http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/stor...lls-nuts-let-tom-thibodeau-go-doc-rivers-says A good question would be why would a right minded organization try and piss off said asset by firing his top assistant? Maybe the org replaces Thibs with the retired Hinrich once they drive him off?
Well, based on your post and using your logic, anyone that Thibodeau likes should be able to do whatever the fuck he wants to because it will keep King Tom happy. We both know this is silly. Every NBA head coach not named Gregg Popovich is more likely than not going to get fired in the next 3 years. A harsh reality particularly for those who fall in love with head coaches. Fortunately for me, I'm not one of these.
Thibs is the ideal coach for the Bulls. He can win with whatever talent the team is willing to pay for. The problem is he's not an organization coach, but a players' coach. Adams couldn't have done something serious enough to warrant being fired. That bar is low... Punching the coach gets you a promotion.
You many not be one of these, but you'll play these, right? As for the Bulls, I like things that give the Bulls a competitive advantage. Thibs is such an asset. It would be foolish to do anything to upset the head coaching apple cart we have here. We have one of the best in the business. We don't have a top 3 player at any positions on the court, but at least we have a top 3 head coach. He should be kept happy and retained. It seems stupid to not do such a thing. I can't imagine what on Earth Ron Adams could have done to warrant being let go. Probably just a thuggish power move by a management.
I might have issues with Thibodeau, but I'll say this: he seems to go a long way mitigating the front office weirdness. You could say the same thing about Doc Rivers. Thibs gives the Bulls some credibility.
And he is also exposing the weirdness to the rest of the league once again. And once the org drives Thibs off - goodbye Thibs credibility. And the Bulls wonder why free agents don't choose to come here? Remember the post Deng Paxson press conference? Paxson prickilly responded to a reporters question about the negative reputation the Bulls have around the league like "what do you mean? what reputation?" There's a reason he's squirreled himself off away from public scrutiny in his new position and lets Gar handle things most of the time. He really doesn't understand. They publically threw Team Rose under the bus by leaking things last season. They fired the assistant of a top 3 NBA coach for strange, unknown reasons which did nothing other than piss off the head coach. The rest of the guys are comparing the Bulls org to Major League management. The Bulls seem to be top notch talent averse. Meanwhile, Kirk Hinrich signs a multi year above market deal and gets announced last at home games.
Someone once said, "It's not that important whether you're good or bad...what's important is that you're memorable." With this in mind, thanks, K4E. The organization is paying Thibodeau fairly. The front office should take Thibodeau's personnel thoughts into consideration when making personnel decisions, but the front office should make the decisions they think are best. If some of them piss off Thibodeau, so be it. Like you, I don't know what Ron Adams could have done to warrant being let go. I leave it there.
Given that the only real plausible reason I've read as to why a player like Melo would want to come to the Chicago Bulls, a team that has a very hard time attracting top notch free agents, was that Melo would like to play for a coach like Thibs, and that he's a top 3 in the NBA coach to begin with, its better be a very, very serious reason. That is, if the goal is to build an elite NBA team. You need to retain the top 3 in the NBA assets. Even more so if those top 3 in the NBA assets can attract other top tier in the NBA assets. Noone is coming here to play for a GarPax org. Except Hinrich or Boozer if you overpay them.
You've invented a new thing...the "top-3 asset." Maybe it'll become as popular as the "2nd option" which has gained serious traction over the past couple years. Might Forman be a top-3 GM? I suppose not. Does Fred Tedeschi get any love as a top-3 trainer? Again, I guess not. FWIW, I think Vogel's caught Thibodeau and if the Pacers win the EC, he'll pass him. Sorry. Thibodeau's a talented employee of the Bulls. He's shown no primadonna tendencies. I hope he stays.
Me too. He's one of the only real assets the Bulls have. If he leaves, he'll do great at his next stop while GarPax will likely get another Del Negro. Let's hope they listen to Doc Rivers, NBA Champion coach and keep a coach happy that gets mentioned a reason why a player like Carmelo Anthony would like to play here. Our other asset is motivating himself to play this season to stick it to management Major League style. Let's hope the former MVP doesn't get pissed about all of this.
It's probably a good thing that I don't run the Bulls 'cause I wouldn't much want to hear anyone bitching about anything. This season and last have been good examples of business risk in action. All the players and coaches are getting paid to be championship-level, but it's been money down the toilet. So when you raise the issue of whether the Bulls' "former MVP" might get pissed, the same former MVP who will have cashed checks for $34 mil by the end of this season without doing jackshit for the team for 2 years, I hope you'll excuse me if I say I don't give a shit.
I don't give a shit about what Rose wants either. Let him be MVP for another season and then make demands. Otherwise, he's like Greg Oden making demands of the Blazers (or now Heat). "I'll play these" is classic. It really does say it all. To you, it means "we're more than good enough." To some of us, it means "I have a pair of jacks and can draw three to better my hand, but won't. I'll play these." Vogel does happen to have mostly healthy and very talented players. Perhaps better than ours, at each position including C.
You can't run a successful NBA franchise by not really caring about what your MVP level talent thinks or what your top 3 in the NBA, USA Basketball caliber NBA coach thinks or actively screwing with them in stupid power plays. The Clippers could have been hard asses about Chris Paul wanting to pick his coach last summer. They accommodated him and they got to keep Chris Paul. Do you think the Heat treat their guys like the Bulls do? You never read articles about how screwy the top organizations in the league are. So, Thibs is going to be part of USA Basketball. USA Basketball contacts is how the Heat superteam was formed that has resulted in 2 NBA championships. Do you really want the Bulls 2 representatives on that squad talking about how strange the Bulls are, how they leak injury information and fire your top assistants for no reason, or do you want them talking the Bulls up trying to get Heat 2.0 going in Chicago? You have to keep your talent happy in talent-centric businesses.
You should avoid pissing key people off for no reason. On this I'll gladly agree, but you can't "manage scared." As for happy, Jordan never seemed all that happy. Personally, I think happy is overrated.
Lots of bits of information in this thread. If I can sprinkle my opinion in here....... I seem to be somewhere inbetween K4E and Transplant on this. I don't blame the Bulls for their financial decisions. I actually think they've been more lenient here than they're given credit for. They went into the luxury tax last year because of the option value of Rose coming back healthy. From what I can tell they also didn't pressure him into coming back even though credible people were saying they could (like Steve Kerr). They looked like they were willing to do the same this year too until Deng and Rose went down. So I don't think they're Scrooges in that regard. When it comes to FA, they clearly don't have the same cache as Miami/NYC/LA, but they look like a solid second behind those guys. We signed Ben Wallace (he was the best FA that year even though he didn't work out). Boozer signed here for less money than he was being offered elsewhere. Ditto for Kirk and Dunleavy. We have a lot more luck in this area than other teams. I'm also of the opinion that Thibs is great. These days I'm inclined to think the big reason we took a big jump in 2010-2011 is because of Rose's ascension to MVP and Thibs. The FA signing was secondary to all that. I'm usually mum on the value of coaches, but Thibs seems like one of those rare guys that truly adds value. And like K4E said, he seems to be held in very high esteem around the league.
I'm also coming around to thinking that Rose's ascension to MVP level has much to do with playing for Thibs as well. Its no coincidence that every year our point guard has a career year for the most part. Rose, Nate, DJ. I hope Derrick comes back and is all-star level again. I'll also miss having my PG being able to drain the 3, although Derrick was showing signs of this this year before getting hurt.
This is true, but the Bulls pretty much have to go forward at this point thinking Rose will return to that level next season, unless medical experts are telling them otherwise.
