This Bulls Team Makes Me Sick

I went to work on Wednesday night not quite at 100%. I felt like crap all day, but figured I'd go in and soldier through the night anyway.

I didn't make it.

I went home sick (so if my writing in this post is even worse than usual, blame the Nyquil) and crawled into my bed a few minutes after the Bulls tipped off against the Atlanta Hawks.

Let this be a lesson to all of you.

If you're sick, going home to the Bulls is not the best way to help you feel a little better. As if my stomach wasn't doing enough cartwheels, watching this team play basketball had me wishing that I was back at work. Or dead.

If you didn't see the game -- you lucky bastard -- you missed quite the doozy. As is normally the case with this team, they're horribly gassed on the second night of a back-to-back. When they're on the road, it's even worse.

The Bulls went to Atlanta, a night after losing at home to the New Jersey Nets, and lost 118-83. Hell, I don't even know if you can qualify it as a loss since losing something generally implies that you tried to win it.

If these Bulls were trying to win, you could have fooled me.

The Bulls have now lost nine of their last ten games, by scores like Wednesday night's; the 110-78 beatdown at home by the Raptors last week; the 14-point loss in Cleveland that was so close LeBron James felt at ease dancing during timeouts (and got called a naughty word because of it); and then there were all those 20+ point losses on the Circus Trip.

So as you'd expect, the calls for Vinny Del Negro to be the third coach fired during the Christmas season in recent years are coming from every direction. Personally, I could care less if the Bulls fire Del Negro or not.

It's not going to make a difference. They're still not a team built to win this season.

Is it fair to expect Del Negro to make this team an Eastern Conference contender when he has key players dealing with injuries and then has guys like Lindsay Hunter, Aaron Gray and the cap space in waiting, Jerome James?

Not really.

That being said, Del Negro has done nothing since taking this job last season that has given him the right to keep the job. He has absolutely no idea how to use Derrick Rose.

It shouldn't be that hard. With a point guard who is as adept at getting into the lane as Rose is, you just give him the ball, give him some space, and let him work. He'll either find his own shot, get to the foul line, or find somebody for an open jump shot.

Instead Del Negro continually calls for Rose to work the high-screen game with Joakim Noah. So Rose's options are to run his guy into Noah and then have to get around a seven-footer, or dish back to Noah and let him take an 18-foot sideways jump shot.

So either way, Bulls lose.

Now, I'm not exactly thrilled with the way Rose has played in his second season, but I'm willing to give a 20-year old kid a lot more leeway than I am Del Negro. The truth is, Rose, Noah and rookie Taj Gibson are the only players on this roster that I almost like right now.

Brad Miller, John Salmons and Luol Deng are all right at times, and completely disappear at others. Jannero Pargo is infuriating in that he jacks up idiotic shot after idiotic shot as if he were Ben Gordon, except that Gordon made those shots.

The other rookie? James Johnson?

Has he had a possession this season where he hasn't done something wrong yet? I haven't seen it.

I know the Bulls are notorious slow starters during the regular season, but when they've been losing in previous Novembers and Decembers, I don't recall them looking this bad. At this point, I'm already fine with giving up on 2009.

Keep losing, get a lottery pick (and then make the wrong pick again!), and throw a ton of money at Dwyane Wade, LeBron James or Chris Bosh. Build from there. If that fails, well, you're already screwed now so what do you have to lose?

They may as well get rid of Del Negro now because he's not the coach that will lead this team to the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals. Find a coach who, oh, I don't know, actually has head coaching experience in the NBA and can help mold Derrick Rose into the superstar he should become.

Just don't expect me to watch this crap. I can't afford to miss any more work.