Salmons takes Del Negro's benching hard

The questions surrounding Vinny Del Negro's job security intensify by the day. People all around the city, and for that matter, the country seem to be waiting for the ax to fall on the embattled Chicago Bulls coach.

In the meantime, the Bulls remain maddeningly inconsistent and continue to have issues on the offensive end. Their energy level appears close to empty on most nights, and when they do start playing hard, it's usually not enough.

Del Negro made several interesting decisions during Tuesday night's game against the New York Knicks that could have longer-term ramifications on the psyche of his team, whether he remains as coach in the next few weeks or not.

At the start of the second half, he inserted Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson back into the starting rotation, replacing the under-performing Brad Miller and John Salmons. Neither player has played particularly well this season, but Salmons obviously took the news hard.

"I guess it was said today that I'm pretty much the reason we're losing," Salmons said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "I just have to stay with it and hopefully still help the team win. I haven't been playing up to my potential. It's something I have to deal with. We're losing, I haven't been playing well. I just got taken out of the lineup, so put two and two together."

There's no question the Bulls' problems go a lot deeper than just Salmons, but the move appears to have shaken his confidence even more. The good news for Del Negro is that Tyrus Thomas may be back in the lineup on Saturday against the New Orleans Hornets, which means that for the first time since early November, all the key contributors on the Bulls roster should be healthy and ready to go.

(espn.com)