Slam Dunk Central

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In yet another exercise in a lack of accountability on the Chicago Bulls, team head coach Jim Boylan fined guard Chris Duhon and held him out of the game against the Detroit Pistons; to prove how well Duhon took the punishment, he - at least in my opinion - blew it off, telling John Jackson of the Chicago Sun Times,?”I haven’t been playing the last six or seven games.? I don’t plan to even be in the rotation.? The Boston thing happened because of foul trouble and guys were off and I guess he wanted to try something new.? Usually, I don’t play anyway, so it doesn’t have that much of an effect on me.”

The problem with that exzcuse was the fact that had Duhon been available as he should have been, the Bulls, against the Pistons, had 2 guards in early foul trouble in Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon; also factor in that Thabo Sefolosha was down with a strained left groin and they were short in the backcourt.? so the Bulls had to turn to Shannon Brown who before that game doesn’t get to play much more than garbage time under different circumstances.

But it gets better; besides explaining away partially his absence, he added the coup de grace.? Duhon says that he didn’t get his wake-up call; of course, there is also the time he spent in North Carolina to attend the Duke-UNC game last Saturday.? While Duhon chartered a plane, he didn’t arrive back at the team’s hotel until the late hours of the morning.? This folks is why: 1- The Bulls are out of control once again.? Not Scott Skiles out-of-control, but out-of-control nonetheless.? 2- The Bulls will from time-to-time lose their focus with distractions such as this for the balance of this season.? Third and just as important, the Bulls will not make the playoffs.? An accumulation of incidents tend to tear apart, not unite a team - and the Bulls are a perfect example of this.