Del Negro Reacts To Job Rumors: ‘It’s Just Funny To Me’

You know, it takes a pretty heroic amount of audacity to ignore a public report that says you’re in the process of firing a coach, and then leave that coach to answer the media, himself. Yes, it takes a heroic audacity. Or tragic levels of cowardice. One or the other, I guess.

In any case, after ESPN reported that the Bulls management has decided to fire Vinny Del Negro--and reached out to Doug Collins, among possible replacements--the only man left to answer the media was poor Del Negro, himself. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

“It’s just funny to me,” Del Negro said following practice Monday. “There’s really nothing to say. You have all these people that have rumors and everyone has their sources. It’s just not accurate. I don’t have time to deal with rumors. I talk to Gar and Pax every day; they’re at practice every day.”

“You have to deal with those things,” Del Negro said. “It’s unfortunate, but everyone has their source, but no one’s source so far has been very accurate. My focus is getting the team ready for tomorrow against Indiana. We had a good practice today and I was pleased with the effort and energy.”

Now, don’t get me wrong--Del Negro is still quite the disaster as a coach. That he refuses to acknowledge that some of these rumors may be true speaks to either phenomenal naivete on his part, or a serious chutzpah deficiency. Probably a little bit of both.

But that’s beside the point. It shouldn’t be Del Negro’s responsibility alone to comment on these rumors. If the Bulls management is going to keep him, then they should be out front, defending him. If they’re going to fire him, then they need to go ahead and do It. Letting him twist in the wind like this, straining to retain some semblance of dignity, operating without all the facts... That’s just classless. Again, the Bulls are one of the finest franchises in sports, with a group of fans as good as any in the league. They deserve better than the regime that’s running things right now.