It’s official. Like, officially official.
Welcome to the Windy City, Tom. Believe me, we’re pleased as punch to have you here. A real, certified, honest-to-goodness, championship-experienced coach.
That’s not a dig on former coach Vinny Del Negro, by the way.
Said Thibodeau: “It’s been a long wait for me and to be in this city with this team is a dream come true. I certainly understand the great tradition and history of the team.”
And: “The big thing was the great young nucleus. Then there was the careful planning and management of the cap. I think when you combine those things, you saw those possibilities. And obviously, there’s the city. The tradition here with the Bulls and Chicago is a great sports town. I saw this team as having all the things I was looking for — strong ownership, strong front office and the nucleus. Those are the things that attracted me.”
Thibs also had things to say about Derrick Rose (“A big part of Derrick’s growth has to be on the defensive end.”), Luol Deng (“He’s one of the most underrated players in the league. He does so much without the ball. He’s in constant motion.”), Kirk Hinrich (“I’ve always admired his game because of his versatility. He has great competitive spirit.”) and Joakim Noah (“He plays to win. I’d like to continue to see him get stronger.”)
As for his plans for the Bulls, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes; “Thibodeau wowed Forman and executive vice president John Paxson during an interview in Los Angeles on the eve of Game 1 of the Finals with creative offensive ideas centered on drive-and-kick and pick-and-roll schemes, as well as thoughts on player development.”
Not super excited about drive-and-kick schemes, since those made up about 87 percent of Chicago’s offense the last two seasons. And that is a dig on Vinny. But hey, based on his work with the Celtics, Thibodeau has earned the benefit of my doubt.
Now…the draft.
Now that the coaching situation is official, time to turn attention towards the draft. Gar didn’t exactly hide the fact that the 17th pick could be moved which will hopefully create more space to sign free agents…guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Oh, and Jalen Rose reported that LeBron is not returning to Cleveland and is leaning towards signing with Chicago, Miami or the Clippers…
Again, we’ll have to wait and see.
I’m glad to have Thibodeau as our coach. I feel like he’ll get things done (at least I hope)..of course landing a James or Bosh would really really help but that’s a wait-n-see. I think players will listen to the guy and with the guys we have on our team, they seem to WANT to get better and I think he’ll bring that. We’re not far away from something special.
As for what Jalen Rose said..screw that, I saw a thing on ESPN on “World Wide Wes” I didn’t know much about the guy..but Jesus! This guy is known and is pretty tight with it seems like EVERYONE..holy crap! Matter in fact I think they showed a pic of him hanging out with Jesus, lol…if u have a connection with Wes, ur sky is the limit… then again maybe not.
Hopefully Tom Thibodeau is the prefect coach for the Bulls. All we know right now are the pieces like: Bosh, Morrow and others.
From what I understand, Thiby was loved by payers no matter where he went. Doesn’t matter if you’re a great coach with vast knowledge of the game and many offensive sets in your play book, if the guys don’t buy into you, you’ll fail like Larry Brown in New York. For all the faults Vinny had, at least the players bought into him. I’m really glad we got Thibodeau, I just hope the players will buy into him.
“Drive and Kick” requires a team to have reliable long range shooters (both long 2’s and 3’s). Deng is the only reliable long range shooter (excluding 3’s), which means the Bulls have to get stronger in that area. With a penatrator that defenses will always have to close in and help with (Derrick Rose) I can see the “drive and kick” working if Rose has some reliable long ranger shooters to kick it to. Let’s hope we see Rose’s assist numbers increase.
“Not super excited about drive-and-kick schemes, since those made up about 87 percent of Chicago’s offense the last two seasons.”
Yes, but the implication is that these were strikingly new variations on the theme. The main problem with VDN’s schemes is that there were so few of them, and so little variety…
This is the very reason I would prefer to worry about a SG than a 4 or a 5. I think Rose would benifit much more from a consistent shooter than a big man clogging the lane. I think Rose’s game was better with Brad Miller stretching the floor and Noah picking up the garbage tip-ins. With a real long range threat/shooter, Rose will have a much more ‘open’ game. Look at Rondo’s numbers (triple doubles and crazy assist amounts) – and the kid can’t even shoot!
Kirk, Deng, and many others missed an enormous amount of open jumpers from the drive and kick offense. There are not a ton of “Shaq’s” out there to dominate the paint and get buckets. Bosh had good numbers, but only due to a poor surrounding cast – he was close to the ONLY option.
I was not a big fan of our new coach and my view of him still is out I heard (gotnext) comment about the players buying into and liking the coach view that is so true and also vinny had the players on the team buy into his coaching ways and they played hard for him also like metioned Larry brown thingy in New York does not mean the bulls just got a better coach cause it may not all come together I am hoping the bulls did not let Vinny go too soon I liked him and still do, did he make mistakes yes did he learn while on the job yes did he win yes another main factor did the players like him and play hard for him yes. So what management and him did not see totally eye to eye was not the goal of the team to win , personal issues should not get in the way of winning , in this case it did I just hope it did not cost us more than we think we have gained clock is running now our new coach must exceed VDN wins and go futher into the playoffs maybe even win it all strike that he must win it all if the right players come here this year that is alot to shoulder hope he has the strength and knowledge to get the job done else he should not be gone b4 they fire John paxton but not far behind him if the results of winning don’t come fast and I do mean fast like TT fisrt year he has no window to make excuses thanks to VDN the team is ripe now for winning get it done or else get out of chi fast Peace.