[LRB]

KG: The point that I was making is that we can't be sure that the change to Phil Jackson was what caused the Bulls to go to the next level and win a championship. There are arguments that can be made either way. However, they did win under Phil, so it is possible to make a coaching change and have success. A big difference with Doug was that he had lost many of the players. So far Nellie does not appear to have done this.

Krause did want to get rid of Collins, but he also wanted to get rid of Jackson and eventually did. Mainly I think Krause was jealous of any coach whose success took the limelight away from Krause. And I think MJ had more to do with the championships than any coach. But who knows for sure.

I just think the Collins/Jackson argument is fine for showing that a coaching change can work, but not for you have to make a coaching change. Remeber the Bulls had to get and adjust to Bill Cartwright, mature as a team, and gain playoff experience. Also conviently the Pistons started their nose dive the year the Bulls won their 1st championship. Jackson may have played a part but it wasn't the biggest part IMO.

Also, if the timing of the Jackson move had been made earlier, he might not have worked out. We won't ever know for sure one way or the other.

BTW I do like Jr. I think that he will make a great head coach someday. I just am leary of making any change when we are having unprecedented success. There is not much better that we can get, but there is a whole lot worse that we can get. Jr. might not do as well as we think at least as soon as we think. If we replace Nellie and the team takes a step back in adjusting to the new coach what do we do? That is the question that scares me the most. Once the knee jerking starts, it can lead to a nose dive. But I do agree if this team gets to the point that it cannot reasonably win the title under Nellie, we have to make a change. I just think that we are a good ways from that point.

What do I expect of this team. Regular season I expect a division title and at least the #2 seeding in the western conference finals. I expect us to be highly competitive in the 2nd round. But I can accept losing to a team with superior talent, but not if we aren't competitive which we haven't been so far. By competitive I mean we should at least win more home games than we lose which hasn't happend yet in the 2nd round. All of this is barring major injuries. With mojor injuries we will need to reevalute with the talent we have. After all the 94 Bulls couldn't win a 3th championship in a row without Michael Jordan.

I understand your concern and others that we need to get to the WCF this year or make a change. I'm just prepared to be a little more patient. Things might take a little bit more time to develop than we would like. Dirk is still very young to lead this team as the superstar. I think he needs at least 1 more year and that will still be incredibly early. And yes Nellie has said that he can't afford to wait a year on Raef, but didn't he say something similar about Shawn last year? Anyways its not Nellies choice how long it takes but Raefs. Nellie might not have a choice if it takes a year. Nellie may need another year to get this team ready to play championship basketball. He's done a wonderful job of improving the defense this year. I'm sure rebounding will be improved once we get some of our injured back. That's a lot of improvement from last year. We still have othe issues to address. But as with all things these take time. That's why I disagree slightly with you and what constitues success this year.

Let's just hope the Mavs with it all this year and then all our arguments will be moot point.