Report: Skiles could be the choice in Chicago

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday that Skiles could be named the successor to the fired Bill Cartwright as early as Friday. The paper cited a team source as saying the two sides were working toward an agreement.

Cartwright was fired Monday with the Bulls off to a 4-10 start. Pete Myers has been tabbed as the interim coach and will guide Chicago in games Tuesday at Dallas and Wednesday in San Antonio.

Skiles, 39, spent parts of three seasons as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, posting a record of 116-79. He took over for Danny Ainge in December 1999 and led Phoenix to a 40-22 record, plus a first-round playoff series victory over San Antonio.

The Suns were 51-31 in Skiles’ lone full season on the bench in 2000-01. He then resigned on February 17, 2002 with the club off to a 25-26 start.

Skiles played 10 seasons in the NBA after being selected with the 22nd overall pick of the 1986 draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He averaged 11.1 points and 6.5 assists in 600 career games with Milwaukee, Indiana, Orlando, Washington and Philadelphia, and still holds the NBA record for assists in a game with 30 in a December 30, 1990 contest against Denver.