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Shaquille O'Neal: "I get annoyed when people cherry-pick moments in a player's career. Who took the winning shot in Game 7 in 2016? Kyrie Irving. Who hit the game-winner in 1993? John Paxson. Who hit the game-winner last night for Denver? Jamal Murray. That's the sport of basketball—sometimes it's your time, sometimes it's your teammates'."
"Always. Always," Rose said when asked if he was surprised by the reception. "You never know how important, or just the way that we played back then, how it affected people. To come here and see all the love and receive all the love that we got, it was unreal. "That's why I've never talked ill on the franchise or the people from the franchise. When I was here, it was nothing but love. I saw (former Bulls general manager) Pax (John Paxson) before the game, I ain't get a chance to see (Bulls President and CEO) Michael (Reinsdorf). But the way their family showed so much love to me, and Pax, the way he was honest the whole time I was here. It was all I asked for."
If you followed Boylen’s tumultuous, two-year tenure as the Bulls’ head coach at all, so much of this sounds familiar, from the cheesy motivation tactics, all the way to pushing his players far beyond their comfort zones. But there is one key difference now that he’s coaching Team USA. Those same tactics seem to be working. “I’m very direct, I think you see that,” Boylen told me last week, as we sat in the bleachers at the Washington Wizards’ practice facility, where Team USA worked out. “I was very direct in Chicago. I coached that Chicago team how John Paxson and Jerry Reinsdorf wanted it coached.”
“I’m very direct, I think you see that,” Boylen told me last week, as we sat in the bleachers at the Washington Wizards’ practice facility, where Team USA worked out. “I was very direct in Chicago. I coached that Chicago team how John Paxson and Jerry Reinsdorf wanted it coached.” Boylen is the coach of Team USA, but not the Team USA that plays in the 2023 World Cup, or the 2024 Paris Olympics. That’s Steve Kerr’s job. Boylen is coaching the Team USA that is trying to win enough games to qualify for the World Cup. He has a roster full of G Leaguers, instead of NBA All-Stars, and the games are spaced months apart. The new job is going well for Boylen, who has collected three wins against one defeat so far.
The Sun-Times reported in April of 2020 that the old regime had scouts heavily examining Jones as an addition to the roster. Even when that old regime was broken apart, John Paxson was still retained as an advisor and the scouting notes they had on Jones stayed in house. Not only was the 6-foot-5 Jones being coveted for his defense, but having another former Slam Dunk Contest winner to take to the same airways as Zach LaVine is never a bad thing for a team that wants to get out and push the ball in transition.
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Nearly 28 years have passed since former Phoenix Suns guard Dan Majerle first felt the anguish over losing to the Chicago Bulls in the 1993 NBA Finals. The hurt still lingers. So much so that Majerle admitted he still reflects on former Chicago Bulls guard John Paxson making a game-winning 3-pointer in a decisive Game 6 at least once a week. “I think about it a lot,” Majerle told USA TODAY Sports. “They show it a lot. But I do think about it a lot.”
KC Johnson: Joakim Noah is at Bulls-Jazz, sitting with John Paxson and Michael Reinsdorf in the owner’s suite. Noah, who has plans to sign a one-day deal to retire as a Bull, is in town for several reasons, including planning talks for his foundation @NoahsArcFdn
And in some sense, the fact the Bulls are drawing from executives who have varying backgrounds working for different franchises could help them. Each will bring different perspectives and predraft protocols to the table. The fact Karnišovas and Eversley are using holdovers like Brian Hagen and Steve Weinman also gives some of the previous regime's flavor. That regime had more draft hits than misses. I've heard Karnišovas has valued his relationship with senior adviser John Paxson, who ceded complete autonomy but is willing to assist the new regime whenever they ask him for any input.
As also was reported, the wild card in all of this is chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who could play the role of governor and make that last-second call to save Boylen. It’s very unlikely, considering multiple high-ranking sources in the organization have doubled down on the idea that while the Reinsdorfs and former VP of basketball operations-turned-advisor John Paxson like Boylen, they will not step on the trust they have in the new front office to make the right decisions.
Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley already have had detailed discussions with players and retained personnel from the previous regime and were getting enough mixed reviews that they were leaning toward starting with a new coach. Ownership and former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson have supported Boylen, but a source reiterated that Bulls president Michael Reins-dorf was by no means trying to influence the front office’s decision and would allow Boylen’s dismissal if Karnisovas wanted to go that route. No questions asked.
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The Sun-Times has reported that Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley have already had detailed discussions with players and retained personnel, and were getting enough mixed feedback of what’s gone on the last year that they were leaning toward starting with a new coach of their choosing. Ownership and former VP of basketball operations John Paxson have given support for Boylen, but a source reiterated that COO Michael Reinsdorf was by no means influencing the front office’s decision on the coach and would allow Boylen’s dismissal if Karnisovas wants to go that way. No questions asked.
In game 6 of 1993 nba finals, Why did you immediately kick out to paxson instead of putting it up for 2. It was absolutely the right basketball play to make, I’m just curious because it was a decision you made in an instant, so I would love to know if you had any thought process in that very brief moment or was it just off instincts. Horace Grant: It was a combination of both. It was a very instinctive play because I saw in my peripheral vision that Danny Ainge and Dan Majerle were right there. They were right there, and I knew that someone was open. And it just happened to be a great shooter like John Paxson. So it was a combination of basketball instincts, and knowing that I had two guys on me. For example, during the Bulls’ second three-peat, when John Stockton came over and double-teamed Michael Jordan, he passed it right to Steve Kerr who made the shot. So it was a combination of both.
Grant joined ‘Pardon My Take’ in recent days, where he talked about his relationship with MJ, all the rumors saying he gave Smith inside information of the Bulls and more. He explained that Smith had quoted several other players in the book, including Bill Cartwright and John Paxson among others. He added that Smith talked with assistant coaches, Phil Jackson and even played golf with Jordan himself. “I don’t know where did they come with that I was the source behind the book. That’s a straight-up lie,” Grant said.
However, things might be staying vague for a reason. The Sun-Times has learned that the Reinsdorfs, as well as former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson — now a senior advisor — would like Boylen to stay and have told him so.
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