If you thought the divorce between Tom Thibodeau and the Chicago Bulls was an amicable one, think again.
In addition to blasting Thibodeau in a press release on Thursday that officially announced he had been fired, the Bulls apparently felt that he could not be trusted to collect his things and exit the team facility. They had security accompany him.
Per a league source, at this moment the Bulls have security waiting to escort Tom Thibodeau out of the building.while he packs his things
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 28, 2015
As @NickFriedell reported shortly before my last tweet, Thibodeau had just left the building. So the security escort already occurred.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 28, 2015
That hardly seems like standard procedure.
Thibodeau accumulated the fourth-most regular season wins as a Bulls coach during his five seasons with the team. He brought Chicago to the playoffs in each of those seasons, despite numerous injuries to former NBA MVP Derrick Rose. Yet, the Bulls were reportedly anxious to fire him before the team was even eliminated from the postseason.
The relationship between Thibodeau and the Bulls is a perfect example of winning not solving everything. In fact, there was even a report that several Bulls players did not endorse Thibs in exit meetings with team management, so he may have had very few supporters left. I’m sure all parties are happy to move on.
