer, Eddie Robinson and Chandler. Six seasons and 
300-plus losses since the dynasty was disbanded by the Jerrys, it's pathetic the 
fans are still watching a team that can't compete. In the final minutes, the 
only roars came when the filled bagel beat the chocolate doughnut in the 
Dunkin' Donuts race. 
Skiles sat peacefully, hands clasped, a little dazed. Should the fans have 
booed? "Anytime anybody pays to get into a sporting event, I suppose they 
deserve to do what they want,'' he said. 
The over-under on his blowup is March 1. Sadly, it's the only remaining drama 
in another lost season. 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay11.html

TAM