Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Top Ten Reasons to Love and Hate John Paxson

Self-promotion: Check out my interview with Oneri Fleita, Cubs VP of Player Development at the Vine Line's Cubs Club Blog.

These are the top ten reasons to love and hate John Paxson.

Top Five Reasons to Love John Paxson

5. He played for Notre Dame



Whatever...WE ARE ND!

4. The hiring Scott Skiles

For a few years Skiles seemed to be able to get the most out of a bunch of good players. They played hard for Skiles and played balls out on both sides of the ball, which is hard to find in the NBA these days.

http://www.halfcourt.info/A55B25/HalfCourt.nsf/Scott_Skiles_001.jpg

3. He broke up the mess Jerry Krause made

Krause went from genius to complete moron. He traded an all-star team for a couple of high school centers. Nice job Jerry. However, Pax slowly and methodically traded, drafted and signed a team that was without any of Krause’s legacy and turned the Bulls into winners.

http://www.nba.com/media/bulls/krause_050819.jpg

2. The way he tried to rebuild the Bulls

So it didn’t workout in the end, but Pax had a plan and his original philosophy of building a rock solid defense-first team was the right idea and hiring Scott Skiles was the right choice for that philosophy. It looked like it was working until Skiles lost control.

http://hoopedia.nba.com/images/4/4d/Paxson1.jpg


1. The shot he drilled in the 1993 NBA Finals to beat the Suns

Can you say clutch. After Jordan forced a double, he kicked it out to Pax who hit the biggest shot of his career, topping off the bulls first three-peat.

http://www.classicathletes.com/wp-content/paxson.jpg

Top Five Reasons to Hate John Paxson

5. His middle name is MacBeth

I am assuming his parents tried to name him after the Shakespeare play, unfortunately they didn’t get it quite right. Shakespeare spelled it “Macbeth.” Honestly, it’s just a lame way to try and to make your kid sound smart.

http://www.rdaniel.net/images/work/Macbeth.jpg

4. He was born in Ohio

After going to school in Ohio, I completely hate everything that has anything to do with that state. We get it you like the Buckeyes. I’m sorry your “professional” teams are a joke and all of your “cities” don’t even add up to half of Chicago. Just please stop taking it out on the rest of us.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa136/mgoblue2222/ohiosucks.jpg

3. He signed Ben Wallace

A defensive force and leader is what Pax saw in this specialist. What he should have seen was an aging one-dimensional liability. You can’t trust anyone with a massive fro…I knew that in the third grade.

http://www.need4sheed.com/images/jan5_ben.jpg

2. He didn’t sign Mike D’Antoni

Now I can’t completely blame Pax for this because he doesn’t control the money, but part of his job is to convince the brass to pony up the cash to get a proven winner and franchise changing coach.

www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/91443

1. He didn’t trade for KOBE BRYANT!
LONG SIGH. How can you not trade for the best player in the league for a couple of solid role players? It makes me feel O.K. about myself for loosing interest in the Bulls after Jordan. Pax, I know for a fact Bryant is your favorite player in the NBA. Why didn’t you just pull the trigger and get the deal done? Instead of looking for a new coach, you would be basking in round two of the playoffs now. This sucks.

http://jessebastien.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/559925938_5235daadc_o.jpg

3 comments:

Ricky O'Donnell said...

Great list Z-dubs. Some of your best work. I heard Tremendous Upside Potential ripped Pax a new one today.

Anonymous said...

Would you really like to see Kobe "The Rapist" Bryant on the Bulls???!! Heck no, not me. That guy is scum and I'm glad we don't have it.

Zach Martin said...

He might be scum, but he would lead the Bulls at least this far into the playoffs in the weak ass east...no doubt about that...Jordan was a notorious womanizer, you wanna give back those six trophies?