Tom Thibodeau Officially Fired - 5/28/15

The news regarding Thibs' firing has been pretty clear for weeks now and it seemed like nothing short of a miracle performance in the playoffs was going to save his job in Chicago.

It's amazing. Myself and many others on this forum have referred to Thibs as one of the best coaches in the NBA for years now. Thibs is a guy who you could give any roster and he would find a way to make them compete. Now, inexplicably, he is out on the streets.

It is hard to believe that not that long ago I would have been okay with us trading at least a future 2nd round pick, if not even a future 1st round pick, to pry Thibs away from Chicago because he seems like a coach who could change a culture, much like when we brought in Pat Riley years ago. Now, Thibs is just available, for nothing, if we would offer him the right contract. It kind of makes me sad that we will stay the course with Derek Fisher, a junior coach who maybe some day will grow into a viable option on the head of the bench, rather than pursue a coach like Thibs.

When all is said and done, I am fine with the wait and see PJ era for the time being, but man, if he bails on us and leaves us with Fisher, who is right now not good for much other than a placeholder, I will look bad to this offseason as a real missed opportunity for our franchise going forward.
 

tiger0330

Legend
I wish there was an opening in NY, seems backwards but you have a rookie coach here who had the worst record in franchise history working and in Chicago a coach who made it to the 2nd round on unemployment.
 

tiger0330

Legend
Not an ounce of tact or professionalism shown by the Bulls front office for 3yrs in regards to Thibs.
Did you read Reinsdorf and the Bulls statement? What a bunch of BS, usually they fire a coach and just wish him the best of luck, their statement made him sound like he was a problem child.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
I wonder how Noah and Butler are taking the news ....

Well .. if Dolan can rehire Isiah Thomas, then Phil could send a U-HAUL plane to pick up our defensive-coach Tom Thibodeau
 

tiger0330

Legend
I wonder how Noah and Butler are taking the news ....

Well .. if Dolan can rehire Isiah Thomas, then Phil could send a U-HAUL plane to pick up our defensive-coach Tom Thibodeau
Two interesting things I read. Thibs might take the year off, he's getting 9M from the Bulls so he can afford to. Secondly, the Knicks have a team option on Phil as well as Phil having the option to leave the Knicks after next season.

If the Knicks and PJ decide to part company, Fisher would leave and that would leave the door open for Thibs to take over if he does take a year off.
 
Lot's of interesting stories regarding Thibs circulating online this morning. One specific rumor says that "at least three starters ripped Thibs in their exit interviews".

When people say Bulls' starters this year, here's the names that come to mind: D. Rose, Pau Gasol, Noah, Dunleavy, Jimmy Butler.

Let's assume that rumor is true.
- No way Noah was one of those three, he openly loved Thibs.
- You have to assume D. Rose, possibly the most toxic star player on a roster right now based on his attitude towards other star players they have tried to recruit (e.g. Lebron) and his prioritizing not 'risking' his career over playing with any injury, was one of those three.
- Now, I want to know who were the two out of Pau Gasol, Dunleavy, and Jimmy Butler that also hated playing for Thibs.

Hating playing for Thibs is hating working hard. Hating playing for Thibs is hating being prepared. Bulls look like a joke right now.
 

donchris

Next season, keep waiting
If you look back in the archives you'll find that I wanted Tibs to coach the Knicks before we got D'Antoni, when no one knew who Tibs was. Maybe one day we can get him, but Phil and Fish will be long gone before that will happen.
 

Paul1355

All Star
Unfortunately Jackson will not fire Fisher for Thibs...that's the one problem having Jackson as president is that he wants his guys to run the show and that means triangle oriented coaches
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Lot's of interesting stories regarding Thibs circulating online this morning. One specific rumor says that "at least three starters ripped Thibs in their exit interviews".

When people say Bulls' starters this year, here's the names that come to mind: D. Rose, Pau Gasol, Noah, Dunleavy, Jimmy Butler.

Let's assume that rumor is true.
- No way Noah was one of those three, he openly loved Thibs.
- You have to assume D. Rose, possibly the most toxic star player on a roster right now based on his attitude towards other star players they have tried to recruit (e.g. Lebron) and his prioritizing not 'risking' his career over playing with any injury, was one of those three.
- Now, I want to know who were the two out of Pau Gasol, Dunleavy, and Jimmy Butler that also hated playing for Thibs.

