Seriously, how many fear factor gross-out foods would you eat or obstacles would you endure or kicks to the junk would you absorb to have had this guy as our coach? No, this is not a cleverly disguised I-hate-Idlemind thread. I like Rick, and as I mentioned in another thread, the Rockets just now seem to be getting his system. For that reason alone, it would be stupid to unwind it all now. And I know that when Les showed JVG the door, the Suns and Warriors (to a much lesser extent) were still kinda hot and ESPN, and all the know-nothing national NBA press, was gushing over the run-n-gun and everyone wanted to watch 135-128 NBA outcomes. The last thing Les wanted was to hire a JVG protoge guaranteeing wins with 87 points. But what this man has achieved as the helmsman of the Bulls is not short of incredible. That team is not significantly better than last year. In fact, it may be a little worse. Sure, Rose is more experienced, but their biggest offseason pick-up in Boozer (douche) was injured for half the year, and though reliably good, has not really been that special. At least, you could argue he could be replaced by any number of PF's with no serious +/- to the Bulls overall win/loss column. No, everyone will remember Rose's big growth year, but I give credit for a huge portion of their success to the coach. Long story short if you don't want to read this ambling post: Isn't Tom T. a friggin' bad man, and why, oh why, didn't Les lock this guy up and give him his first head coaching opportunity when he already had him on the damn payroll?! Ug.
Watching Tibs coach a summer league game for the Rockets years ago, I knew this dude was serious about coaching. He was acting like he was in the Finals and not coaching a bunch of potential scrubs. You also have to keep in mind he has a lot of talent on that team, as well, so that definitely helps.
He is a contender for COY Tom Thibodeau, Bulls: If ever a team needed an identity, it was the Bulls. Thibodeau has given it to them in spades with the defense that had made him one of the top assistants in the league for years. He juggled a lineup through early-season injuries and he inspired Derrick Rose to become a leader and then turned him loose on the basketball world. When Michael Jordan recently said there could be six more championships coming to Chicago, he wasn't kidding. Read other coaches predictions: http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/fran_blinebury/04/07/coach-of-the-year-pick/index.html
Thibs is JVG all over again except his offense has more motion to it. He's not a contender for COY, he's a lock.
Part of me wants to say effing amazing. The guy took a team that everyone doubted and made them into contenders... ... At the same token, look at the talent of that team. Are you telling me a Phil Jackson, Rick Adelman or even JVG couldn't succeed with that team? Don't get me wrong, that is awesome company to be in, but does that make him amazing? I'm not sure...
He's good enough to be the next legendary coach along the lines of Chuck Daly, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley etc. He's got "IT" as a coach and that's all there is to it really... but to go further he's just getting started as a Head Coach and he's relatively young in terms of coaching age but best of all he's got young superstar talent in D.Rose and borderline Allstar talent in Noah to go along with nice veteran pieces at other positions. Thibs and Rose will have illustrious careers at their respective positions no matter what but if they stick together and stay on the same page they will make things much easier and accomplish a lot together.
What's wrong with what he said. Thibs was the assistant coach for the Celtics when they won the championship in 2007
He's obviously a great defensive mind (and you didn't need this year's results to know that). My only issue is that I think he probably has his guys going all-out in the regular season (looking at minutes for Rose, Deng) vs. the PJ/Pop routine of pacing guys for the playoffs. I'm not sure the Bulls will change much in the playoffs as other teams shorten their rotation and boost minutes for their key guys. That might make a difference. Still, I think this guy takes any mediocre team to the playoffs. That's the difference between a bad coach and a good one.
He just wrote it strange and confused posters and seemed to say the Celtics won last year. He said "won the championship and was in the finals last year.". It could have been worded "won the championship in '08, and made the Finals last year."
Rose paid Thibs a compliment this week on how he's resting guys late in the season. During practice. This is just as important as the number of minutes they play during games. When you have very old players like the Spurs, you have to go the extra step and reduce game minutes too. Plus the Bulls don't yet have the luxury of several years together with playoff experience in Thibs system. They need to stay tuned up.
