Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Bulls: Thibodeau out, Hoiberg in and the blame game


They say opposites attract. That was hardly the case for the Bulls and Tom Thibodeau. Last Thursday, the Bulls and Thibodeau parted ways. If that’s what you want to believe. The harsh reality of it is that the Bulls kicked Thibodeau to the curb. The relationship was strained and beyond repair. The nine million dollar question is whether the firing was warranted or not. Was Thibodeau wrongly exiled?  

Thibodeau Era (2010-2015)


The track record speaks for itself. Thibodeau was “successful” with the Bulls. I put successful in quotes because ultimately the goal is to win a championship or championships. Which Thibodeau failed to do and it’s not entirely his fault. He had many obstacles to overcome but at the same time he didn’t make it easy on himself either. Thibodeau, during his tenure, led the Bulls to a 255-139 (.647) record during the regular season. Ultimately, its what a coach does in the playoffs that decides his fate. Thibodeau didn’t fare well in the postseason by compiling a 23-28 (.451) record. 


Let’s not be misguided by those numbers. Each season had it’s own story, that we’re all aware of. The injuries and the lackluster rosters that were provided to him posed a problem for most of his time in Chicago.  A 62-20 record, in his first season as coach, in 2010 did earn him the Coach of the Year award. Since that season, Thibodeau had to work through three significant knee injuries to Derrick Rose, nagging injuries to Noah, Gibson, Deng and Butler. As Derrick Rose was shelved with his injuries, Thibodeau was asked or forced to turn nothing into something with the Point Guards he was dealt. Let’s run down that list:  C.J Watson, John Lucas III, Mike James, Kirk Hinrich, Marquis Teague, Nate Robinson, D.J Augustin and Aaron Brooks. Despite having those PGs, Thibodeau made it work to the best of his abilities. Believe it or not, the guy is good at player development and getting the most out of his players. He turned Rose into an MVP and he made Noah, Deng, Gibson and Butler All-Star players. He has done wonders in the development of Gibson, Butler, Snell and Mirotic. The latter two would be considered an incomplete but they were progressing alone nicely before Thibodeau got the axe. The biggest roadblock in Thibodeau’s days as a Bulls head coach was LeBron James. In the five years he coached, LeBron James’ teams dispatched of the Bulls, in the playoffs, three times (2010, 2012, 2014).  The best shot the Bulls had was just this last year. They had a revamped, a more offensive oriented team (than past years) with tremendous depth. The Bulls took on a Cavaliers team that had lost Kevin Love for the playoffs, J.R Smith suspended for the first two games of the series, Kyrie Irving not being near 100% healthy and LeBron, whom did not play his best, and still lost the series in six games. Which ended up being the final nail in the coffin for upper management…supposedly. In five seasons, he had Derrick Rose play only 181 games out of the possible 394 (2011-2012 had only 66 games due to the lockout).  That’s roughly 46% of the games. The last four seasons Rose played only 100 out of possible 312 games.  That’s only 32% of the games. It should be noted that these stats also take into consideration the entire season missed in 2012-2013, so it’s a bit skewed. Due to the injuries to all the starters in 2014-2015, the starting lineup of Rose, Butler, Dunleavy, Noah and Gasol started only 21 times out of the 82 possible games. The Bulls did go 16-5 when all their "actual" starters started together. It was definitely not being easy in Thibodeau’s situation. Regardless of all the things he went through, there’s still that .647 winning percentage, 5 straight trips to the playoffs and 1 Eastern Conference Finals appearance. What more could the guy have done considering the situation he was put in…time and time again?

