The Chicago Bulls are reportedly on the verge of getting Fred Hoiberg to put pen to paper and become their next head coach. Meanwhile Tom Thibodeau, who’s viewed by many as one of the most brilliant tacticians in the game of basketball, is still a free agent, though he may not be as interested in working this year as some would imagine. It may not be his choice, frankly, as opportunities with both the Orlando Magic and New Orleans Pelicans dried up after widespread rumors that the organizations were interested in Thibodeau proved to be fruitless. Orlando opted to go with Scott Skiles, a former Magic player beloved by team ownership, while New Orleans, though interested in Thibodeau, was not interested in the $7-8 million per season he would have likely commanded as a head coaching candidate. Alvin Gentry, the man they hired instead, will make just under $3.5 million a year, less than half of what Thibodeau was rumored to have wanted. Put simply, they just couldn’t afford him. With those two jobs filled, only the Denver Nuggets still have a need for a head coach, and Thibodeau likely would not even consider a position there when it is almost sure to result in a few 30-40-win seasons and a frustrating, time-consuming rebuilding effort. Thibodeau isn’t interested in a situation like that, which is why it seems most likely that he’ll sit a year out and see how the coaching landscape changes over the course of the next year. Knowing Thibodeau is available, there could be plenty of potential contenders that would consider letting go of middling coaches to hire the man who has now become the premier free agent coach. - See more at: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/which-nba-team-will-land-tom-thibodeau/
Whose left? Maybe LA? I've been wondering lately if the media values what Thibs brings more than front offices do. I think we're in the process of finding out. I keep thinking about Derrick Rose -- he could have carried the Bulls through two local broadcast contract negotiations had he stayed healthy. If other owners, like the Bulls', think Thibs' minutes allocations are responsible for Rose's injuries, then we may be looking at a longer window until Thibs gets a second shot. Nobody is going to put up with a loose cannon messing around with a billion dollar asset. I'm going to bring up Art Howe's name again. Just because someone is given a lot of respect in the media doesn't mean there's respect among owners. Most of them are in it to make money and I for one would not be the least bit surprised if they don't want to let someone who rejects injury related analytics within ten miles of their roster. We've had a lot of fun (?) around these parts going back and forth about the merits of injury/playing time analytics. This is a slightly different question: if you're in charge of a billion dollar asset do you risk compromising it by not following what many statisticians suggest is the best path for protecting that asset.
LA and NY are likely to change coaches after the season. It seems Thibs is happy to stick it to the Chairman and hit him where it hurts - wallet. So it's been reported. Skiles' players were on the DL a lot. His offenses sucked ass. And he got his fourth gig. I go with the coach that gives us the best chance to win, and empower him. That means drafting Draymond Green when the coach says he's the right fit.
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...atement-on-thiboeau-reeked-of-a-lack-of-class Jeff Van Gundy: Bulls' statement on Thibodeau 'reeked of a lack of class' http://www.nba.com/2015/news/featur...ta-hawks-and-houston-rockets-scott-skiles-qa/ Thibodeau didn't deserve the kind of exit Bulls gave him It is hard -- almost impossible -- to win big in the NBA, and to continue winning. Injuries and luck, by themselves, derail most franchises' dreams. And teams don't compete in a vacuum as their opponents are one good, Draft lottery ping-pong ball away from getting respectable. Yet Chicago won under Thibodeau, more than it had for any coach since Phil Jackson left town. And the Bulls won despite many players being weary of Thibodeau's methods. A lot of players didn't like him -- not all, maybe not most. But a lot. And in spite of that, they not only played hard for him, they won games, season after season. He had not lost the locker room. There is a difference between liking someone and respecting them, and believe me, respect is more important. The players, no matter what they thought personally of Thibodeau, respected his grind. But we have seen, increasingly, that just winning is no longer enough. (Bring on the losing)
More from David Aldridge. But the problem is that this is not the first time this has happened in Chicago. It is not unique to Chicago, of course (Shaq and Kobe Bryant's shelf life was less than it should have been, too), but it is nonetheless instructive. The Bulls' dynasty with Michael Jordan ended before it should have, with Jackson, Jerry Krause, Jordan and Scottie Pippen all having a hand in why. (Sam Smith, who certainly knows more about the franchise's inner workings and history than anyone, pointed out last week that Reinsdorf offered Jackson a new contract to coach the team after Jordan left, but that Jackson refused. Humbly, I'd submit part of why he refused was he was sick of the turmoil within the organization.)
ESPN Insider. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...nse-obsessed-coaches-tom-thibodeau-win-titles Thibodeau's firing last week understandably has a lot of Bulls fans nervous, at least the ones from the school of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The news was no surprise, of course. The issues between Thibodeau and his bosses had been floating on the whisper mill for months. And the dismal ending to Chicago's 2015 playoff run had even the most staunch Thibodeau supporters wondering if his players had finally tuned him out. However, the basketball justifications for the move are murky at best. Among coaches with at least five seasons under their belts in NBA history, just five have posted a higher regular-season winning percentage. Those five coaches account for 41 percent of the championships won during the NBA's 68-year history. Thibodeau did this despite rarely being able to field his preferred lineup.
