First off, Kidd didn't retract an earlier quote in which he called Skiles a back-stabber" this season.
There was nothing to it," Kidd said. That's just the way I felt. He's the reason why I'm in New Jersey. You see, people link me to getting him fired. I wasn't there."
Asked about his current feelings toward Skiles, Kidd minced no words.
I really don't care about him," Kidd said. He always wanted to beat me. He always thought he was better than me. But that's just the way it goes with Skiles."
Why get up?" he said. [Life's] too short to get up. He has no impact on how I feel about the Bulls or anything else. It's just a matter of what he has done behind the scenes. You can ask his team. Ask Eddy Curry and all those guys how they feel about him."
Skiles implied Kidd's rancor was news to him. He said he thought his relationship with Kidd was great when he coached him for a couple of seasons.
I guess I found out a couple of years ago it wasn't so great," Skiles said.
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Tim Thomas:
"I don't really have any clue as to what happened," Thomas said. "It's puzzling in general. I'm just so tired of answering the question. The only thing I can come up with is they do have a core of young guys there that they evidently like and they want to get better. That's the only answer I can give you. Other than that, there was no reason for me not to play there."
Shortly after coming over from the Knicks, Thomas suffered sprains to both ankles and missed most of training camp and the exhibition season. He was behind and never really worked his way back into the rotation.
"Me and [coach] Scott Skiles talked one time for about three minutes," Thomas said. "I asked him if he thought I was dogging it in practice, and he told me no. From that point, it was like, `Go figure.' I'm still trying to figure it out."
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For a man who admitted Wednesday that he battled depression last season, Tyson Chandler sounded optimistic that the trade sending him to the New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets is a good one for him and the Bulls.
Apparently, part of that optimism is based on the fact that Chandler will be playing for Hornets coach Byron Scott instead of Bulls coach Scott Skiles.
"There never was an understanding there [by Skiles]," Chandler told WSCR-AM (670). "Never communication. ... It was like there were walls put up there I couldn't break through. That's just the way it was."
An attempt to reach Skiles was unsuccessful.
Asked later about how he had characterized Skiles, Chandler told the Sun-Times: "I wish our communication level could have been better. But I always point the finger at myself first. Scott's a great coach, as good as any when it comes to X's and O's.
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Center Eddy Curry said after the game that if coach Scott Skiles decides to bench him and go with a 17th starting lineup Friday at Toronto, he would feel like he is being made a scapegoat. Asked about that statement after practice Wednesday, Skiles didn't seem pleased.
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Bulls center Corie Blount wasn't happy when he first heard Scott Skiles would be his new coach, but Blount had a change of heart Friday as Skiles proved he's not as heartless as his reputation might suggest.
"He told the team he was sorry for his actions toward me in Phoenix," Blount said. "After he said that, there's nothing bad I can say."
Blount played for Skiles in Phoenix during the 1999-2000 season, helping the Suns get past San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs. Blount hurt his knee the next training camp and said he was tagged unfairly with the label of not wanting to work before he was traded to Golden State.
"It's a fresh start for him and for everybody," Blount said. "He said he was given that job to be a disciplinarian coming in because it was like a resort before he got there.
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Despite riding a two-game winning streak, Bulls players were not a happy group Tuesday as they flew to New Orleans for their game tonight against the Hornets.
Corie Blount, the most popular player on the team, was waived to make room for Paul Shirley, who will be signed to a 10-day contract today. The 6-10 Shirley, who was playing for the Kansas City Knights of the American Basketball Association, won't be available tonight.
I enjoyed playing for [Scott] Skiles," Blount said. But I'm disappointed they felt this was the right way to go."
Players were shocked at the move, and Blount's camp was disappointed in the timing. If it happened a day earlier, Blount could have been picked up by a team headed to the playoffs. Monday was the deadline for postseason rosters.
The timing is unfortunate," Skiles admitted. It's a crummy business sometimes."
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The Bulls had clinched a playoff spot and Tyson Chandler couldn't stop smiling and the buzz was clear throughout the locker room. Except in one corner, where Ben Gordon quietly stared into the back of his locker after going 0-for-10 while getting dressed to go home.
He sat down. Put on his shoes. Stood. Picked up a hairbrush. Quietly brushed four or five strokes on top of his head. Then he started stuffing all sorts of things in a couple of duffel bags. Too much crap," he muttered.
You have to wonder how much Gordon feels a part of all this. He should, of course, considering how many games he has won all by himself.
Coach Scott Skiles has worked miracles with the psyche of this program and its players, but Gordon's psyche has been among the most challenging. He has been the superstar in crunchtime, scoring double- digit points in the fourth quarter in 21 games. Not even Kobe Bryant has done that. Or Kevin Garnett. That's when superstars are made. But if Gordon owns the fourth quarter, he can be invisible during the first three.
Last week in the hoopla around the Final Four in St. Louis, Jim Calhoun, Gordon's college coach at Connecticut, was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He said Gordon still calls regularly just to talk about what he's going through. And Calhoun revealed a few things about Gordon, and also about the techniques (games?) Skiles uses on him.
Is Ben happy?
