Tom Thibodeau in the run for Coach of the Year award again – NBA Feature
Tom Thibodeau seems as mysterious as his name. He is seen walking around the baseline during the Chicago Bulls games instructing his team like a military brigade commander adjusting his troops for attack. There is no smile on his face. He is focused on the
game and nothing else gets into his head for the 48 minutes the Bulls are on the court.
Tom Thibodeau is the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, in his second season in the NBA. Last year, he guided the Bulls to a 62-20 win loss record and earned himself the NBA Coach of the Year title.
He brought a tough style of game play to the Bulls, cantered on his MVP point guard Derrick Rose, and no one seems to have an answer for it. Tom came under criticism this week when the Chicago Bulls lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, followed by the Houston
Rockets. This was their first back to back loss of the season, breaking their record of having no back to back loss in 14 months.
It is a great study in human behaviour to see how different expectations are placed on different people, the level of expectation directly related to the success of that individual. With the sort of turnaround Tom has brought in the Bulls team and the record
he is currently commanding, no person could imagine him being questioned. The latest story going around in news circles is that without Derrick Rose, the Bulls are not the same team.
Chicago point guard and current league MVP Derrick Rose has missed the last 11 games for the Bulls with a groin injury but they have played quite well without him. In total, he has missed 21 games this season and the Bulls are 14-7 in his absence. They are
also 28-9 when Richard Hamilton doesn’t play. Tom has done a great job to reshuffle his strategy and use his bench to make the best possible combinations on court at any given time. And the work has paid off.
If one observes Tom during practice sessions or during matches on the side line, one is reminded of Samuel L. Jackson in “Coach Carter”, a motion picture based on a high school basketball team in an African American neighbourhood in the U.S.A. Samuel plays
the coach of the team in the movie, an old-school and strong character who believes discipline is as important as talent, and has his team doing hard training and drills. Tom Thibodeau seems to believe in the same philosophy, with his training sessions famous
in the NBA for being gruelling and tough. But whatever he is doing with his team is paying off.
"That's what he does: He doesn't let us let up and we try not to let up also. He's always on us and always nagging us about certain things we're not doing right. Or we're not playing hard enough. I think that's good for us, especially in the long run" said
back-up point guard C.J Watson.
Many people are anticipating Tom Thibodeau to be named coach of the year again. But they are not aware of a strange statistic. No coach in the NBA has ever been named coach of year in back to back seasons. Yes my friends, no one. Not even Phil Jackson, or
Avery Johnson, or Gregg Poppovich. With his record and the performance of the Bulls, this statistic is the only thing going against Tom at the moment.
At the same time, it is worth mentioning here that having the best record in the league does not guarantee the coach of the year laurels. Doc Rivers won the award in 2000 when his team’s win-loss record was 41-41, while Phil Jackson’s Lakers were 67-15 for
the season. It is also not guaranteed if the coach improves the win-loss record of his team from the previous season just as Tom has done with the Bulls. Scott Brooks was named the coach of the year in 2010 when he took Oklahoma City from 22 wins to 50 wins.
The next year, he improved the record to 55-27 but Thibodeau took the laurels.
It remains to be seen who fans will vote and who will eventually be named coach of the year. Tom has tough competition this year as a number of coaches have guided their respective teams to much improved performances, as compared to the last year.
As I write this article, the Bulls have just defeated the Boston Celtics at the United Centre in a match many were predicting would fully expose the Bulls weaknesses. However, again playing without Derrick Rose, the Bulls have come back from an 11 point
deficit at half time to take the game 93-86. And I was forced to wonder, if Miami Heat lost LeBron James or San Antonio lost Tim Duncan or the Lakers played without Kobe Bryant, would they have been able to beat a team of Boston’s calibre? Come post season
when the coach of the year is being decided, keep this question in mind.
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