Stephen A. Smith http://chicago.suntimes.com/basketball/7/71/650632/fred-hoiberg-signed-now-becomes-tom-thibodeau ‘‘I’m not impressed,’’ ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith said in an interview on the network Sunday. ‘‘When you consider the history of the Chicago Bulls, meaning Jerry Reinsdorf’s ownership and what has transpired in terms of his executives running the show and the cantankerous relationship they historically have with head coaches, it definitely is a bit alarming. This is a history associated with the Chicago Bulls that is simply inescapable.’’ Cowley New York Daily News NBA writer Frank Isola took it a step further. He wrote that the Bulls not only have the parameters of a contract with Hoiberg in place, but that the deal was in place while Thibodeau still was coaching the team. That’s not surprising, considering a source told the Sun-Times weeks ago that the front office was bad-mouthing Thibodeau to his players back in training camp, trying to plant the seed that he didn’t have their best interests at heart. That was confirmed by a Bulls player. That doesn’t mean Thibodeau won’t be coaching next season, though. As long as Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt has the ability to signal for a timeout he no longer has — something he did in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Bulls — he has zero job security, regardless of what happens in the Finals against the Golden State Warriors. And while Minnesota Timberwolves general manager/coach Flip Saunders has said he wants to coach for one more season, owner Glen Taylor has remained noncommittal to the idea. A person close to Thibodeau recently indicated the Timberwolves are a team Thibodeau always has had special feelings for because he began his NBA coaching career as an assistant with them from 1989 to 1991. If Thibodeau is willing to sit out a year, some interesting possibilities might be open to him. First, New York Knicks president Phil Jackson can opt out of his deal after next season. That might open the door for Thibodeau to return to New York, where he was an assistant for seven seasons and might be granted GM responsibilities. Thibodeau had little say about personnel matters with the Bulls, and that seemed to lead to some bad feelings between him and the front office. Then there’s the Los Angeles Lakers’ job, which belongs to Byron Scott — for now, at least. As for the Bulls, they just want to get their new coach in place and continue trying to do damage control. But one is proving to be much harder to accomplish than the other.
I don't see New York happening as long as Phil Jackson is there. He's going to want a coach who runs the triangle. LA is more interesting but even then . . . I have never seen a groundswell of love among players for Thibodeau. Maybe there's been some respect at times. LA is all about free agency. What players are going to actively seek out the opportunity to play for him? There seems to me to be a lot more players like LJ, who occasionally rely on rest breaks to charge up for the playoffs. Is the next big free agent going to want to give up the control that Thibs demands? Look, we're ultimately going to see how this all plays out. I'm just saying that Thibs is not as valuable as the media thinks he is. If he was, he'd already have a job by now.
"If Thibodeau is willing to sit out a year, some interesting possibilities might be open to him. First, New York Knicks president Phil Jackson can opt out of his deal after next season. That might open the door for Thibodeau to return to New York, where he was an assistant for seven seasons and might be granted GM responsibilities." Pau chose Thibs and the Bulls.
I don't see Jackson leaving his gig. But let's assume for the sake of argument that the Knicks go after Thibodeau. That's another franchise with a horrible front office and a horrible roster -- arguably one of the worst in the league. Two contenders already have changed coaches since it became imminently clear that Thibs was going to get fired. The Thunder didn't even wait to interview Thibs before making its hire. Where are all the suitors?
From what I read, Thibs is looking for a more "ready made" situation. Orlando isn't really ready and he's afraid that AD isn't interested in staying in NO. Might as well wait and collect the millions and millions the Bulls are paying him while waiting for a contending long term situation.
You're right. How many media members made comments to the effect that Thibodeau wouldn't be on the market more than 5 minutes or speculating on how long the line would be for his services. The thing is, there aren't many former front office stars in the media. Usually when a head coach is sitting a season out, he gets a job as a TV analyst of some sort. Maybe there's a side to Thibodeau that we haven't seen, but it's hard to imagine him as a talking head. Also, I've never heard that he has any interests outside of basketball. If all he's going to do is count his money, I suggest that he takes it ssllloooowwwww.
The Bulls dragged their feet and fired him two days before the Magic hired Skiles and three days before the Pelicans hired Gentry. But I'm pretty sure he let them know he wasn't interested first. Darn, those teams should have waited forever and not pursued a coach. Edit: my bad, it was one day before Skiles was hired and two before Gentry. Anyhow
This isn't really rocket science here. Reports state that Thibs is waiting for a ready made contending situation. That isn't Orlando. It could be in NO, but reports indicated that Thibs was doubtful that AD was going to be staying in NO. Since Uncle Jerry is paying Thibs 9 million over the next two years, he can afford to wait for the situation that is the best fit for what he wants to do. The rap on Thibs is that he's so obsessed about coaching that he simply can't be without it even for a few months. Perhaps, but he's not an idiot either. Might as well wait for the best chance to get a ring as head coach. That's the only real thing he has left on his bucket list, he's pretty much accomplished everything else a coach could. Meanwhile, the Bulls are going forward with a rookie head coach and will likely be slipping out of NBA title contention.
Anyone who watched how patiently (and brilliantly) PJax waited until the Kobe-Shaq Lakers gig came along should be able to appreciate the strategy being attributed to Thibodeau. Thing is, Thibodeau ain't PJax. Thibodeau's won nothing. If the perfect "ready-made" situation should become available, Thibodeau's no shoe-in for the job.
