Thursday, May 29, 2008

Collins Returns to Chi-town

Former Bulls, Pistons and Wizards Head Coach Doug Collins went back on his promise never to coach again and today returned to the Chicago Bulls, the same team that gave him his first NBA head coaching opportunity. One of the main reasons Collins felt comfortable returning to Chi-town is his relationship with current Bulls General Manager John Paxson, who played for Collins in the '80s. Collins agreed to coach the current team if Paxson would be willing to come off the bench and drain 3-pointers when called upon. Collins remains giddy about the upcoming season and has penciled in his starting 5 already which consists of:


G - Craig Hodges
G - Michael Jordan
SF - Scottie Pippen
PF - Horace Grant
C - Bill Cartwright
(CARTWRIGHT! 4!)

With a strong bench of Brad Sellars and Sam Vincent along with Paxson, Collins sees the 2008-09 Bulls as a strong Eastern Conference team with a good chance to advance far into the playoffs. Current players Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah, among others, will be jettisoned to the bench until they can prove they can play with the old guys. Chicago also holds the first pick in the upcoming NBA Draft and while analysts predict the pick will be used to select either Memphis PG Derek Rose or Kansas State PF Michael Beasley, do not be surprised to see Collins reach into his bag of tricks and trade the pick away for the rights to the 3-Headed Monster of Jack Haley-Will Perdue-Luc Longley to solidify the team's rebounding.

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