It was early June 2010, after being an assistant coach for 21 years, when the Connecticut native Tom Thibodeau accepted the head coaching job offered by the Chicago Bulls. Five seasons later, the team's general manager Gar Forman announced that they will no longer retain his services. He had two years and almost $9 million remaining on his contract, but the management chose to let him go.
A lot of factors have been taken into consideration, on as to why the defensive-minded coach was dismissed. The not so secret tension between him, and Forman and executive vice president John Paxson is one of the few aspects being looked into.
Since reinstating the consistent hardworking discipline upon his arrival, Thibodeau and the Bulls have not missed the playoffs. However, it wasn't enough to satisfy organization. He has a .647 win percentage in the regular season (255-139) having an injury-prone Derrick Rose plays for only 181 out of 394 games. They have excelled defensively and was heralded as the highest team in points per game (92.6) and field goal percentage (43.2) since he took over.
Based on records, the 2010-11 NBA Coach of the Year always struggled in the playoffs. After overachieving in the regular season with the team usually went into a downturn, having a record of 23-28 in five appearances. Michael Jordan's former team has never reached the NBA finals under Thibodeau's coaching and only got to play in the Eastern Conference finals just once in 2011 against the Miami Heat.
The dissatisfaction from the higher-ups came into a boiling point when the Bulls lost miserably to injury-plagued Cleveland Cavaliers in this season's semifinals. From there the management went into a meeting and concluded that the franchise needs a change in approach.
A day after the meeting, coach Tim was informed about the decision. Later that night, he released a statement relying his thanks to the fans, the city of Chicago and to Jerry Reinsdorf for the opportunity he has given him.
"When Tom was hired in 2010, he was right for our team and system at that time, and over the last five years we have had some success with Tom as our head coach,” said the team's manager. “But as we looked ahead and evaluated how we as a team and an organization could continue to grow and improve, we believed a change in approach was needed."
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