Hating playing for Thibs is hating working hard. Hating playing for Thibs is hating being prepared. Bulls look like a joke right now.


I rule out Noah n Butler .. both worked hard with Thibs on the injury changes the past 4 years
 

Kiyaman

Legend
If you look back in the archives you'll find that I wanted Tibs to coach the Knicks before we got D'Antoni, when no one knew who Tibs was. Maybe one day we can get him, but Phil and Fish will be long gone before that will happen.

When the Phoenix Suns coach Dantoni turned down Thibs in 2007 offseason .. i wanted the Knicks to rehire Thibs to see what Thibs & Herb Williams could do while Gay Isiah Thomas was on trail for sexual harrassin a woman ha ha ha lmao
 

jimkcchief88

All Star
Chicago is a strange sports town for sure...no good reason why Thibs was fired esp with as many injuries(d rose knees) as he's dealt with and has kept the Bulls in the hunt. Boiled down to a pissing match between a bunch of control freaks. Bulls management wanted Thibs to get a more offensive assistant coach on his bench a Thibs resisted... I wish we could hire Thibs to coach our defense:(
 

Broadway

All Star
Chicago is a strange sports town for sure...no good reason why Thibs was fired esp with as many injuries(d rose knees) as he's dealt with and has kept the Bulls in the hunt. Boiled down to a pissing match between a bunch of control freaks. Bulls management wanted Thibs to get a more offensive assistant coach on his bench a Thibs resisted... I wish we could hire Thibs to coach our defense:(


Derrick Rose appeared in 221 of 445 possible games coached during Thibs era. Melol @ the Bulls
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Chicago is a strange sports town for sure...no good reason why Thibs was fired esp with as many injuries(d rose knees) as he's dealt with and has kept the Bulls in the hunt. Boiled down to a pissing match between a bunch of control freaks. Bulls management wanted Thibs to get a more offensive assistant coach on his bench a Thibs resisted... I wish we could hire Thibs to coach our defense:(

I ask myself the same ..
How n Why would u FIRE a winning headcoach with the ability to win with change
Derrick Rose appeared in 221 of 445 possible games coached during Thibs era.

When u look at it from that point of view .. the Bulls staying a winning competitive team for 3 to 4 seasons without their max franchise star PG Derek Rose under Thibs coaching-style, plus after each season of the 4 seasons GM Paxon releasing several of the star-role players that help the Bulls have a winning season for new players ......
Asik/K.Thomas/Nazr/Brewer/R.Butler/Watson/Kover/Teague/Nate/Belinelli/Augustine/ect./ect.
Coach Thibs found a way to win with a new backcourt each of the past 4 seasons

If coach Thibs was the Knicks coach .. I would be all for Phil Jackson selecting one of the (36-0) Kentucky players out of the draft.
 

Paul1355

All Star
I ask myself the same ..
How n Why would u FIRE a winning headcoach with the ability to win with change


When u look at it from that point of view .. the Bulls staying a winning competitive team for 3 to 4 seasons without their max franchise star PG Derek Rose under Thibs coaching-style, plus after each season of the 4 seasons GM Paxon releasing several of the star-role players that help the Bulls have a winning season for new players ......
Asik/K.Thomas/Nazr/Brewer/R.Butler/Watson/Kover/Teague/Nate/Belinelli/Augustine/ect./ect.
Coach Thibs found a way to win with a new backcourt each of the past 4 seasons

If coach Thibs was the Knicks coach .. I would be all for Phil Jackson selecting one of the (36-0) Kentucky players out of the draft.
It's a shame how Thibs was sent out after being so successful. He didn't win a championship but they were always in the hunt. If D Rose was healthy at MVP level they would have won a championship with that lineup of Butler and Pau.

Very few coaches change the identity of a team the way Thibs did.

Some team will steal him away and have a coach for years
 

SSj4Wingzero

All Star
Apparently, the Bulls' ownership thinks that the best way to win is to fire the head coach that took them to the second round of the playoffs in 2012-13 with Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer as their top two scorers. If Thibodeau had a consistent scoring option every year rather than the "play half a season, every season" DRose, he would've made at least two Finals' appearances
 
Top