Before the game Tuesday against the Pacers at the United Center, Bulls general manager Gar Forman tried to mitigate the media frenzy over coach Vinny Del Negro's job status.
''Vinny is our coach,'' Forman said. ''Our goal is to get better each and every day. We as a management team are exploring all options to get better. We expect our coaches to work each and every day to get this team better.''
Even though such proclamations are basically meaningless, Forman was pressed about whether he'd give Del Negro ''a vote of confidence'' by committing that he would finish the season.
''I feel we shouldn't talk about evaluations with any personnel that we do internally,'' Forman said. ''We are all being evaluated at all times. That goes from me to our management staff to our coaching staff to our players, and those are things that we keep internally.''
Is management behind Del Negro? ''Our organization is behind what we're doing,'' Forman said. ''We're still optimistic of where we're going. Like I said, I don't think anybody is happy where we're at today, and our goal is to get better each day."
Even though guard John Salmons is coming off the bench, Del Negro didn't agree when someone suggested he has a lesser role.
''I have to go with the guys that are performing the best,'' Del Negro said. ''John's had a lot of opportunities, and he'll have more. We need John to play well, so he doesn't need to be tentative or worry about that. Just go out and play hard on the defensive end, get after it, move the basketball, make plays off the dribble -- which he's very capable of doing -- and score when the opportunity's there.''
Salmons played well in the first half offensively, scoring five points on 2-for-3 shooting in 12 minutes. He then was pressed into duty quickly in the second half after starter Kirk Hinrich picked up his fourth foul four minutes into the third quarter.
Salmons responded with one of his better quarters of the season, scoring 12 points on 3-for-4 shooting in eight minutes. He finished with 17 points.
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