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Bulls Fire Coach Skiles

The Chicago Bulls were sure this was their season to challenge for the Eastern Conference championship. If they do, it'll be with a new coach.

The Bulls fired Scott Skiles on Monday, hoping to shake up a team with one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference.

"Hardly a day goes by that I don't demand accountability and stress results," Skiles told the Chicago Tribune. "Today was my day to be held accountable."

Skiles told also the newspaper that he wasn't bothered by being fired on Christmas Eve.

"The fact that it's Christmas Eve is neither here nor there," Skiles told the Tribune. "The timing doesn't bother me. I'm not destitute."

It seems the players weren't caught off guard, either.

"I felt like something was going to happen," forward Luol Deng said. "I didn't know whether it was players or coaches. But you could definitely feel there was something. It just didn't seem like we were on the same page."

The underachieving Bulls (9-16) have lost three of their last four and were booed throughout by the home crowd during Saturday night's 116-98 loss to the Houston Rockets. Their next game is Wednesday at San Antonio.

They've lacked a consistent inside scoring threat the past few years, and now, their perimeter players are off target. Chicago is shooting a league-worst 41.3 percent, which partially explains why it hasn't been able to sustain a winning streak.

Skiles and the Bulls nearly parted ways in June 2005. Instead, he agreed to a four-year, $16.5 million contract extension after talking with owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

"I wouldn't say we stopped playing for Scott," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "Every time I go out there, I'm playing for my teammates, my coaches. We should all be in this together."

Now, the critical eye might turn toward Paxson, even though he built the Bulls into a playoff team.

He made a big splash before last season when he signed Wallace to a four-year, $60 million deal, but that move has not paid dividends. The same goes for the draft night trade in 2006 in which he sent the rights to LaMarcus Aldridge to Portland for Tyrus Thomas.

Aldridge is averaging 18.5 points and 7.7 rebounds, and Thomas has been in and out of the lineup.

Source: ESPN

I'm so excited about the Lakers/Celtics game tomorrow! I've got the Lakers by a slim margin, anyone, or everyone want to take the Celtics?

I don't think that the Celts are ready for that which is the west coast, but I think we'll see...

The Celtics have a great team and maybe they won't sweep the West Coast, but I don't think that will be their main goal. They still have a long season and besides for the Big Three, they don't have anyone who has been consistent. Rando is starting to show that he's a great PG for this group, but this road trip will show how well the Celtics can rely on guys not called the Big Three. It'll be a good test for them, but not a deciding test of their talent

agree with u.. celtic is good enough to win eastern conf final, but not nba champ...

spurs, suns, mavs are better i guess :p

Jason Kidd Demands Trade

Kidd confirmed that his agent, Jeff Schwartz, has talked to Nets' management about moving him by the Feb. 21 trade deadline, but he categorized the conversation as a continuation of something that started last All-Star break, when the Nets nearly dealt him to the Lakers for a package of players that included Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown. The sticking point was that Nets president Rod Thorn wanted Andrew Bynum and the Lakers refused.

"It used to be if I got a triple-double, that was an automatic win," he said. "That's just not the case now. We tried to make this work. We've found out it doesn't. It's time for us all to move on."

There are a variety of teams who would be interested in acquiring Kidd -- Dallas and Denver already have reached out in the last week, a source said -- but it's a matter of what the Nets would insist upon in return. If draft picks are involved, weighing true value is infinitely easier after the May draft lottery, when the selection order is set and teams have a better idea of which players plan to declare their draft eligibility.

Source: ESPN

C-Webb To Re-Sign with Warriors

Chris Webber told ESPN.com on Monday night that he will arrive in Oakland on Tuesday to officially re-join the Golden State Warriors and play again for Don Nelson.

"I'll be there tomorrow," Webber said via e-mail. "It's a done deal."

Webber has signed for a pro-rated share of the league's $1.2 million veteran minimum, which computes to just under $570,000 if he stays with Golden State to the end of the regular season. But he won't hook up with his new teammates before Thursday at the earliest.

Although the club is scheduled to formally announce the signing Tuesday after the 34-year-old completes a physical, Golden State plays road games in Houston and New Orleans on Tuesday and Wednesday. The soonest Webber might play would be Friday's home game against the Charlotte Bobcats -- which is also a homecoming for longtime Warriors guard Jason Richardson -- but Nelson could elect to give Webber more time to get acclimated. The Warriors have five days off for practices after the Charlotte game.

But this brief proclamation to confirm that he's returning to the team and city where he began his NBA career in 1993 -- and where he lasted only one season because of a fast-crumbling relationship with Nelson -- will be sufficiently stunning to longtime Warriors fans who believe that the breakdown of the initial Webber-Nelson partnership plunged Golden State into more than a decade of despair.

Source: ESPN

Damn, I thought for sure he was going to the Pistons again...Ah well...

Damon Stoudamire to Sign with Spurs

Damon Stoudamire informed the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday that he will be signing with them later this week, according to his agent.

Aaron Goodwin told ESPN.com that Stoudamire, who will clear waivers and become a free agent Thursday at 10 p.m. ET after his buyout from the Memphis Grizzlies, has committed to join the Spurs after also considering the Phoenix Suns and the Toronto Raptors, with whom Stoudamire won NBA Rookie of the Year honors in the 1995-96 season.

Once he officially becomes a free agent, Stoudamire will join San Antonio for a pro-rated share of the $1.2 million veteran minimum. That computes to roughly $545,000 if Stoudamire spends the rest of the season with the defending champions.

It was not immediately clear if Stoudamire will be signed in time to play Thursday night in Phoenix against the Suns, but San Antonio definitely has an immediate need for reinforcements in the backcourt. Tony Parker has been ordered by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to sit indefinitely to rest a heel injury that, according to Popovich, has reduced the reigning NBA Finals MVP to "60 or 70 percent [capacity] for about a month."

The Spurs' Big Three of Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan have all missed time with injuries during the first half of the season, contributing to an 11-13 slump since their 17-3 start that had dropped San Antonio to sixth in the West entering Wednesday's play. The Spurs have also lost the first two of nine games on their annual "Rodeo Road Trip," which has historically sparked their trademark second-half surge.

Stoudamire initially expressed strong interest in joining the Boston Celtics as a veteran counterpart to second-year playmaker Rajon Rondo, but it appears that the Celtics are banking on the future availability of Los Angeles Clippers guard Sam Cassell. It's widely expected that the Clippers will consent to buying out Cassell if they can't move him before the Feb. 21 trading deadline and Cassell remains close to this day with Celtics forward Kevin Garnett after their time together in Minnesota.

Source: ESPN

I was hoping he would go to the Celtics, but he's a good fit in San Antonio also

Lakers Aquire Pau Gasol

The Los Angeles Lakers bolstered their banged-up frontline Friday with a key acquisition -- 7-footer Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies.

"It shows a great deal of commitment from the organization," All-Star Kobe Bryant said before the Lakers' game at Toronto. "It's a great step.

"It's a matter of us just gelling now and putting it together," added Bryant, who urged management to improve the team over the summer. "We've got a great bench. We have a lot of length, a lot of versatility. Now it's time to walk the walk."

The Lakers gave up Kwamevaris Crittenton and two first-round draft picks for Gasol. The Spaniard is certain to help a Lakers team reeling from recent injuries to inside players, including blossoming center Andrew Bynum.

The Grizzlies will get the Lakers' first-round draft choices in 2008 and 2010; guard Aaron McKie, signed earlier Friday for salary cap purposes; cash considerations, and the rights to Gasol's brother Marc, a 2007 second-round pick of Los Angeles.

Source: Sports Illustrated