Take a look at Hoiberg's offense in action here: https://www.todaysfastbreak.com/nba...bulls-under-fred-hoiberg-strategy-head-coach/ What I see is a LOT of standing around the 3pt line and very little movement by the players.
I dig this type of article. But I don't think they tell us much in terms of what Hoiberg will actually implement. There's no reason to think he'll coach the same offense in the pros that he did in college. Indeed, Hoiberg's experience in the NBA suggests the reverse will be true. This goes to the main issue K4E has with the hire (that doesn't bother me as much): Hoiberg is a blank slate right now.
The NCAA and NBA are two totally different worlds. What happens in one doesn't impact the other. The Mayor might end up being a good NBA coach, he might not. Most of what goes into being a NBA coach is having the players respect you and play hard for you. If you have a franchise altering superstar, you might win a title. If you are a capable Xs and Os guy that is nice as well. Guys like Thibs on the defensive side and D'Antoni on the offensive side are true innovators from the Xs and Os perspective, but that doesn't guarantee a title in either case. It looks like Hoiberg ran an interesting NCAA offense and his team got bounced in the 1st round of the tournament. Neither really matters. Some great NCAA coaches suck it the NBA. Hoiberg isn't even a great NCAA coach. What has he accomplished? Thibs put up a nearly unprecedented run as a NBA coach from a win-loss perspective, despite having to deal with Rose's knee. Rose doesn't appear to be a superstar level player anymore, so title expectations are out the window. Perhaps Rose can take a step up next year or other guys emerge or the Mayor has the key to unlock some hidden potential. Bulls could easily slide right back to a typical Paxson-esqe .500ish team that doesn't really matter anymore. --- The real issue is the toxic organization Paxson runs and how he's allowed to keep his job for decades. From not winning a title in, what ,15 years, to physically assaulting a head coach, to blatantly undermining another head coach and running one of the bigger organizational messes around the league, its a pretty shitty job all-around. Another coach for the front office. How many do they get?
He's in a hospital bed. That's the most worrisome part of all of this. I think Hoiberg is a pretty shiny prospect, but man, I don't like the sound of that.
Stringing Thibodeau along? What does that mean? If the Bulls let Thibodeau go, will he say, "Oh! I can't believe it!" I've said that Thibodeau is an odd duck, but believe that he can and does read the papers.
If the Bulls are certain to fire him, the mean thing is to not fire him until all the known coaching vacancies are filled. Sorta like Pax waiving Corey Blount a day too late to be signed by a playoff team. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...orie-blount-bulls-general-manager-john-paxson So cut Thibs loose now so he can move on.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source...r-to-become-magic-s-next-coach-165227943.html Orlando had interest in discussing its opening with Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, but the Magic haven’t wanted to offer draft compensation for the chance to acquire him, league sources said. Chicago management has been waiting for a team to offer a draft pick to hire Thibodeau, but so far that hasn’t happened. The Bulls seem determined to hold on to Thibodeau until the league’s job vacancies fill, and a firing in Chicago would likely leave him out of coaching next season.
Seems simple. If someone really wants Thibodeau, they'll need to offer the Bulls at least a 2nd-rounder or 2. If all the teams that are in the market for a new head coach think that when push comes to shove, one head coach is much like the next, the Bulls will be left holding the Thibodeau bag. This carries with it its own punishment. If the Bulls wait too long and Thibodeau doesn't get a new head coaching job, the Bulls will have to pay Thibodeau his estimated $4.4mil salary. Basically a poker game.
The Bulls are going to end up spending $4M of the Chairman's profits on a poker bluff. Hopefully that will get GarPax fired.
So, if GarPax wanted a guy that was light on the minutes and would let the front office and Jen Swansons of the world call the shots usually called by the head coach(assistants, minutes, etc), why resign Thibs to that multi-year contract? We all know what Thibs is and how he likes to coach. This team will bend over backwards to not pay a few million in luxury tax but have no problem offering guys like Hinrich a player option and supporting decision makers that will cost the org millions in this Thibs squabble.
I guess money is the only reason a guy like Hoiberg would sacrifice his dignity to put up with these sorts of things. At least that seems to be the Bulls' hope. I've not seen Hoiberg mentioned as a candidate for any other open NBA job. I bet we have to outbid the Bucks for him, though.
That's fair. Likely over the past few years, the FO's thinking changed on minutes, practice intensity and the importance of the regular season. The "Why did they re-sign Thibodeau?" question is not very different from "Why didn't they have a Director of Sports Performance 10 years ago?" Circumstances change, methods change, technology changes etc. Just like every other business, the Bulls need to reassess the way they do things in light of the changes and new opportunities those changes might present. Sigh. The Bulls have "paid a few million in luxury tax." I guess you want them to pay a few million more. Whatever. As for Hinrich, the worldwide media conspiracy and 90% of Bulls fans may think that agreeing to Hinrich's player option was dumb. At this point in time, it's possible that GarPax have regrets...or not.
There's a part of me that would love to see the Bulls come out and say that Thibodeau has a contract to coach the Bulls and that's what he's going to do for the foreseeable future...then drop the mic. You'd be saying it was for profit reasons, but you'll just be part of a noisy fringe group with that narrative. The Bulls story would be more like that while the media has been speculating about Thibodeau leaving the Bulls all season, team representatives have never said anything of the sort. If it were to somehow go down this way, there'd be a huge helping of Reinsdorf flipping the media the bird while hoping that certain members of said media are discredited as much as possible. I said that there's a part of me that would like to see the above scenario play out. However, the better angels of my nature wants what's best for the Bulls...whatever that might be.
The media sure seems to get their clues from management and parrots what's in management's best interests a lot. Like the Zach Lowe video you posted. Van Gundy was really spot on, if what you say is true. Management either skewered him in the press or they didn't do much to stop the negative publicity.
Don't you see the humor in any of this? I think the media has been predominantly anti-management and anything I see as well balanced you see as pro-management and vice-versa. It's a stitch. How was VanGundy spot on? Van Gundy brought nothing to the party but loyalty to his pal Tom voiced on a national stage to a captive audience. Van Gundy behaved like a dick. In terms of direct quotes, the Bulls have said nothing on Thibodeau for quite a while. In February, 3 months ago, Paxson fired on Van Gundy, saying that the Bulls' organization had done nothing to undermine Thibodeau, but that Van Gundy's comments served to undermine Bulls' management. Unless you buy into the tin foil shit, Paxson was right....the Bulls FO has kept their powder dry with the media all season.