Coaching Style and the Players


If there was ever a flaw in Tom Thibodeau, this is where you’d find it. Tom Thibodeau is a “full speed ahead” type of coach. It’s just his nature and who he is. He pushes his players to the limit and beyond. Thibodeau is known for his grueling practices and playing his key players taxing minutes in games. Sure, it gets results but over a course of a season but it takes it toll on players. When the playoffs come around, the players are burned out and have little left in the tank. Year in and year out for five seasons, it does its damage. Winning the regular season doesn’t get you anything and Thibodeau failed to realize this. He wanted to win every game at any cost and coached as such and is where the disagreements with the front office stem from. The vigorous workload that Thibodeau wanted his players to have was a joke; especially when players were returning from injuries or dealing with injuries. It got to the point where the players started dreading going into work and being around Thibodeau, specifically Joakim Noah during the off-season. The upper management had to come down and tell Thibodeau to relax on the minutes and ease up somewhat on numerous occasions and it either did not sit well with Thibodeau or just didn’t register. The problem on his end was the stubbornness and unwillingness to adjust or change. His style, apparently, rubbed a few Bulls players the wrong way and once the 2014-2015 season concluded, there were a few who did not put their stamp of approval of Thibodeau during their exit interviews with upper management.

Jerry Reinsdorf , John Paxson and Gar Forman (GarPax)


This is where I have the biggest gripe. Reinsdorf and Paxson have been notorious for ending relationships with coaches on a sour note. For these two, it goes beyond just Thibodeau. It dates back all the way to Phil Jackson for Reinsdorf. Paxson took over as VP of Basketball operations and ultimately became the GM in 2003.  That is until Paxson and Reinsdorf promoted Forman to GM in 2009 after he was within the organization for 11 years. Together, they are a three-headed monster and should be held accountable for their failures just as much as they’re praised for their success.  My friend and fellow blogger, Ryan Davis, recaps the Reinsdorf and GarPax era pretty well in his piece about the Bulls.



Now, back to the point...the messy break up with Thibodeau. The surprising thing about this was the fact that back in 2010, all three upper management guys had different candidates for head coach in mind. Reinsdorf wanted Thibodeau, Paxson wanted Doug Collins and Forman wanted Mike Brown or Lawrence Frank.  As you can imagine, “the boss” got the final say as the Bulls hired Thibodeau. Yahoo’s NBA expert, Adrian Wojnarowski summarizes the Thibodeau-Bulls relationship in his post as well. The real problem, in my humble opinion, between the Bulls and Thibodeau was a power struggle. Upper management got too involved into Thibodeau’s business and didn’t let him the run the team they way he wanted to and instead told him how to do his job. On the other hand, Thibodeau tried his damnedest to undermine the higher ups and do things his way. Ultimately, it was a battle he was going to lose. It started with the Bulls drafting Marquis Teague over Thibodeau’s choice, Draymond Green. Oh yeah, Green is on the Warriors right now and about to play in the NBA Finals. Then it went a step further with them firing Thibodeau's right hand man and well-regarded assistant coach, Ron Adams in 2013. The joke is on them because Adams is also with the Golden State Warriors and preparing for the NBA Finals.  The Bulls went even as petty as to not allowing Thibodeau to hire his own strength and conditioning coach. Who ended up with the San Antonio Spurs. Are we starting to see a trend here? Thibodeau has championship qualities but upper management hamstrung him.  The philosophical differences and personal issues got in the way of what the real goal was…winning championships.

Things got even messier on Thursday when the Bulls finally fired Thibodeau. Jerry Reinsdorf broke the news with a statement that threw Thibodeau under the bus and come across as putting all the blame on him. It seemed classless for an owner of a professional basketball team to release a statement like that but I’m not the least bit surprised by Jerry Reinsdorf. This garnered some media attention and the Bulls were ripped apart for what Reinsdorf had to say. Later in the day, during the press conference, GarPax validated Jerry’s statements and indirectly pointed blame in Thibodeau’s direction. The reoccurring theme was “trust” and “having an open line for discussion”. Sorry, Jerry and GarPax but shame on you for pinning the entire thing on Thibodeau. You guys need to own up and take some responsibility for your part on the breakup. It takes two to tango. As mentioned earlier, this isn’t the first time that a coach and upper management couldn’t get along. You can’t go through 5-6 coaches with the same issue and not look at yourself in the mirror. They can’t all be the problem. The Bulls come off as a bitter organization and I now see why star free agents have hesitated to sign here. Look at how the Bulls go about conducting themselves. They’re not only humiliating themselves but the people who have contributed their time and dedicated themselves to the organization. The icing on the cake was hearing reports that the Bulls had security ready to escort Thibodeau out of the building while he was packing his things. That’s how bad things got between them. How are the Bulls supposed to get along with any coach and who would want to come in and work for these guys?

