This question crossed my mind yesterday and I wanted to know what you guys thought. Thibs has had an incredible start to his coaching career, and looks like he could have a hall of fame career. But I can't think of one appreciable difference between him and Skiles, who's had a journeyman career thus far. Is it just that Thibs is better at picking his gigs? I think this team would probably have similar success under Skiles, who seems to have an extremely similar approach to the game. What do you guys think? Is there another coach that would have more success with this team than Thibs is having right now?
Maybe he is more like Jackson. Picks his teams and they are successful. Ya, I can see the similarities between Thib and Scott.
Skiles knows the game. Thibodeau knows the game. Both stress defense, team play and effort/energy. Give either of them strong talent with no prima donnas and they've got a good shot at success. None of us know what these guys are like in practice. We do know that Skiles is very candid with the media and has no problem with calling his players out. Thibs avoids this like the plague, deflecting these sorts of questions like a crafty politician. Skiles could have a problem with Boozer if he answered media questions honestly and the subject was defense.
Skiles gave up on the Bulls when he saw their limitations (I'm thinking the second round series against Detroit). He just sat there staring into space. Thibs wouldn't do that. Skiles was a hard ass jerk about rules and playing for the team, but then went completely overboard in leaving Big Ben slack. Thibs has handled the different rules thing for Boozer with great aplomb, as Transplant mentions. I got the impression that Skiles was too system dependent. Players felt choked, and Skiles became overbearing. Thibs doesn't make his players run into brick walls. He just prepares them to use the system well, but then adjusts as needed to win. Of course, if we lose to Miami again, this all goes out the window...
My thoughts about Collins are several. He got a pretty bad rap coaching the Bulls with Jordan/Pippen/Grant and couldn't make it past Detroit. He was fired (or whatever) in favor of PJax, and the rest is history. Jordan hired Collins to coach him with the Wizards. Not that the Wizards did all that well, but Jordan's endorsement is a pretty good one, IMO. The did go from 19-63 to 37-45. Collins sure has the 76ers playing scrappy defensive basketball, but I don't get the sense he'd bench a guy for making one (or more) defensive mistakes. I also think he's a much better offensive coach than either Skiles or Thibs, and his plays seem to maximize his players' strengths. Supposedly we were going to hire him before Thibs.
C'mon, it's not even close. Everybody knows Ben Gordon made Skiles. What has Skiles done without BG? ;-)
I can't recall who said it, but someone with basketball cred said of Collins that, if they allowed coaches unlimited timeouts, Collins would never lose a game...he's that good with the Xs and Os. Collins' problem has always been that he tends to care more than his players, can't hide his frustration when his players disappoint him and his players eventually tune him out. I don't care how technically good a head coach is, if he can't keep his players with the program, he's dead man walking.
In fairness, though, with the exception of Phil Jackson, every NBA coach is dead man walking. I actually think Skiles and Thibodeau have very different philosophies. Skiles' approach to defense seemed to me to be centered around the perfect execution of simple schemes (guards always go over picks, for example), where Thibodeau's approach seems more conceptual. Perhaps this was based on the fact that Skiles had less experienced players to work with. I also think that Skiles sometimes had difficultly balancing offensive and defensive players in his rotations. Say what you want about Thibodeau, but he often plays Korver when the Bulls need scoring, even when Korver is getting consistently beat. I see a lot more free lancing, or conceptual playing, out of Thibodeau's offense as well, though again, this could just be due to the fact that he has been dealt a more experienced, competent hand.
