Thibodeau offered Hornets job

The New Orleans Hornets made a formal offer Tuesday to Boston Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau to fill their coaching vacancy, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.

Yet it was not immediately known how soon Thibodeau will make a decision on the Hornets' offer, with the Celtics heading to Orlando for Wednesday's Game 5 against the Magic and with at least two teams -- Chicago and New Jersey -- also considering Boston's defensive guru for their coaching vacancies.

Hornets general manager Jeff Bower issued a statement late Tuesday denying that the team has made a formal offer to any candidate, saying that "we will issue an official update when we have concluded the process and have reached an agreement."

The Associated Press reported Monday that the Hornets were preparing an offer for Thibodeau.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/news/story?id=5220320

 

Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer reported Thursday via Twitter that: "According to a source, the Celtics' Tom Thibodeau is latest coach to be represented by CAA and Wes Wesley. It's the same agency as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh."

Yes, that's the same William Wesley who is good friends with LeBron James and that is the same agency that represents James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

As ESPN's Marc Stein has reported, Thibodeau has been offered the head-coaching position with the Hornets.

"Yet it was not immediately known how soon Thibodeau will make a decision on the Hornets' offer, with the Celtics heading to Orlando for Wednesday's Game 5 against the Magic and with at least two teams -- Chicago and New Jersey -- also considering Boston's defensive guru for their coaching vacancies," wrote Stein on Tuesday.

The Bulls need a head coach and have plenty of salary cap room, so there's a chance Wesley could try to package Thibodeau and one or two of CAA's clients to Chicago.

Of course the same rumor came up a few weeks ago about Wesley, but Kentucky head coach John Calipari was the name associated with the scuttlebutt.

Ken Berger of CBS Sports notes this about Chicago: "The Bulls and Nets also are interested in Thibodeau, though in Chicago's case, his hiring of an agent could complicate matters since the Bulls are one of the only teams in the NBA that do not negotiate with coaching agents."

So while there are connections between Thibodeau's agency and big-name free agents, the Bulls' reluctance to deal with coaching agents needs to be factored into the equation.

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer