Tom Thibodeau Will Outcoach and Outclass You

March 6, 2011
Bulls vs. Heat in MIAmi, FL

What can I say? I'm a sucker for great coaching.

This game, this season for the Chicago Bulls is twenty-two years in the making. This is the birth of an old school, and I mean old school, brand of coaching from the potentially perennial Coach of the Year candidate Tom Thibodeau. Coach T has been around the professional game as an assistant coach long enough (21+ years to be exact) to channel Red Auerbach and Dean Smith, and he uses the most fundamental principles and instills them throughout his entire twelve man roster.

Tom Thibodeau is light years ahead of that baby-faced-what's-his-name coach for the Miami Heat (seriously, who the hell is this guy?). For every fantastic, did-he-really-just-make-that shot from Dwyane Wade, Tom Thibodeau is fifteen steps ahead of the development of the game as a whole. While Erik Speolstra seems to rely on the athleticism and talents of a few overrated so-called superstars, he does not have what we call in the sports world credibility. Seriously, how long can Pat Riley sit idly by and watch this jokester try to coach his team? Think of a director of a film. He's orchestrating an entire motion picture while the actors play their parts, listen and remain coachable.

And oh how coachable these 2010-11 Chicago Bulls are this year. Led by third year PG and serious MVP favorite Derrick Rose, Thibodeau has his team playing the right way. They're toward the top five in every major defensive category. He's got them playing together, sharing the ball on offense. He's got them competing at a high level on both ends of the floor. He is maximizing the potential of the entire roster, making moves throughout the game, working the officials, mixing and matching the components of the game's flow. Much is to be said about team chemistry, and it is the coach's responsibility for building that pH balance to its most abundant ability.

While we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Bulls' first NBA Championship this season in Chicago, I have a feeling that we'll be talking about Tom Thibodeau twenty years from now similar to the way we talk about another guy you may have heard of, the man who directed The Dynasty, Phil Jackson when it's all said and done...

We hear the MVP chants when D-Rose steps to the free throw line. Isn't it about time we start hearing the "Coach of the Year" chants?