As a Bulls fan, I feel the need to clarify the Jordan/Collins thing. Jordan did not want Collins fired. He did not get Collins fired. And Jackson wasn't a "Jordan request." The firing of Collins had everything to do with a power struggle between Jerry Krause and Doug Collins. Krause had his beliefs on what he wanted, Collins disagreed. Jackson was coaching in the CBA and was a fishing buddy of Krause. So Krause canned Collins and hired Jackson.
I've long held the belief that the Bulls would have won those titles with Collins just as they did with Jackson. Collins was a brilliant coach. His problem in Chicago was that he didn't have enough talent. He had Jordan, but he had a very young Pippen, Armstrong, and Grant. Despite that, he had gotten the Bulls to the Eastern Conference finals, falling just short of beating the Pistons (the second straight year that the Pistons beat the Bulls in the playoffs).
Enter Jackson. In the 1990 season, the Bulls were a year older, a year more experienced together, and they again fell to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals.
It wasn't until their fourth shot that the Bulls finally toppled the Pistons. But I'd argue that was more a function of Jordan's supporting cast finally coming into their own. Pippen and Grant were entering their fourth seasons and were just finally filling out their bodies (back then, most college players weren't ready for the physicality of the NBA as weight training was not yet en vogue for youngsters). The Bulls finally had a group that was ready to challenge the Pistons. And the Pistons were finally getting older and less ready to battle the younger Bulls. So the Bulls won it all. From there, the rest is history. Jordan and Pippen would team up for 6 titles in their next 6 full seasons together, and Jackson's legend was born.
But in reality, I think it has less to do with Phil's zen and everything to do with Pippen, Grant, and others finally being ready to complement Jordan in their championship runs. And I think that would have happened anyway had Krause not fired Collins.
But back to the Collins/Jordan thing. It was Krause, not Jordan, that wanted Collins out. In fact, Jordan thought enough of Collins as a coach to hire him for the Wizards job when Jordan was GM.
Looks like Danny got him a very promising head coach, and a buffer, all in the same person. The buffer for whom, big brother John, who is the kicker for the hire, RGIII's own special, secret unofficial but oh so powerful quarterback, personal approach to teammates, PR, and all other things on and off the field, coach/advisor, none other than big brother John, with whom RGIII showed a wonderful rapport during that post draft quarterback debriefing John does with no. 1 draft picks.
Here's the real kicker. John was all over Cousins as being an enormous talent from the preseason on and advocated well before the move that Cousins be given a chance to show what he's got. RGIII has his best chance to prove himself, but there very definitely is an excellent Plan B, or so it seems, Cousins might still be traded but I doubt it, so it ain't RGIII's team. Probably, will never be unless and until RGIII proves he can be all that. I'd love to see it, but have serious doubts, no longer of the deva front, but for the other reasons stated.
Danny, I think, has performed admirably throughout and continues to. In fact, this move is special.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013