Both the Chicago Bulls, and the New Orleans Hornets have found a new head coach. Both had Tom Thibodeau as main targets, which allowed for Tommy T. to pull his name from the Hornets as he landed his top-choice-job in Chicago. The Hornets, somewhat jilted, then decided to go with Monty Williams.
Both Thibodeau and Williams have no NBA head coaching experience, however they’ve been assistant coaches to very solid teams. Tommy T. is currently on the bench for the 2010 Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics, while Monty was an assistant …

This edition of News and Rumors will be of the extended tidbit sort. Here are a few topics that have come up within the last few days with the opinion of Shooter – the most important opinion of all!
New Jersey Nets Basketball: It’s More Than Just a Russian Owner

Why not start with my favorite team, the New Jersey Nets. Now I know I don’t have much to brag about (and by much, I mean anything), but the Nets have a future. This future is definitely brighter than it is now – …

Boston 96, Miami 86 (Celtics win series 4-1)

There was a little scare in the second half, but Paul Pierce confirmed his next visit to Miami will be “on vacation”.
Pierce’s 21 points and excellent all-around play held off a furious attack led by Dwyane Wade and company to clinch the first round playoff series. They now await the winner of the Cleveland/Chicago (most likely Cleveland) series, whose game was currently at halftime as of press release.
Ray Allen also led the Celtics with 24 points, shooting 5-6 from beyond the arc. Rajon …

Heat 101, Celtics 92 (Celtics lead 3-1)
Sorry Boston, we’re fresh out of brooms. Also, Dwyane Wade is going to need a chiropractor (or three).
Wade managed to extend Miami’s season at least one game further with his clutch performance today against the Celtics. While his 46 points is noteworthy, he scored 30 points in the second half, including 19 points in the 4th quarter. I can’t remember a greater single-handed performance by a player in recent memory.
To be honest, I thought the Heat were in trouble in the third quarter, thanks …

I hope you all like head coaching news, because this post is almost all about head coaches and their present and future!

I Challenge You to a Duel
It’s being rumored that just a couple of weeks ago Bulls vice president John Paxson had provoked a fight with head coach Vinny Del Negro due to a disagreement in Joakim Noah’s playing time. After a March 30 game at the United Center, Noah had played 27 minutes against the Suns, but upper management was aiming for Noah to play much less minutes due …

Bulls 101, Celtics 93
Derrick Rose must have heard me and Shooter bash the hell out of him on the podcast because in the biggest game of the year for the Bulls he stepped with a career high 39 points and one NASTY dunk.  Rose is now averaging over 20 ppg this year after carrying the entire Bulls team in this last stretch run.  Rose was 15-22 from the field and his counterpart Hinrich dropped 30 himself!  It was a pretty evenly matched game as both teams had under 10 turnovers, …

RACE FOR THE 8TH SEED IN THE EASTERN CONFERENCE

Nets 127, Bulls 116 (2 OT)
I can’t quite come up with the words that I should, so let me just start by saying this: I was at this game, and it was AWESOME!
Going into the game, I knew it’d be tough for the Nets because the Bulls are fighting for the eighth seed in the East. The Raptors were also playing on Friday night (turns out they lost too), so the Bulls had a chance to move into the playoff picture. The …