Firing Thibodeau was the biggest Bulls mistake in 20 years...

Diehardfan said:

Jerry Reinsdorf is slowly morphing into Bill Wirtz as he continues with his silly loyalty to people that are failing him and are piece by piece, tearing down his franchise.

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talkingdinosaurs said:

Amen to that...Kenny Williams has been stopping the White Sox from properly constructing a baseball organization (trading away draft picks for over-the-hill free agents, below average farm system) for years, and Reinsdorf continues to enable him.

With the Bulls, I think they needed a change from Thibs, but the culture shock has lingered. Not having that guy scream at you and hound you to get every drop of production he can out of you has probably led to some of these effort issues. Then again, I wasn't a fan of watching him playing Jimmy Butler for 48 minutes multiple times in regular season games...I think he ran people into the ground minutes-wise for absolutely no reason.

Also, while it's probably true that the Bulls don't have the right personnel for Hoiberg's system right now, why did he not adjust to what he was given from the beginning? That's what top coaches do. He shouldn't get fired after one season, but he's already kind of reminding me of Marc Trestman...

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Enasic said:

The problem wasn't firing Thibs. Although, the FO plain and simply did not give Thibs enough of "his guys." They let Asik walk, which because of the CBA, was an understandable move, but they never replaced Asik with another capable backup C. They chose Marquise Teague over Dramond Green who Thibs wanted. They fired his boy Ron Adams because Ronnie told it how it is. The FO continued to undermine Thibs and put him in less than ideal situations. However, it was also rumored that Thibs was wearing on the players and that only 1 member of the starting lineup vouched for him and wanted him back. Speculation of course, but where there is smoke, there is fire. It seemed the relationship was toxic and a change was needed.

The problem however, was that the FO had a guy picked out while Thibs was still the coach. They fired Thibs, addressed the fans, and said they would interview other coaches and that no decision had been made. Well, they didn't interview a single goddamned other coach, and handed the keys to Freddy Hoiberg when the team was only set up to win defensively. Not only that, but the guy coming in needed to be a natural leader, albeit, not as maniacal as Thibs. Fred is about as dry and stiff as an NBA HC can possibly get. He's an offensive coach and the FO are looking like fools thinking they had a talented enough offensive roster for it to be the strength of the team. They relied on Noah, who is falling apart, with no other lengthy defensive front court player, to keep the defense respectable.

All in all, firing Thibs I think was still the right move, but a large portion of the blame falls on the FO for undermining him on a regular basis. The other portion of the blame goes on Thibs for being too full throttle all the time, and too stubborn in his ways. All that being said, Garpax absolutely need to go after this mess. I think they've failed to create an enjoyable atmosphere around the team and its shown in the teams play and overall demeanor. Unfortunately, JR will not see it this way and will probably give Gar and/or Pax at least another 2 seasons to turn it around. Just like the FO has been waiting far too long to shakeup what obviously needs to be shaken up, JR will wait too long on making the obvious move of replacing Gar and/or Pax. I think both need to go.

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