The Bulls’ firing of Tom Thibodeau last week was the culmination of one of the worst-kept secrets in the league—that Thibodeau didn’t get along with management and would be canned if Chicago came up short in the playoffs again.
It also could be one of the worst personnel mistakes ever made by a franchise—this from a Jerry Reinsdorf-owned organization that already had a rift with 11-time NBA champion head coach Phil Jackson, who left after his second three-peat in an eight-year span back in 1998—the last time the Bulls were in the Finals.
Sometimes you don’t know what you have in someone until they’re gone. This could very well be the case in Chicago.
Thibodeau’s Bulls were ousted by LeBron James and company this spring—the fifth straight season that the four-time MVP James has taken whatever team he’s on, put them on his back, and led them through the Eastern Conference playoffs and into the NBA Finals.
It’s good to be the king.
It’s not so good to play the king in the postseason, as Thibodeau did three times in his five years in the Windy City—2011, 2013, and 2015. It’s also not so good to be without your best player—Derrick Rose—for more than half (213 out of 394 games) of your tenure.
