Bulls’ Thibodeau is clear-cut choice for Coach of Year
Last Modified: Mar 28, 2011 11:45PM
If Tom Thibodeau doesn’t win the Coach of the Year award, there should be an inquest. With the job he has done with the Bulls, he probably should get Rookie of the Year, too.
What he has accomplished in his first year as a head coach has been stunning. He has taken a team that was more interesting than great at the beginning of the season and helped raise it to where it stands now, at the top of the Eastern Conference.
OK, that Derrick Rose kid has helped a bit, too.
But you get the point. A longtime NBA assistant finally gets his shot, and he takes his team to places it hasn’t been in more than a decade. After the Bulls’ 97-85 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, the record stands at 53-20 in Thibodeau’s first year. Those are crazy numbers for a team that has battled injuries to significant players much of the season.
The number in the victory column means everything. Ask Philadelphia’s Doug Collins, another legitimate candidate for Coach of the Year, whom he’d choose for the award, given a vote.
“I always go to the guys who are winning,’’ said Collins, whose team has gone 35-22 since starting the year 3-13. “We’re hanging on. But to me, Thibs and [Portland Trail Blazers coach] Nate McMillan have done great jobs.’’
Collins’ admiration for McMillan has to do with the fact that the 43-31 Trail Blazers have withstood another season without Greg Oden, as well as injuries to Joel Przybilla (since traded), Marcus Camby and Brandon Roy.
But Thibodeau has had to deal with long absences by Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah. And through all that, the Bulls have carried on with hardly a stumble. Their loss Monday night was only their fifth in 37 games at the United Center.
Go ahead and try to engage Thibodeau in a discussion about the Coach of the Year award. It’s like trying to get a piece of furniture to talk about itself.
A basketball lifer
“All that stuff’s not important,’’ he said. “Getting ready to play and winning is what’s important.’’
In the debate about the league’s top coach, Collins did leave some room for the men whose teams are in the .500 range. They normally have talent limitations the top teams don’t. Philadelphia has had only two games this season in which one of its players scored 30 points or more. That’s hard to do.
Thibodeau has more talent at his disposal. Even so, he has gone beyond what most people expected.
“Tommy has paid his dues,’’ Collins said. “He’s a basketball lifer in a lot of ways, even though this is his first job as a head coach. From my understanding, he eats, drinks and sleeps basketball. He locks himself in a room and watches tape hours and hours at a time.’’
We can discuss whether that’s healthy another time, but it’s working. The players know two things: Their coach is a madman in terms of preparation, and they’re winning.
As far as a social life, the Bulls are fairly certain he doesn’t have one.
“I haven’t seen him out,’’ forward Kurt Thomas said. “He’s a workaholic. He stays in the office. He’s always breaking down film or trying to adjust the game plan. That’s been the backbone of his whole career.’’
Thibodeau’s best work has been on defense. Going into Monday’s game, the Bulls were holding opponents to 91.1 points a game on 42.8 percent shooting. More important than any film session is the accountability he demands on defense. You either play hard or you sit.
Lots of coaches say that. Not everyone follows through on it.
“He expects a high level of performance night in and night out,’’ Thomas said.
Offensive flexibility
It was easy to make fun of Thibodeau’s fixation on defense when the Bulls hired him. But he’s not the one-dimensional character some of us made him out to be. For example, he believes his players absolutely should be able to shoot the basketball, provided they donate an organ to science immediately afterward. Kidding.
“What he has done great offensively is he’s taken Utah plays for Boozer and he’s taken Philadelphia plays for [Kyle] Korver, and he’s mixed those in,’’ Collins said.
He’s also gladly taken those plays in which the Rose kid fakes his defender into Naperville and then proceeds to the rim with no concern for his own personal well-being. But, again, you get the point. Thibodeau is flexible on offense.
Since trading Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to New York, Denver has gone 12-4. Nuggets coach George Karl will get some votes for that. But Thibodeau has brought it for an entire season. When camp opened, the Bulls were on the edges of the discussion about the best teams in the league. Now they’re in the middle of it.
On Monday, ESPN.com asked five “experts’’ if the Bulls were the best team in the NBA. All five said no. A certain Coach of the Year should be able to use that to motivate his troops.
Copyright © 2011 — Sun-Times Media, LLC
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