The Cavaliers head to Chicago Thursday night to take on the Bulls in Game 6 of their playoff series. This isn’t the first time LeBron and company have made their way to Chicago for a big playoff game. Whether he was in Miami or now Cleveland, LeBron knows what the United Center and coach Tom Thibodeau hold for him. This brings us to a more interesting point. What does the future hold for Thibodeau?
If you pay attention to the NBA on any level, you have seen the rumblings surrounding coach Thibs and the Bulls management. Not only did Thibs take the Bulls from an eighth seed to the number one seed in his first season, including capturing the first division title for Chicago since the Jordan era, he has worn down the front office and caused them to want to move on from his success. It seems Thibs wants to stay in Chicago, and the players have always been supportive of their defensive minded coach, even though the long and grueling minutes he puts them through throughout the season.
We’ve seen the Spurs and coach Gregg Popovich utilize rest for his older players, seemingly keeping them ageless and continuing to win games. We’ve seen other NBA teams and coaches begin to adopt this concept to a lesser extent throughout the 82-game season, but one coach we can be sure we’ll never see resting players is Thibodeau. It’s difficult to pin point exactly what the front office means when they say a coach is wearing them out, but we’ve seen it happen in the past, most recenty with Jim Harbaugh wearing out his welcome in San Francisco and heading back to the college ranks.
So what does this all mean and how does it relate to the all-important Game 6 at home for the Bulls? Well, this could be the end of the Thibodeau era if the LeBron led Cavaliers can close out the series and move on the Eastern Conference Finals. If not, the talk will continue to swirl until Thibs and his team is faced with the same challenge in Game 7. The win or go home statement will take on a different meaning for Thibodeau. The rumors have been circulating that he is already the leading candidate and best fit for the open Pelicans job down in New Orleans. This has to be the most lucrative of all the open coaching positions at this point considering the opportunity to coach big man Anthony Davis, a sure fire future MVP candidate.
Thibs has already built a relationship with Davis throughout their USA basketball time together, and we’ve already seen Thibodeau take an eighth seed to a one seed. If you remember right, the Pelicans made the playoffs as the eighth seed before being swept by the current NBA MVP, Stephen Curry. A similar situation played out in the Warriors franchise last season with Marc Jackson being fired after a successful season, but a first-round playoff exit led to his exit too. Similar reasons were cited when questions arose as to why. He began to wear on the front office and clash with the decision makers. It turned out better for the Warriors in the long run, but that may not be the case for every similar situation we see.
As Thibodeau comes up with a game plan to stop LeBron, he may need a game plan for another job too. We’ve already heard LeBron go on record and say a close out game in Chicago reminds him of Michael Jordan, and how he is ready to move on in the playoffs. One thing is for certain, the Bulls seem ready to move on from Tom Thibodeau, regardless of the outcome.