Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash may very well wind up capturing league MVP honors, but no one has profoundly affected the NBA?s landscape this season more than Shaquille O?Neal.

 Not only has Shaq?s departure from the Lakers over the off-season sent that franchise down a seemingly bottomless pit of mediocrity (nope, Kobe, you aren?t the man) and turn his new team, the Miami Heat, into legitimate title contenders, but with The Big Aristotle out of the Western Conference, the league as a whole has become much more competitively balanced.

 Parity has been rampant throughout the NBA this season, meaning a lot of teams expected to be mere pretenders before the campaign started are now all of sudden contenders as the playoffs draw near.  With so many feel-good stories, the league?s Coach of the Year race is, to say the least, up for grabs.

 There have been many stellar coaching performances turned in this season.  From Mike D?Antoni in Phoenix to Nate McMillan in Seattle to Stan Van Gundy in Miami to Rick Carlisle in Indiana to even George Karl in Denver, who may or may not have enough games on his resume to receive consideration, there are many viable candidates worthy of the honor.  

 One name that is often left out of the conversation, however, is Bulls head coach Scott Skiles.  Baffling considering Skiles, if I had a vote, would be my hands-down choice as the NBA?s top bench boss this season.

 To shun Skiles only suggests you haven?t paid attention to just how horrible the ?Baby? Bulls have been since the end of their championship era and how far they?ve come this season.

 The Bulls have been for all intents and purposes the laughing stock of league since MJ and Co. culminated their dynasty run at the end of the 1997-98 campaign with their sixth title in eight years.  Chicago?s 119-341 record the last six seasons represents the worst six-year stretch in NBA history, and coming off the heels of an underachieving 23-win campaign in ?03-?04, not much was expected from Skiles, considered by some to be on the hot seat even before the season started, or the Bulls.

 Yet with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Skiles-led Bulls have been one of the NBA?s biggest surprises and currently its hottest team.  

 Winners of nine straight, Chicago (41-31) is tied with the Washington Wizards for the third best record in the East, and if the playoffs started today would host the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs in a very intriguing 4-5 matchup.  Certainly nothing to scoff at - especially considering not only how feeble the franchise has been in recent years, but also the relative youth of the roster itself.

 Chicago (along with the Wizards) has the fourth youngest roster in the league, with an average age of 25.5 years, and, when everyone is healthy - a rarity for the Bulls this season ? with the exception of 36-year-old Antonio Davis, does not boast a starter over the age of 25.   Yet in his first full season on the job, Skiles has his young Bulls all on the same page, playing the type of hard-nosed basketball, in particular on the defensive end, needed to go a long way in the playoffs.

 In fact, Skiles? blueprint for success - play stifling defense, and then counter by running on teams in transition - largely resembles Larry Brown?s championship formula in Detroit.  And the results speak for themselves.  

 Chicago ranks atop the NBA in opponents' field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot just .420% from the field, while holding teams to a smudge over 93 points per game, good for seventh in the league. And even though more teams today live and die with the 3-point shot, the Bulls have been able to limit the damage from behind the arc for the most part, allowing foes to shoot only .335%, good for fifth in the NBA.  While the Bulls also rank eighth in the league in forced turnovers (14.8 per game), they do cough up the ball more than anyone else to the tune of 16.4 a game.  But at least during the regular season, a stingy defense has helped disguise the turnover problem.

 In addition to changing his team?s on-court persona, Skiles must also be given credit for the way he has transformed his own reputation.  

 Once considered a fiery (to put it mildly) taskmaster type during his first head coaching stint in Phoenix, where he butted heads with, among others, star point guard Jason Kidd, Skiles has mellowed somewhat with the Bulls.  

 Though he remains a vocal presence from the sidelines (trust me, you can?t miss hearing Skiles? voice during the course of a game, be it calling a play from the bench or disputing a call on the floor) and is still demanding of his players (just ask center Eddy Curry, who Skiles has helped whip into legitimate game shape for the first time in his four-year career), he has adapted nicely to his role as a teacher.

?If you?re going to be good at (coaching), and this is my opinion, you have to make adjustments in your style that fits your group,? said Skiles regarding his new demeanor.  ?You can?t be rigid.  One group may need one thing, one may need another.  And the same thing applies day to day.  One day, your team may need a strong push, while another day they have all kinds of energy and you can just talk and break things down and be very businesslike.?  

 While D?Antoni, who many expect to be the Coach of the Year recipient when it?s all said and done, has a former Rookie of the Year in Amare Stoudemire, one of the league?s best all-around players in Shawn Marion and a bona fide floor general and league MVP candidate in Steve Nash at his disposal, Skiles ?merely? has a collection of scrappy role players who are willing to pay the price for success.  Other than rookie Ben Gordon, who has ?special? written all over him but is still, to some degree, a raw talent, the Bulls are not blessed with a true franchise-type superstar, yet they may very well give both the Heat and Pistons a run for their money come playoff time.  

 In other words, more than any other candidate, Scott Skiles is doing more with less, which in the end should give him the nod as the league?s Coach of the Year, though he?ll likely be skipped over.

But that?s okay.  I?m sure Skiles as well as Bulls fans are looking forward instead to the franchise?s first playoff appearance in seven seasons.  

Kostas.Bolos@realgm.com