Thibodeau accepts Bulls' offer

[elcheato]

Although an official announcement will have to wait until after the NBA Finals, Boston Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has accepted an offer to become the next head coach of the Chicago Bulls, a source told ESPNChicago.com on Saturday.

This development comes after ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported Thibodeau had withdrawn his name from consideration for the New Orleans Hornets' coaching job.

Bulls officials declined comment. The team and the NBA agreed to wait until after the Finals are over to make the hiring official.

"We do not have any rules that prohibit a team from announcing a coaching hire during the Finals," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. "In the Bulls case, because they have no plans to consummate any deal before the end of the Finals, we agreed that they should defer any announcement to the conclusion of the Finals."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers would not confirm before Boston practiced the day before Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

"I hope it's true, but we're not going to comment on it, I can tell you that," Rivers said. "We're focused on the NBA Finals. There's two teams. There's the Lakers and the Celtics, and that's what we're going to keep the focus on.

"But on Tom, he deserves the job. I think he's the best candidate out there. I've said that for three years now. So let's hope it's true."

In addition to getting interest from the Bulls and Hornets, Thibodeau was a strong candidate for the New Jersey Nets' coaching opening, Stein reported. Thibodeau interviewed with the Nets before the Celtics left the East Coast for Los Angeles for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Early in the Bulls' coaching search, conventional wisdom indicated the team was looking at candidates who had prior head coaching experience. Thibodeau's extensive experience as an assistant, however, was enough.

ESPNChicago.com had reported the Bulls were impressed with Thibodeau's basketball knowledge after a recent interview.

Those who worked closely with Thibodeau had high praise for him.

"Tom's a workaholic," Celtics forward Paul Pierce told ESPNChicago.com recently. "I'm always catching him in there working, watching film in his office. He's probably the most prepared coach I've ever seen."

Rivers agreed.

"It's tough to get a picture of him, because he's always in the office," Rivers told ESPNChicago.com.

"Tom has great focus and [the players] buy in. That's really important. You can sell it, what we want, but we make it a point that, if you don't buy in, you don't play. I think whenever you have a -- [Orlando Magic assistant] Brendan Malone, the same thing here -- the Magic know Brendan, just like [the Celtics] know with Thibs, Stan [Van Gundy] is going to back Brendan 100 percent and I'm going to do the same with Thibs."

Prior to his stint in Boston, Thibodeau served as an assistant in Minnesota, San Antonio, Philadelphia, New York and Houston. Thibodeau will replace Vinny Del Negro, who had an 82-82 record in two seasons with the Bulls.

Would have to think this lowers their chances at LeBron..

 

[$tunna]

Ehh, It's whatever.

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

Could have been a lot worse if you ask me... This guy is suppose to be a defensive genius, so hopefully he can help Rose with that part of his game and Noah will only improve under him. He also coached the defensive that disrupted LeBron and knocked him out of the playoffs, so maybe LeBron will be sick of facing him and will want to team up with him in Chicago? LOL They do have the same agent...

Since the Bulls weren't really looking at Byron Scott, I'm pretty happy with this. I can only hope that this is the start of a pretty good off-season in Chicago, but we'll have to wait and see how that goes. My only concern is that he might turn into Scott Skiles 2.0, but from what I've read he's not as strict on players as Skiles was, so maybe that won't be the case.

 

[RipCity32]

He has been considered the best assistant coach in the league for quite a while. To me this is a great pick up for the Bulls.

 

[dcpwner]

i think i would have liked a John Calipari +LeBron kinda thing. especially since rose and calipari obviously had something special together in memphis, however i cant knock this decision, Thibodeau sounds like a solid guy, but the Bulls have had poor experiences bringing in first year head coaches