Reinsdorf Speaks Out: this season "has been a disaster" and "embarrassing"

Speaking calmly and without rancor, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro reacted to team Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf's classification that this season "has been a disaster" and "embarrassing" with an answer that belied his rookie coaching status.
"Managing expectations is the hardest thing in this business," Del Negro said. "They didn't win 60 games last year. They didn't have a rookie point guard. They didn't have the injuries we've had."
You can't compare years. You can't compare teams. You just have to go with what you have, build confidence in these young players, find roles for everybody—which you can't—and try to put your team in position to get some wins."
Reinsdorf made his comments during a Friday morning interview in Chicago on Comcast SportsNet's "Monsters in the Morning." Del Negro spoke following the Bulls' shootaround Friday afternoon at the Kings' practice facility.
The 19-27 Bulls face the Kings Friday night.Asked how he'd classify his working relationship with general manager John Paxson and Reinsdorf, Del Negro said: "Great. No problems. Very open. Very professional. Totally fine."Del Negro chalked Reinsdorf's strong comments up to competitiveness."That's just Jerry trying to motivate and get guys going," Del Negro said. "Jerry wants to win just like every owner and every coach. It's not easy. Managing expectations is very easy to talk about it but hard to do. And it takes time. Some people are more patient than others.
"Jerry is a great owner. He lets you go do your job. We'll talk once in awhile. We'll text once in awhile. He just wants to win like everybody. Frustration builds for him just like everybody else. You always want to do better. That's what we're trying to do. So I focus on what I can control and that's making this team better. And I feel we are."

Here's the full transcript of Reinsdorf's interview with Mike North and Dan Jiggetts on the TV show:Mike North: You have a coach that has a two-year deal. … Going into next year, if you do keep Vinny Del Negro, would he considered a lame duck coach?Jerry Reinsdorf: I think he's signed for three years.

Mike North: Is one an option year?
Jerry Reinsdorf: I don't think so. I don't remember. I don't think so.
Mike North: Where would you rate this season?
Jerry Reinsdorf: You want the grade up till today? What's the lowest grade you can give? This has been a disaster. It's embarrassing. But it will get better.
Mike North: With the same people?Jerry Reinsdorf: Well, we'll see. John Paxson is not going to let this situation continue.
Dan Jiggetts: How comfortable are you with John at the helm?
Jerry Reinsdorf: When you have a team that's not performing it's an organization failure. You win and you lose as an organization. But if there's one person that is not responsible for what's going on right now, it's John Paxson. I have tremendous confidence in John Paxson. He's really one of the best people that I know. He's a great general manager and a great judge of talent. I just worry that he not be too hard on himself. He takes all of this very, very seriously.
Mike North: To say that he's not at all responsible … he brought in the players. So are the players not being coached up?
Jerry Reinsdorf: I have a lot of thoughts about that but they're not thoughts that I really can say publicly. All I know is what we have right now is not good and we have to get it better. They are playing hard in the last half-dozen or so games. We had some games where…
Mike North: You knew they were mailing it in.
Jerry Reinsdorf: They were mailing it in and I felt like standing up and booing along with everybody else. They're not mailing it in anymore.
Jerry Reinsdorf: We have a great player in Derrick Rose. When I first got involved with the Bulls, we had one great player (Michael Jordan). When we won our first championship, he was the only player left from the original team. We will build around Derrick Rose. Every player that's added to this team will be a player who can feed off of him. … This is not going to take changing 11 players. We do have some pretty good players on this club. Obviously what we lack is an inside presence. That's the biggest thing we are missing and somehow we have to find it.