The Tribune and Sun-Times and The Score all reporting that the Bulls have hired Doug Collins again to head coach the team. BIG surprise. (Seriously.) I really hope Doug's picked up some new stress management skills. In his stints with Washington and Detroit, the stress visibly affected him. Dude looked unhealthy. As much as I care about the Bulls, I care more about someone I know not keeling over of a heart attack. He was fantastic as a TNT analyist, and that's a nice comfy job that doesn't spike your blood pressure ever fifteen minutes.

I talked to my mom, she says the talk around town is that this is a short-term gig, to start turning things around and grooming someone who's almost ready to take over in a couple or three years. The Sun-Times article says "Expect one of the other candidates general manager John Paxson interviewed to be one of Collins' assistants." Given that the Milwaukee staff was dumped when they hired Scott Skiles, that means Brian James is available. (That's BJ just behind Doug, so that photo's from Detroit or DC.) That would be cool if he's the assistant the article talks about. Back in the day, Toronto liked him as an eventual head coach. He knows the game better than anyone I've ever known, so I know he could do it... I know nothing, I haven't talked to anybody, so I have no information, but it's one of those "Wow, wouldn't it be cool if?" kind of things...