Fred Hoiberg Era begins


The Bulls came out and said finding a replacement would be a process and they would start going to work to find the next head coach. Realistically, this was a calculated move and the Bulls already had the guy they wanted in mind and with a verbal agreement. They acted fast and got Hoiberg hired and held a press conference within five days. Hoiberg was their #1 choice from the start and was linked to the Bulls for a year now. Believe it or not, the Bulls paid Hoiberg slightly more than they did Thibodeau. The former Bull and ex-Iowa State Cyclone got 5 years, $25 million dollars to coach the this team.

Hoiberg is a night and day change from Thibodeau. His offenses are much more up-tempo and flowing.  His Iowa State teams scored in the paint or via the 3-point shot. Hoiberg doesn’t like the long range two pointers. His offense may be better suited for this Bulls roster with the likes of Butler, Snell, McDermott, Mirotic and Dunleavy. What I don’t like about it is that Derrick Rose is already developing a tendency for shooting 3’s and with this offense it will only validate and encourage him even more. What I do believe will happen in Hoiberg’s offense is that Rose will become a traditional Point Guard by distributing the ball and scoring when needed. It’s the defense that has me concerned though. The Bulls have been a defensive team the past 5 seasons under Thibodeau and it will be interesting to see how they transition to a more offensive team. Hoiberg comes off more as player friendly, personable coach. It won’t be hard for him to get the players' trust.  There is no guarantee that Hoiberg will succeed at the NBA level but he’s been here before as a player and as a front office guy. The Bulls have not traditionally hired head coaches with previous experience, Scott Skiles being the exception. So I did not expect them to go after a Scott Brooks or an established anyways. I had the Bull penciled in for either Fred Hoiberg or Alvin Gentry from the get-go.



The Thibodeau firing and Hoiberg hiring has the same feel as when the Bears hired Marc Trestman after firing Lovie Smith. I know, it’s apples and oranges but hear me out. Lovie Smith and Tom Thibodeau were both defensive guys that have had success. Both the Bulls and the Bears went from a transition of defensive oriented to offensive oriented teams. Marc Trestman and Fred Hoiberg are both very likable people that are player’s coaches. The front offices of both teams were enamored with the new coaches and hired them despite lack of experience and the fact that they had a head coaching position and success in a different league/level. I’m not saying Hoiberg is Trestman. It’s just the comparison of the situation both teams were in. 

Just like any coach our teams bring in, I believe in them. They get a fair chance at it before any conclusions are made. The verdict on Hoiberg is still out. 

Moving Forward

After all said and done, we, the fans, thank Thibodeau for everything he’s given the Bulls and appreciate what he’s done for the organization and move on. Thibodeau wasn’t perfect, the upper management was far from perfect and they just couldn’t get along and put aside their differences long enough to win a title. Thibodeau will still collect his paychecks from the Bulls for the remainder of his contract and will end up with another gig somewhere else soon enough. The Bulls, in the meantime, have hired the replacement and will try to accomplish what they couldn’t since 1998.  Whether it will work out or not is still to be determined. Will Hoiberg and the Bulls still be the best of friends at the end of 5 years or will he join the list of: Tim Floyd, Bill Cartwright, Scott Skiles, Vinny Del Negro and Tom Thibodeau? If Hoiberg doesn’t work out, the upper manage will finally be held responsible…right? As long as Reinsdorf is still the owner, I wouldn’t count on it.


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