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Del Negro makes coaching debut as Bulls meet Skiles, Bucks

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:23 PM MILWAUKEE AT CHICAGO, 8:30pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- It's only fitting that Vinny Del Negro's coaching debut with the Chicago Bulls should come in a head-to-head meeting against one of his predecessors.

He finds himself in that exact position on Tuesday night as the new-look Bulls play host to Scott Skiles and the slightly re-tooled Milwaukee Bucks.

A year ago, Skiles was at the helm in Chicago, coaching a team predicted by many to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Instead, the team stumbled out of the gate and he was fired after 25 games. After interim coach Jim Boylan was not retained at the end of the season, the Bulls went for a wild card in Del Negro, a former front-office executive with the Phoenix Suns who has no head coaching experience.

He brought with him an up-tempo offense, enhanced it with the selection of point guard Derrick Rose with the first overall pick in the draft and finished the preseason with an impressive flurry of three straight victories.

While Del Negro's system and coaching style will likely take some time to settle in, the fact remains the Bulls still have many pieces of the nucleus that presumably was going to take them deep into the playoffs last year. Many of those pieces, of course, were put together and molded by Skiles himself.

The veteran head coach caught on with the Bucks this offseason after Larry Krystkowiak was fired - and that wasn't the only change they made. The team dealt starting point guard Mo Williams to Cleveland, then acquired forward Richard Jefferson - who set a career high with 22.6 points per game last season -in the deal that sent Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons to New Jersey.

Skiles, Jefferson and eighth-overall draft pick Joe Alexander each make their regular-season Milwaukee debuts at the United Center on Tuesday.

The Bucks - who went 26-56 last year and haven't recorded a winning campaign since the 2002-03 season's 42-win showing - are in rebuilding mode, but have hopes that it could be a relatively smooth transition. In Skiles' last coaching stint with the Bulls, he won just 19 games in his first year before leading them to a 47-35 mark and a playoff appearance in his second season.