http://chicago.suntimes.com/basketb...ergs-coaching-staff-still-paranoid-old-regime On the same day that a league source confirmed the Bulls indeed landed San Antonio assistant Jim Boylen to join the staff of newly-named head coach Fred Hoiberg, there was still some clean-up going on with the old regime. Specifically, just how paranoid the Bulls front office was in the final weeks of the Tom Thibodeau era. While it was reported that the front office did have security escorting Thibodeau throughout his clean-up process on the day he was fired, and eventually out of the building, there had been extra eyes on assistant coach Andy Greer and video coordinator Dice Yoshimoto for weeks. Both were also dismissed along with Thibodeau, but it was Yoshimoto that had the organization the most concerned, as they were under the belief that he was gathering e-mails and information that, according to the source, “would embarrass a lot of people and show the level of dysfunction going on.’’ “It was like some James Bond stuff going on,’’ the source also said on Sunday, insisting that computers and cellphones were combed through in order for the organization to try and pin down what Yoshimoto was up to. The source said that while there was believed to be nothing significant found by the front office, they were still under the belief that it existed and was hidden. That’s also why Jerry Reinsdorf’s statement on the day Thibodeau was fired had a definite read between the lines message in it. “Teams that consistently perform at the highest levels are able to come together and be unified across the organization-staff, players, coaches, management and ownership,’’ Reinsdorf said. “When everyone is on the same page, trust develops and teams can grow and succeed together. Unfortunately, there has been a departure from this culture.’’ It was no secret that both sides felt there were leaks going on throughout the season, especially from a front office that had been rumored to be courting Hoiberg for over a year, as well as one that back in training camp had no problem trying to turn Thibodeau’s players against him. Even on the day he was fired, between Reinsdorf, general manager Gar Forman and VP of basketball operations John Paxson, the three had no problem trying to poison Thibodeau’s reputation as he was shoved out the door. “[Thibodeau] has a provision in his contract that keeps him from soiling the organization,’’ the source said. “They knew there would be no retaliation.’’ Not when Thibodeau was still owed $9 million for two more seasons.
Waiting for the complaint about the source in 3.... 2.... 1 Anyhow, he's right about Boylen ALSO. Real quotes in the article.
Crazy crazy weird Bulls org. Nice to know the front office had their priorities straight in a year where the Bulls very well could have reached the NBA Finals.
Cowley alert!! edit: ...and now that I've read it, it is indeed totally bereft of anything newsworthy...it's TMZ Chicago Suntimes.
Alternate headline for that article could have been, "Bulls' Hoiberg makes recruiting coup, but I'd rather write negative stuff" Jeez.
Don't just rely on Cowley. Sam Smith is on the hunt for this story as well. He'll get to the bottom of it.
Are these alleged monitoring activities paranoid? My last job surreptitiously wiped all the data on my personal phone on the day I left. They also monitored my instant messaging chats, including my personal chats with my wife. They regularly checked my work email, and monitored what was active on my screen. Actually, my last couple of jobs regularly monitored all of my email. None of Cowley's accusations strike me as unusual, and none of them strike me as James Bond stuff. There are hundreds of thousands of employees in the US that have similar monitoring. It seems to me like the baseline in business today is that you should approach any computer use as if someone else is watching, especially if you have a modicum of access to business decisions being made by a publicly traded company. I think this is a case of a reporter not having a great understanding of common business practices.
That is "the source" talking, not Cowley. Assuming that "the source" is working within the organization, they found it unusual enough to consider it an example of dysfunction and an example of 'james bond stuff.' Most communications within a corporate environment are logged in some way. If a hunt is on pre or post dismissal for information, well, that's a different thing, and a whole other level.
I get it...Cowley has an unnamed source who purportedly works within or is somehow aware of some of the things that go on within the organization. In Cowley's opinion, this source is reliable. Reliable or not, as SST points out, the source (and Cowley) may not be aware how common these "covert" management actions are in today's business world. Anyway, my main problem with the article is that it should have been 2 articles...one for the (positive) Boylen hire and one for the negative stuff. Cowley very purposely used the negative stuff to overshadow the Boylen hire. Kinda crappy even for Cowley.
The day you left. Not weeks ahead of time. It's one thing to want to protect your draft board or whatever company secrets, it's another to try to suppress embarrassing information. See: whistleblower.
Any company of any decent size has the ability to monitor anything on any of the computers on their network. When a company decides that performance problems exist with an employee, or to terminate them, all those records gets tossed into their personnel file. They probably have these records for everyone they let go, Thibs included, going back months or years, as a matter of course, not because they're paranoid spies. http://www.pcworld.com/article/222169/how_to_monitor_your_employees_without_going_too_far.html
Both were also dismissed along with Thibodeau, but it was Yoshimoto that had the organization the most concerned, as they were under the belief that he was gathering e-mails and information that, according to the source, “would embarrass a lot of people and show the level of dysfunction going on.’’
If the accusation is that the FO is dysfunctional . . . we really don't need to look at its concerns about its video guy, do we? I think there's a ton of stronger and more public examples to point to. It seems to me that the accusation is that the Bulls FO is paranoid because it closely monitors computer and network usage. I find that unconvincing.
And look, I'm not saying that I like the fact that companies monitor computer usage like this. I'm just saying that I don't think it's unusual or paranoid given common business practices.
The source absolutely describes both dysfunction and paranoia. The "level of dysfunction" is likely a LOT worse than the cheerleaders want to believe. That's the implication. The paranoia is about avoiding embarrassment. About avoiding the truth coming out.
The story isn't that the Bulls IT department keeps track of network usage. Of course they do that, as do most companies. The story is that someone that likely works or worked for the Bulls felt this way..... --------- Both were also dismissed along with Thibodeau, but it was Yoshimoto that had the organization the most concerned, as they were under the belief that he was gathering e-mails and information that, according to the source, “would embarrass a lot of people and show the level of dysfunction going on.’’ “It was like some James Bond stuff going on,’’ the source also said on Sunday, insisting that computers and cellphones were combed through in order for the organization to try and pin down what Yoshimoto was up to. -------- Which is of course odd, and another example of the bad workplace environment Paxson heads up. It looks like the hunt was on. Looking for leaks most likely, or trying to find out what internal employees were loyal to Thibs, or who knows what. Control freaks are known to act crazy. The JVG national statement drove them into total hysteria. They didn't like being called on their smear.
