Who is Tim Floyd?

Floyd couldn't win Jordan over, though. Before Floyd was hired, Jordan vowed never to play for any coach but Jackson. Jordan kept his promise once the lockout ended.

Kansas coach Roy Williams, an assistant at North Carolina from 1977 to '88, spoke to Jordan twice on Floyd's behalf. "I told Michael I thought he would like Coach Floyd," Williams says. "I did try to help Tim as best I could."

Floyd will need all the help he can get. Finding scoring punch beyond Toni Kukoc will be a challenge. For example, in an 89-83 exhibition loss to the Pacers last week, Kukoc went on a tear, scoring 25 of his 32 points in a second-half rally. But no one else on the team scored more than 13 points in the game.

"I'm encouraged," Floyd said after starting Kukoc, Brent Barry, Ron Harper, Randy Brown and Bill Wennington. "It seems like we have a bunch of guys that are competitors."

Not so encouraging was the sight of the Bulls missing their first 10 shots and the Pacers going up 10-0 with nearly half the quarter gone. "I heard a guy behind me say, `This is going to be the first shutout,'" Floyd says.

Arizona coach Lute Olson fears Floyd won't get a fair shake, and he could be right. When Floyd was introduced before a so-called fan appreciation scrimmage at United Center, the response was a mixture of applause and boos.

With a crew of NBA vagabonds and orphans filling out the Bulls' roster, patience will be more than a virtue. It will be a key to Floyd's survival.

"It's next to an impossible situation," Olson says. "It's similar to replacing Red Auerbach or John Wooden. Probably even more difficult because of the stated problems between players and management."

Wallace does not share Olson's concern.

"I can't emphasize how smart and perceptive (Floyd) is," Wallace says. "He isn't going to jam his philosophy of basketball down anybody's throat."

He'd better not. Any reformed college coach better not do all the things he did at old State U.

On the sideline, Jackson was relatively calm. Floyd, on the other hand, is very intense. That won't change, but some of his behavior must:

* He must stop living and dying with his team's every possession.

* No obsessing over every negative word written or said about him. Despite those highly acclaimed people skills, Floyd feuded with The Daily Tribune in Ames, mostly over Iowa State's high player turnover. He shut out a local all-sports radio station. Floyd chewed out a Des Moines TV anchor. If he shows as much thin skin on West Madison Street, friends tell him, he'll last about as long as Stan Albeck.

Let it go, Tim, they say. Rise above it. Put away the enemies list. Learn from Jackson's detachment. The voice in Floyd's head tells him all that, but will he listen? Floyd knows he'll have to change some of his hard-driving ways. Toning the intensity down a notch--or at least spreading it out over 82 games (50 this season)--is a must.