The opening comment salvo in response to anything that's first reported on by Peter Vecsey usually runs along the lines of, "Vecsey wrote it ... ‘nuf said."

Well, no. That's not enough. Vecsey isn't even in the top three of the worst of the NBA scribe maker-uppers (a solid fourth!), and while he's wrong a lot, he's still right often enough to pay attention to. With that huge grain of salt.

So when he reports that Bulls GM John Paxson will resign soon after Thursday's trade deadline, and I know I'm falling into a trap here, it kind of makes sense.

After all, Paxson was the man who didn't want to stay an assistant coach under Phil Jackson back in 1996, worried about the wear and tear it would have on his psyche, to say nothing of the time spent away from his family post-playing days. So it's not a stretch to suggest that he may have had enough of this racket.

And the guy ... he doesn't look all that hot. It's been a tumultuous nearly-six year reign for Pax, and he's aged in President years in his time as Bulls GM.

The idea that Doug Collins could swoop in as coach and GM makes sense, as well. When Collins passed on taking the Bulls job last summer, the outgoing message he sent the media regarding his appreciation for Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf scanned pretty poorly. It was weird. It was fawning. It seemed like there was some sort of agenda to it.

So to think that those sorts of mash notes could lead to Reinsdorf eventually paying what Collins wanted, making up for the gulf in money by handing him more responsibility as a GM as well, it makes sense. And because it'd be the worst basketball move the Bulls have made since trading for Jalen Rose, it makes sense, because Jerry Reinsdorf doesn't really want to put that much effort into his basketball operations.

Losing John Paxson as GM would be the third-worst thing that could happen to the Chicago Bulls at this point. Hiring a coach/GM to replace him would be the second-worst.

Hiring Doug Collins, a man who has flamed out of three different jobs while showcasing a pretty awful sense of who should be on the court vs. who shouldn't, while demanding his teams work at some of the slowest paces in the NBA, would be the absolute worst. But, these are the Bulls. And this is Reinsdorf.

I'm not going to go over Paxson's history in this post. If he does call it quits, then we'll get into his up and down tenure in a more exacting column. His biggest screwup was signing Ben Wallace, no doubt about it, and his biggest perceived screwup was appearing to be in the running for either Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant at a time when the Timberwolves, Grizzlies, and Lakers were all adamantly opposed to trading any of those players. But because there was supposed smoke there, people assume he had a chance on those guys, but passed.

That was wrong back then, and that's wrong right now, but you'll hear that all over ESPN tonight.

So, be an informed reader, and don't litter the comment section with re-told fables. And we'll see what happens to Paxson next week.