John Paxson Putting All His Eggs In One Basket By Hiring Vinny Del Negro

John Paxson might be a genius.

John Paxson might be an idiot.

Unfortunately for the Chicago Bulls General Manager, a 52-game coaching search that saw two high-level candidates bolt at the last second has led some pundits to lead to the latter, at least for now, upon Paxson's hiring of Phoenix Suns' assistant general manager Vinny Del Negro as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls.

The reason? Del Negro's coaching experience. Which includes...uh, a whopping zero days on the bench of an NBA coaching staff. Whether it be as an assistant or otherwise.

But let's be honest. As much criticism as Paxson or any general manager takes for questionable personnel moves, they know what they're doing. At least for the most part. And Paxson would have to be completely out of his mind to hire Del Negro unless he was 100 percent certain that Del Negro, for lack of a better term, knew what the hell he was doing.

He would have to, right?

For Paxson's sake, he better. Because the man that took the Bulls from the post-MJ era apocalypse to the cusp of the NBA Finals is treading hot water after he watched his team sink to the bottom of the weak Eastern Conference.

To make matters worse, he saw the two superstars he couldn't pull the trigger on acquiring finish 1-2 in MVP voting and lead their teams to the NBA Finals.

Raise your hand if you still think Luol Deng is too much to give up for Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett.

*crickets chirping*

Nevertheless, the future appears bright for the Bulls. With the number one pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, Del Negro will have a potential superstar in Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose to tutor as he attempts to lead a resurgence in the Windy City.

Unfortunately, he also has a roster full of guys who have seemingly turned from rising stars to whiny underachievers overnight. Couple that with the freakishly athletic but completely unpredictable Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, and Del Negro will have a lot of questions to answer about his team this fall.

A few of the problems he, along with Paxson, are stuck with. Kirk Hinrich is stuck with a contract far higher than his value that peak in the base years and, as a result, is nearly impossible to move.

But one thing is for sure, the roster Del Negro has inherited will likely look much different come training camp. And all of it, including Del Negro, will be on the hands of Paxson.

If Del Negro can show that he's improved the team substantially and perhaps make a playoff run (not impossible in the East), than Paxson survives at least for another year.

But if the team is still plagued by unenthusiastic, error-filled basketball, Del Negro's stint as an NBA head coach may be short-lived.

And the clock will begin ticking on Paxson's as the Bulls' general manager.

Paxson at least has the support of his owner, Jerry Reinsdorf. Reinsdorf himself was among the Bulls executives who sat in on the second interview with Del Negro. And whatever was said was obviously impressive, even to Reinsdorf, who wouldn't have signed off on the deal otherwise.

The fact that Paxson gambled with this hiring is no secret, and the criticism the Bulls have received in doing so is well-deserved given their history.

But whether or not it's a winning gamble or not, only time will answer.