Tom Thibodeau, the associate to Celtics head coach Doc Rivers who is widely regarded as the defensive mastermind of the staff, has been the center of a series of rumors this past week as speculation abounds about various head-coaching vacancies around the league.
After turning the Celtics around three years ago and turning them into a defense-first championship contender, Thibodeau has been in high demand. With the glut of open coaching positions this summer, his name has risen to the top of the heap, and he's getting a whole lot of media attention in the middle of the Celtics' Finals run.
First there were the New Orleans Hornets, who fired Byron Scott nine games into the season back in November and have been led by GM Jeff Bower on an interim basis since. ESPN.com's Mark Stein reported a week ago that Bower made a formal offer to Thibodeau on May 25 to take over the reins — but Thibodeau appears to have no interest.
Next, the New Jersey Nets have been actively looking for a replacement this spring, and word out of the Garden State last weekend was that Thibodeau and former Mavericks coach Avery Johnson were the two front-runners there. Again, lots of buzz, but again, no response from Thibodeau.
Then Thursday morning, the picture got a little bit clearer.
Here's what we've learned, courtesy of the New York Post:
- Thibodeau has finally rejected the Hornets after leaving their offer on the table for a week unanswered.
- Johnson, not Thibodeau, is the favorite in the race to take over in New Jersey.
- Thibodeau, according to a Post source, is now "almost guaranteed" to end up coaching the Chicago Bulls next season.
It would be an intriguing turn for Thibodeau — three years ago, he helped turn the Celtics around and make them a title-winner, and now, he could have that same opportunity with the Bulls.
Thibodeau is hardly the only big name linked to Chicago this summer. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have all been rumored as possibilities to join the Bulls' current nucleus of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng. The Bulls were a fringe playoff team this season, but down the road, there's a whole lot of buzz about what this franchise is capable of.
Rivers has always said that he roots for his assistants to move on to better things. He welcomes it. And for Thibodeau, it would be hard to do much better than the Bulls, a team that's on the rise and looking for the right man to lead the way.
But at the moment, Thibodeau needs to stick to his roots. He and the Celtics have a championship to win.
