The Bulls Fire Tom Thibodeau

By Gabriella Garcia
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Updated: May 29, 2015

The Chicago Bulls have parted ways with coach, Tom Thibodeau. In five seasons as head coach of the team, he compiled a 255-139 record and guided the team to five straight playoff appearances, even while dealing with an injured Derrick Rose. He was also named NBA’s coach of the year in 2011 when the Bulls advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. Thibodeau reportedly clashed with management over personnel moves and time restrictions for players. He will most likely have many offers, the Orlando Magic and New Orleans Pelicans have coaching openings.

The Bulls’ chairman Jerry Reinsdorf released a statement after the team announced Tom’s dismissal. “Teams that consistently perform at the highest levels are able to come together and be unified across the organization — staff, players, coaches, management and ownership,” Reinsdorf said in the statement. “When everyone is on the same page, trust develops and teams can grow and succeed together. Unfortunately, there has been a departure from this culture.” It was no secret that Thibodeau didn’t get along with Reinsdorf and General Manager Gar Forman.

He was a longtime assistant for teams like the Knicks and Celtics before joining the Bulls and he was known for being demanding of his players in Chicago. Thibodeau held long practices and played his starters longer minutes, well at least that’s what he wanted to do. After Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah had knee operations last season, management limited the number of minutes they could play and he was none too pleased with the policy.

The Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated the Bulls from the playoffs in the conference semifinals this month and Chicago was again struggling with post season offense. That set the stage of speculation about Thibodeau’s job status and on Thursday, the team made it official. “When Tom was hired in 2010, he was right for our team and system at that time,” Forman said in a statement, “and over the last five years, we have had some success with Tom as our head coach. But as we looked ahead and evaluated how we as a team and organization could continue to grow and improve, we believed a change in approach was needed.”