Tom Thibodeau may be difficult to work with, but the Chicago Bulls are doing a better job of turning him into a sympathetic figure than they are of validating themselves for firing a head coach that reached the postseason every year he was in charge.
Before the Bulls fired Thibodeau on Thursday and blasted him on his way out the door, there were rumors that the team might wait until other NBA coaching vacancies were filled before making a move. According to KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, Bulls general manager Gar Forman says no one showed interest in Thibodeau, anyway.
Forman reiterates what Tribune reported all along: Bulls would've granted permission for other teams to talk to Thibs. Nobody called.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) May 28, 2015
There are plenty of reasons to believe there was unrest between Thibodeau, the front office, and the Bulls players, but he should have no problem getting a coaching gig elsewhere. In all likelihood, teams didn’t request permission to talk to Thibodeau for the same reason they didn’t offer to give up assets to trade for him — they knew the Bulls would fire him sooner rather than later.
As we have already mentioned, the smear campaign the Bulls are rolling out is an embarrassing look. The team is desperately trying to vilify Thibodeau to justify firing him, and everyone can see right through it.