Oh, yes, Ben's happy," Calhoun said. He just doesn't understand why Scott doesn't speak to him."
Skiles doesn't speak to Gordon?
I'm not criticizing Scott," Calhoun said. He's done a masterful job with that team. He doesn't talk to Ben, but that makes Ben wonder what Coach is thinking about him all the time, asking assistant coaches, What does Coach think?'
He's got Ben exactly where he wants him."
It takes different approaches for different brains. We've seen Eddy Curry frustrated with Skiles, who has benched him at important times and questioned his effort and fitness. But Curry has developed despite the frustrations, and his effort and fitness are good.
[Skiles] challenges us, gets us fired up and motivated," Chandler said. He makes you have a love-hate relationship with him."
So why can't Gordon score in the first three quarters, then can't be stopped in the fourth?
They don't play him before the fourth quarter," Calhoun said. And that's not a criticism of Scott [Skiles]. Ben is the best clutch shooter I've had. But he only plays 24 minutes a game. The other night, I think he had 30-something points playing 12 minutes in the fourth quarter and 11 minutes the [rest of the game]."
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Marcus Fizer was taken aback by the public revelation by coach Scott Skiles that a nature call recently robbed the Bulls' reserve forward of playing time.
"Two games ago, I went to put Marcus in the game, and he was in the bathroom," Skiles said. "So I couldn't put him in."
Two games ago would have been during the 107-87 rout of the Boston Celtics when there was a lot of playing time to be had.
"That's funny," Fizer said before Friday night's game against the Sacramento Kings. "I'm not going to say it didn't happen because I can't exactly remember when that was. But if he says it happened, it happened. I know I was sick recently and probably felt I wasn't going to go in anyway and I just went to the bathroom and did what I had to do.
"I don't want to make any big deal out of it or try to give some kind of rebuttal because I've never been the type of player to go after anybody in this organization during the four years I've been here. I got way more professionalism than that. I was taught by my parents to respect my superiors. So I'm just going to keep working hard trying to improve myself and to be ready whenever I get a chance to play."
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But according to his former players, he left a lot to be desired in the personal way he related to players. It was widely reported that he rubbed the likes of Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion and Rodney Rogers the wrong way. Players tuned him out, Kidd was traded and Skiles quit, claiming he was too mentally and emotionally drained to coach anymore.
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I'm shocked that the Bulls would be hiring a guy like Scott to replace Bill," said one player, speaking under the condition of anonymity. Cartwright was a good defensive center. If he could not reach Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler and make them better low-post players, how do they expect Skiles to do so? He never had a track record of doing anything like that. If those players wouldn't tune Bill in, they certainly aren't going to tune Scott in."
Another player said Skiles fell out with most players because he was too much of a stickler about little things.
"He nitpicked a lot and got on people's nerves," the player said. I mean, we're all grown men, and he'd have a tendency to talk down to you and try to force you to play every facet of your game exactly like he thought you should play. He did not respect people's individuality."
Another player said Skiles really wanted to win and meant well.
He was just a little too over-bearing," the player said. Maybe he has mellowed and changed so that he can get along better with people. I hope so. Otherwise, the Bulls' players are going to be for a hard time. And I'm especially curious how veterans like Scottie Pippen, Jalen Rose and Kendall Gill will respond to him."
Less than three weeks after being hired in 2003, Skiles uttered this classic quote in regard to a standoff with Eddie Robinson: "I've never lost a battle of wills in my life. And I don't plan on doing it now."
Joakim Noah's honesty and coach Scott Skiles' sarcasm collided Wednesday, though it was an indirect hit.
Late Tuesday night, following the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Noah suggested in the locker room that the Bulls were not playing in unison.
"The teams that we're playing are not the high-caliber teams," Noah added Wednesday at the Berto Center. "We need to step it up. We've got to play together way better because you can tell we're not playing as a team."
True as the assessment may have been, Skiles took exception when he heard the comment.
"I don't know. If I had just played my first game, I'd probably keep my mouth shut, to be honest with you," Skiles said.
"It's obvious we're not playing to our ability," Skiles added. "I may have a little problem with the phrasing of (Noah's comment), but the point is probably spot-on. But again, it probably should be someone else speaking for the team."
The Bulls knew what they were getting when they drafted Noah with the No. 9 pick in June. He has a flamboyant personality and isn't afraid to speak up. He also was an important part of Florida's two national championship teams, so he knows something about winning basketball.
When the Bulls rookie first heard about Skiles' response, he reacted as though he'd been ordered to make a batch of homemade doughnuts for the veterans.
"I just felt that we didn't play in sync," Noah said quietly. "I don't have a problem with Coach Skiles. OK, if he feels that way, I'll shut up."
*** IT SHOULD be noted that Skiles said he was misquoted and claimed to have said it jokingly.
"I'm always in a difficult spot with a player like that," Skiles said before the 112-91 setback dropped the Bulls to 2-8. "I understand the fans see one side of it. We see the other. We know what's supposed to be done out there. We ask him to sprint the floor. To my knowledge in his career he hasn't done it one time. Not one time.
"Watch when he gets in there. Is he jogging or is he sprinting the floor? So I have to look out not only for
