Well that's an interesting curveball. I would have put the chances of the Bulls hiring a former coach at worse odds than the Chicago's chances of winning the lottery. Apparently, anything is possible this offseason.

Nothing is official, but the Daily Herald and Sun-Times are both reporting the deal is nearly done.

Collins originally coached the Bulls from 1986-1989, taking the franchise to its best record in 15 years with 50 wins during the 87-88 season. In 1989, with just a little help from Michael Jordan, the Bulls reached the conference finals before losing to Detroit. He was surprisingly fired after that series in favor of his assistant Phil Jackson.

So after sorting through the coaches who have been fairly successful, but nothing special (D'Antoni, Avery Johnson, and Jeff Van Gundy), and the hot assistant coaches (Tom Thibodeau, Dwane Casey, and Michael Curry), John Paxson decided to go back to the future.

I'm torn.

On one hand I look at his track record and for the better part of his career he's turned teams around and won a lot of games. His track record for teaching young talent is attractive, considering the youth currently on the roster and the addition of Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley later this month. And he's certainly a good basketball mind on TNT broadcasts, save for his winded, condescending tone.

On the other hand, Doug F-ing Collins. Seriously? He last coached the Bulls nearly 20 years ago and his last gig was with the Washington Wizards in 2003 when Michael hand selected him to sit on the bench and pretend to be the coach.

Collins is also essentially Scott Skiles with a little more charisma - a dogged obsession with defense and a demanding impeccable work ethic. That all sounds great, but we know the Bulls are comprised of many mental midgets.

I was hoping Paxson would dig up a young coaching talent, likely Thibodeau, or even roll the dice with Eric Snow. That said, I think Chicago has taken enough chances with the players currently on the roster so you might as well know what you're getting into and Paxson knows Collins well.

From these early reports, it appears one of the young coaching candidates interviewed will join the new head coach as an apprentice to be groomed for the job in a few years.

I'll settle on this - so long as he doesn't go for the Max Headroom look again - I'll embrace the hire.