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Blame it all on Pax

 

March 24, 2004

 

BY ROMAN MODROWSKI Staff Reporter

 

 

 

 

 

As John Paxson approaches his one-year anniversary as the Bulls' operations chief, he wanted to make sure people know who to blame for the team's poor showing.

 

He didn't blame his players or injuries, as some general managers have done, and he didn't remain silent to let his coach absorb all the criticism. Paxson pointed the finger of blame at just one person Tuesday.

 

''If you want to assign blame, the blame's on me, because I assembled this team,'' Paxson said. ''We're not blaming our players for anything that's gone on. We believe in our young players. Nobody has given up on them.''

 

Paxson's words were followed by another loss as the Bulls (20-51) fell 84-81 to the New Jersey Nets (42-28), who were without injured players Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin.

 

Jamal Crawford scored a game-high 34 points.

 

The Bulls started slowly but said it wasn't due to any hangover from an embarrassing loss the previous night at Indiana, where coach Scott Skiles benched four of his starters for much of the second half.

 

''The starters understand what happened and that it wasn't personal,'' said Eddy Curry, who scored 12 points against the Nets. ''It wasn't to embarrass anybody or to purposely lose the game, or anything like that.''

 

Curry believes there are going to be major personnel changes this summer, and while he thinks he might be part of the changes, the moves are more likely to affect Crawford and Tyson Chandler. In the meantime, Curry said players are trying to stay on Skiles' good side.

 

''Everybody likes Skiles and what he's trying to do and what he's trying to get out of us,'' Curry said. ''Right now, I think everybody is trying to buy into the program and work hard for him.

 

''He said he doesn't really hold grudges, but you don't want to get on his bad side. You want to play well for him and compete on the court.''

 

Paxson said Skiles employs a direct style and has been great with the players in practice. Paxson acknowledged there's always a danger of a coach losing his players during trying times, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Skiles.

 

''It's not an indictment of our players,'' Paxson said of Skiles' moves. ''We're trying to give them structure to help them.

 

''A lot of things we're demanding of our young guys are things that would have been demanded of them had they gone to college. That's kind of a given, and we've met some resistance with it. I think it's us trying to treat them like men, like young professionals. We're trying to show them the way we've seen guys in the past go about their business.''

 

Even Eddie Robinson, who has complained about playing time, said the players still are on board with Skiles.

 

''He's still our coach, and as long as there are games to play, you have to respond to him,'' Robinson said. ''It's about being a professional.''

 

 

NOTE: Paul Shirley will be hospitalized for several days after suffering a bruised kidney Monday at Indiana. Shirley and Jannero Pargo will be kept for the remainder of the season with an option for summer-league play. Shirley will be placed on the injured list, and Marcus Fizer will be activated.

Glad to see Pax isn't playing the blame game. It is a real stand up move, and would be real easy to blame someone else...