Remarkable that he was able to coach a team missing two starters to a game that came down to the last shot. I don't think he did much wrong last night, other than trying to play a lineup of 4 players off the already thin bench. That lasted just a few minutes, though it was a -6 point swing for us. I would point out that there were two guys on the bench who did not play: Daequan Cook and Radmanovic. Not that we really want to see those guys play in a must win playoff game, but maybe we needed them? We certainly needed Rip and Teague. Neither one looked well prepared or ready to play in even a regular season game. That's on Thibs. We were missing two guys. We didn't have two guys off the end of the bench who could fill in, because they got so little playing time for the season or down the stretch.
If I were given "Thibodeau was a less than perfect head coach for the Bulls this season" as the proposition in a college debate, I'd probably steal your premise since it's kinda creative and there's little else to criticize.
The old championship Bulls used to see the real season as starting when the playoffs do. The regular season was a tuneup to get everyone playing well together. I think Thibs does have a real problem preparing a team to play in the playoffs. If you only prepare 8 guys on the roster for playoffs, and you lose one or two, it shouldn't be doom.
With Rose out, this Bulls team is only designed to make the playoffs, not to advance to the second round. Thibodeau is clearly continuing to coach as if the championship is still in play for his team, but that's what he's paid to do. May God love him. Again, you can hammer Thibodeau however you like, but as i see it, he and his injury-plagued and overmatched team has overachieved all season.
Who's hammering Thibodeau? He absolutely did overachieve with a roster decimated by fiscal oriented moves (vs. good basketball moves). We had the best record in the league last season with Rose hurt for half the season, Deng missed 20% of the season, Rip missed half the season, Butler played 2/3 of the season, etc. I don't see why somehow this year the injuries are such a serious problem that we couldn't even win our division. The difference is the roster has turned over significantly.
Seems he read this thread. Cook and Teague both played and both gave us exactly what we needed. Thanks, Thibs!
I think PJ Carlesimo's decision to not blitz Teague with pressure was awful. Seriously, I think that failure trumps any argument that he deserved to keep his job. The Nets could have trapped Teague into a couple of turnovers and forced him out of the game. That's probably the series. Thibodeau was playing chess, Carlesimo was playing checkers and the Bulls won a series in which they shouldn't have even been competitive. On that note, I was critical of the Bulls' decision to draft Teauge before this season. Teague looked earlier this season exactly like he did in college: decent athlete; nice flair for the game; bad stroke; no clue how to run a team; questionable handle; very rough around the edges; serious project. Thibodeau has somehow turned that into a player who was able to contribute 10 solid minutes in the deciding game of a playoff series. The same goes for Butler to a lesser extent. Thibodeau is so good at developing talent that maybe it's enough that Forman just draft athletes and Thibs will coach the rest out of them. So if we're looking big picture, Denny, I think we have to add Thib's ability to develop talent to the things we didn't know about him. Thibs has already shown that he works very well with stars (and we had serious concerns about that), that he doesn't burn his teams out (like every other coach in the league besides Popovich, Carlisle, Rivers and maybe Adelman), and that he's an Xs and Os genius. I think you're right, Denny, if we're looking for a reason that Thibs isn't as good or, at least, not better, than the rest of the coaches mentioned above it's that he doesn't manage the team in the regular season so that they're fully healthy and deep for the playoffs. Popovich, Carlisle and Rivers all have rings because they were able to properly pace older teams. It's the last remaining barrier for Thibodeau.
Great to see you, SST. I hope you're doing well. Some random thoughts your post brings to mind... Teague gave us what Hinrich does. .400 shooting, 3 assists, NO TURNOVERS. Thibs had to adjust. We lost game 6. The winning team doesn't have to study game film to figure out how to win There really wasn't much game film on Teague to study. There's no way to be sure that trapping him would be effective as you say. They'd have double teamed the worst guy on the court for the Bulls, allowing one of the other 4 to be unguarded? I really wasn't looking to put Thibs down, though I have similar concerns to yours. On the other hand, he's been in the league for years, he's been assistant coach for some really good coaches, and he's been a champion. Skiles was a small and mean man. I don't see any of that in Thibs. In fact, he sure seems to be a players' coach. If anything, it seems like management put him in a bind by dumping Asik and the bench mob and giving him almost a whole new team (beyond Noah, Deng, Boozer), and he won anyway.
Apparently there was enough tape for Spolestra. He bltized Teague with Battier and it resulted in a turnover and some bad possessions, and Thibs was forced to remove him from the game.
Teague played 7 1/2 minutes, 0 turnovers. His +/- was -3. I think Daequan Cook looked terrible out there.
Thibs isn't shy with minutes, but at this point he's earned the benefit of the doubt from me. The fact that we beat the Nets in a 7 game series without Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, a hobbled Joakim Noah, and a flu-ridden bench is ridiculous. The fact that we beat the Heat under the same conditions strikes me as insane. His preparation and strategy is clearly top notch. And despite the fact that he comes off as a hard ass, the team doesn't seem to have lost one iota of esprit de corps over the last 3 years. Every player every time seems ready to play when they go on the court. The system also seems to make the most out of marginal players. In fact, our playoff run even has me considering the idea that Thibs himself is the biggest reason the Bulls have done so well the last 3 years, as opposed to Derrick's ascendancy and the FA signings.
