Tom Thibodeau and the Chicago Bulls haven’t had the best of relationships throughout the years, however they have been trusting each other for the good of the franchise. This season things have been a bit different – Thibodeau and the Bulls haven’t really lived up to everybody’s expectations for them to be title contenders. Chicago’s front office hasn’t been happy from the way things are done in the team and if Thibodeau doesn’t bring a title at the end of the season it’s hard to see him remaining with the squad.
The amount of minutes that the best players are on the court is once again a big number and Thibs has once again received a lot of criticism for his full-throttle approach. Thibodeau has showed in the past couple of season that he has a habit of overplaying his starters – a tendency that more often than not leads to injuries. The Bulls office has been trying to change this, however they haven’t really had a lot of success. They’re not to blame – this type of approach has really led to a large amount of injuries to star players, the most notable being Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.
Let’s just remember how in the last two full seasons Luol Deng led the league in minutes, how Derrick Rose has been watching from the bench in the previous two years and how Joakim Noah has suffered a wide variety of injuries. And it’s not only them – all of the seasons when Thibodeau has been coach of the Bulls, the roster has been plagued by injuries. Furthermore, if you take a look at Pau Gasol’s playing time you can see that he is averaging 35 minutes per game, which for a 34-year old are quite a big number. Yes, the Spaniard is an All-Star and has showed better form than his last three years with the Lakers, but the risk of his body braking down is not little.
It’s hard to believe that Tom Thibodeau will be fired right away, but if he doesn’t lead the Bulls at least to the Finals this season he will probably be sacked at the end of the year. There is very little hope that Thibs will change his way of thinking, so this may be the end of the relationship between the 2010-11 Coach of the Year and the Chicago Bulls.
NBA Rumors: Bulls may fire Tom Thibodeau at the end of the season
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