Tom Thibodeau Finally Gets His Head Coaching Job
The Chicago Bulls this morning gave former Boston, San Antonio, Houston, New York, Minnesota, and Philadelphia assistant coach Tom Thibodeau his first head coaching job. This is a little bit of a controversial decision for the Bulls, as their last coach, Vinny Del Negro also did not have any head coaching experience and failed to get the Bulls out of the first round of the playoffs either year he was the coach of the Bulls, bringing them to a 41-41 regular season record both seasons as their coach. However, Thibodeau has a very impressive resume, an amazing mind and love for the game of basketball, and has many differences from Vinny Del Negro.
To start things off, the differences between Tom Thibodeau and Vinny Del Negro go well beyond their appearance. Vinny Del Negro had a short time of experience working in the front office for the Phoenix Suns before becoming the head coach of the Chicago Bulls. Del Negro had absolutely zero experience coaching at the NBA level in any capacity. Thibodeau, on the other hand has been in the NBA as an assistant coach for about 20 years and has the respect of just about everyone who has ever been associated with the NBA.
Celtics center Kendrick Perkins had put it most frankly when he said, "Thibs has been the best thing that has happened to us." At the time he was speaking of the recent Boston Celtics teams who have gone to the NBA Finals in two of the last three seasons, winning one of those, and who likely would have come close during the 2008/2009 season had it not been for the injury of Kevin Garnett, arguably the most valuable player on their team. Thibodeau has been the architect of that Celtics defense which has been the most feared defense in the league over the last three years.
However, it hasn't only been with that Celtics team where his defensive schemes have made an impact on the league. Before going to Boston, Thibodeau was an assistant with the Houston Rockets working under Jeff Van Gundy. That Houston Rockets team at the time was constantly ranked among the top in the NBA in defense. Thibodeau was able to make Yao Ming into a feared defender during his time there. When Rick Adelman was named head coach of the Houston Rockets, with Thibodeau and Van Gundy leaving, many fans seemed to think that this was a great hire since Adelman was known as such a great offensive mind, and the Houston team had looked so good on defense that many fans and experts alike thought that the Rockets had defense down well enough to not have to worry about that.
Going back even further, the New York Knicks from 1996 until 2003 were able to benefit from having Thibodeau roaming the sidelines. The Knicks, throughout this period were known as a tough defensive team and held 33 teams under 100 points during the 2000/2001 season, which at the time was the record until it was broken by the Detroit Pistons. Of couse there had to be good defensive players on the team during that time for this to happen, but without the correct coaching the players would not have the direction they've needed.
Needless to say, Thibodeau's defensive record as an assistant speaks for itself. However, before the signing Bulls fans still critisized the imminent signing, saying that it was a typical Jerry Reinsdorf hire for a head coach. This is due to the fact that since Doug Collins hiring, the Chicago Bulls have only hired one coach with NBA head coaching experience, including Collins. Collins had been an assistant at the University of Pennsylvania and Arizona State before getting his first head coaching job with the Bulls. Phil Jackson had coached several CBA teams before landing an assistant coaching gig with the Bulls, and 2 years later becoming head coach of the Chicago Bulls.Tim Floyd had been a big name in college basketball as head coach, most notably for Iowa State before the Bulls brought him on as their head coach. Bill Cartwright had been an assistant with the Bulls before he was brought on as the head coach immediately following the firing of Floyd. After Cartwright was fired the Bulls hired Scott Skiles, the only coach during this stretch with NBA head coaching experience. Since Jim Boylan was only an interim coach, I won't count him, although he also had no experience as an NBA head coach. Lastly, Vinny Del Negro had no coaching experience at all when he was hired to be the head coach after Boylan was dismissed.
Now, what does this really mean though? How much of a lack of success have the Bulls coaches really had? Sure, Vinny had a rough start and went through a lot of growing pains, but in the end it's clear that he's going to eventually be a very good NBA coach. He has a great mind for it, he just needs the experience. Before he's a head coach again he should spend some time on a bench as an assistant and get a real hang of the job. Either way, he got the Bulls into the playoffs each of his two years at the team's head coach, leading the Bulls against the Celtics in what was the best first round series that the league has ever seen, and in his second season battling a barrage of injuries with a roster that was already paper thin to get the team to squeak into the playoffs.
With Bill Cartwright things didn't work out too great. He did, however, lead the Bulls to their best season that they'd had in 5 years during his first season with the Bulls. However, during that offseason, rookie point guard Jay Williams, who had shown a lot of promise during that rookie season, injured himself while racing on his motorcycle in what wound up being a career ending injury. This brought the team to a halt for the time being. They drafted point guard Kirk Hinrich just a week later, but while Hinrich has turned out to be a good player, he wasn't what they had with Jay Williams. The next season, in what was supposed to be Cartwright's second full season with the Bulls was cut very short as Cartwright was fired after 14 games.
Before Cartwright it was Tim Floyd. Tim Floyd's record with the Bulls was a dismal 49-190. It's safe to say that you cannot praise Tim Floyd for what happened while he was with the Bulls, but it's also safe to say that when you give a coach a team of 12th men with the occasional Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Jamal Crawford, or other young up and coming talent, that the team isn't going to perform at a high level.
Before Floyd was around there was Phil Jackson, who turned out to be an okay coach, and Doug Collins who is still regularly sought after as a coach in the NBA and is well respected throughout the league. In other words, while not every coach has been great by any means, this isn't something that has killed the franchise either. Sure, they've probably missed out on better coaches a couple of times, but at the same time this has also landed them a couple of coaches that have turned out to be very good coaches, one of them being arguably the best that the league has ever seen.
With Thibodeau the Bulls have another coach who can wind up being one of those legendary coaches. The man is, without a doubt, as good of a defensive mind as anyone involved in the NBA today. However, according to testimony from past colleagues, he also has a good offensive mind as well. Doc Rivers is quoted as saying, "In some ways, he's so good defensively, people overlook his overall knowledge. Thibs is our defensive assistant, but has offensive input."
Steve Clifford is another former colleague who has mentioned his ability to coach an offense saying, "Offensively, the one thing he'll be terrific at is finding multiple ways to get their best players in position to get good shots. They'll be fundamentally sound and unselfish." This is what the team needs. The respect he gets from the stars around the league shows that he's less likely to be one of those coaches who wears on his players, and the respect he has around the league also shows that this won't be allowed to happen most likely.
Thibodeau is that type of guy who shows up early in the morning and doesn't leave until late at night. He watches more film than just about anybody alive. He knows the game inside and out. He knows what to look for, he knows when to call a time out. He has the makings to be a coach, the likes of which the Bulls have not seen since Phil Jackson. Putting it into practice is going to be another thing than looking like it, but if any coach has what it takes, it's Thibodeau.
