With a healthy Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls look like a team that is poised to make a run at a championship. Even if they do, their head coach could very well be headed elsewhere this summer.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Bulls management “can’t wait to rid itself” of Tom Thibodeau.
It hasn’t mattered that Thibodeau has taken the Bulls to the playoffs each season he has been running the show and consistently kept his team in contention without Rose. The relationship between head coach and front office was described as “beyond repair” earlier this season, and winning appears to have done nothing to remedy the situation.
“Ahhhh, that’s all noise,” Thibodeau said after Monday night’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Bulls have long taken issue with the way Thibodeau rotates players, but he doesn’t seem to care. Why should he? His Bulls have always been one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference when healthy, though some would argue that they’re rarely healthy because Thibs refuses to give players rest.
Chicago could easily oust LeBron James and company with the Cavaliers missing Kevin Love and the Bulls already having taken a 1-0 series lead. If they do that, there’s no reason they can’t beat the winner of the Wizards-Hawks series. Can the Bulls really fire their coach if he reaches the NBA Finals?
We know a certain guy in Miami who survived the same type of chatter, so Thibodeau isn’t toast just yet. Having said that, he clearly has one foot out the door. Bulls fans are hoping the team uses that as motivation to rally around him.
