The Chicago Bulls fired Tom Thibodeau today. He coached the Bulls to an impressive 50-32 record this year, third seed in the East. In the playoffs they knocked off the Milwaukee Bucks in six games before falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second-round in six games. The big reason they let him go is because of tension between Bulls General Manager, Gar Forman, executive Vice President John Paxson, and Thibodeau.
Tom Thibodeau coached the Bulls the last five seasons. He has an outstanding regular season record of 255-139. That’s a winning percentage of .647. He guided Chicago to five playoff appearances and two division titles. The Bulls haven’t reached the NBA Finals. The closest they came to making a trip to the NBA Finals was in 2011. They lost to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals in five games. Thibodeau ended with a playoff record with the Bulls of 23-28.
According to ESPN, Bulls General Manager Gar Forman thought a change was needed. He said in a statement, “When Tom was hired in 2010, he was right for our team and system at that time, and over the last five years we have had some success with Tom as our head coach. But as we looked ahead and evaluated how we as a team and an organization could continue to grow and improve, we believed a change in approach was needed.”
Thibodeau is a great NBA coach in the regular season. In the NBA and in sports it’s “what have you done for me lately?” Lately, he coached the Bulls to a second-round playoff exit and disappointment.
Chicago is now searching for a new head coach. According to ESPN they have interest in Iowa State’s Head Coach Fred Hoiberg. Hoiberg doesn’t have NBA coaching experience but played in the league for 10 years, 4 of them for the Chicago Bulls. The Chicago Bulls are at least familiar with him. The Minnesota Timberwolves are also interested in Hoiberg.
As for Thibodeau, there are NBA teams looking for a head coach. He should be high on the list of candidates for the New Orleans Pelicans and the Orlando Magic coaching vacancies. They have interest in interviewing him. The team that hires him will have a coach who can take a team to the playoffs every year.
Which team should hire Thibodeau?
Leave a Reply