What I think is there was no drama with those coaches. I don't think Thibs would have been part of any drama in those places and would still be the coach. Coaches get fired when the teams suck, plenty. That isn't drama, it's a part of the business. Except in Chicago. Don't like the coach? The GM throws a punch at him (DRAMA). See ya, PJax, thanks for the championships but don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. Why wouldn't any GM provide a roster best suited for the coach? I'm positive about sloan. He quit because he didn't want to deal with DWill anymore, and because he was just tired of coaching. The front office failed Sloan as he was forced to play a more offensive oriented system due to DWill and Boozer being his key players. But he is back with Utah as an official consultant. I don't see PJax here with the Bulls. Spoelstra won championships with LeBron. He's no Mike Brown. In spite of the big 3 being brilliant offensive players, Spoelstra did get them to buy into playing great defense.
No, you're a little off on your Sloan timeline. I remember now. He demanded that the team trade D. Will or he was going to quit; and when they didn't trade D. Will he quit. That's not a solid working relationship or the absence of drama! You don't see Jackson working here as a consultant because he won two handfuls of championships. Phil Jackson doesn't want to be a consultant, he wants to be a GM, and there are going to be teams that give him that opportunity because he was successful. But you're taking this off topic. I agree that Paxson should be let go, and have said so many times over. You don't have to convince me of that. The statement that being coach of the Bulls is not a plum gig because of the drama, however, is not accurate. There is a ton of talent out there who would flourish with this team and organization, at least for a half decade like Thibodeau did. It's just a question of finding the right candidate.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...ord-night-deron-williams-drove-144019005.html "I want you to be very clear on one thing," Miller told Sloan. He continued, "If anything got to the point where we had to make a choice between a player and you as our head coach, we would side with you a hundred times out of a hundred." Sloan's response? "He said, 'Well, I don't know how much I have left in me,'" Miller said. Greg Miller, in his second full season as Jazz boss following the 2009 passing of his father Larry, pointed out that he went out of his way to tell Sloan not to make any rash decisions in the heat of the moment, and that he would do anything possible to keep Sloan with the team despite the coach’s repeated insistence that he was “out of gas.” Miller’s motives were pure, but he did also point out to Sloan that quitting the team midseason was less than ideal, and that this was “not going to reflect well on the franchise.” Sloan slept on it, but his mind was made up. The news broke the next day, taking Sloan away from a post he’d been at since 1988 and a franchise he’d been with for 26 years. Williams, just as surprisingly, was traded two weeks after the incident. It’s true that Williams as a player has been overrated in some circles, but the payoff from that move has been less than ideal despite the impending cap flexibility some two years later. And the Jazz, despite squeezing into the playoffs in 2012, have not been the same since Sloan quit on the club.
As for PJax, he wanted to be GM and coach about the time he left. They should have let him be GM and coach. There was a well publicized DRAMA surrounding players hating the current GM (Crumbs). Choosing Crumbs over PJax led to the dissolution of defending championship dynasty and none of the prize free agents since have done more than used Chicago as bargaining leverage for their ultimate destination. None of them want to be part of this franchise, and I don't blame them. They've seen how the franchise treats its biggest contributors. That would got for coaches, too, seeing how they treated Thibs. Van Gundy told it like it is, speaking for most coaches out there. Maybe some guy will look at the Bulls as a stepping stone. Thibs will end up making 2x elsewhere what he got here.
There will be plenty of candidates. They will mostly be, IMO, coaches looking to break into the NBA coaching business, since those are the ones willing to work in this environment and GarPax wants a "yes-man."
This made sense on first read but I don't think it's correct. Name me the coach who isn't under contract that doesn't want to coach the Bulls right now? The Bulls have their pick of coaches with experience and rookies, and will probably go with a rookie head coach. They'll probably do it for the reasons you note, and because the candidate will be cheaper, but it also seems that there is a ton of talent to be had among first-time coaches so it's conducive to winning too, right?
Van Gundy told it like he would like it to be, not how it is. But that's not how it is. If you're a player with talent you can pick your spot because there's always more room on a roster for anybody with talent. You can't say the same with coaches. Each team only has one, and openings only come up with the good teams once every five or so years. This off season, the Bulls and the Thunder will change coaches. Having two coaching vacancies among good teams is probably even more than usual -- they're rare things. I'll stand by my sentiment that the Bulls can hire whomever they want that is not under contract.
Before the season, @transplant asked me if I liked the Gasol signing, and I talked about how we maybe should have signed Deng instead. It was a tough call. We badly needed a starting quality SF and Deng is a pretty good two-way player. I knew Gasol is a great player still, but he didn't exactly replace Boozer as well as you'd think. Noah took a giant step back from DPOY next to Boozer. The defense as a whole fell from best to top third of the league. It could have worked better if we landed a starting SF as well. The East is so weak that making the playoffs isn't that big a deal. The really good teams made trades to best position their team. We didn't. That's not on the coach.
Seems they can't lure Hoiberg, who experienced the dysfunction as a player here. Even at twice the money. That's why they're turning to Gentry. Who will they settle for when coaches turn down garpaxdorf like dominos falling? Thibs is good enough that teams with no vacancy will offer him the job. The Lakers are one such team mentioned that has a coach but will pursue Thibs. There are sure to be more.
It could be. I think we both already agreed though its a crapshoot with 1st timers. Ultimately, to get to the Finals / Championship, you need the horses, which is where the Bulls have stumbled the last 5 years. Stumbled = can't get past Lebron James, usually without a superstar level player. The one time the Bulls did have a superstar level player, they got to the ECFs and lost to the Heat superteam. The first timer could be good. He could be a bad NBA coach. Tim Floyd was considered a hot commodity (at least to the Bulls). The Bulls are like going to work for an top investment bank as an analyst. Its a crappy environment, but its a name and you need to make your bones. I doubt that we'll be hearing the names of established NBA head coaches during this process.
I've seen the reruns of the one where he suckers you by talking about fiscal flexibility while making the roster weaker.
