New Orleans Pelicans: Maybe Pursuing Thibodeau Shouldn’t Be The Plan

By Josh Wilson | May 18, 2015

May 6, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the third quarter in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 106-91. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

As seasons close for both the New Orleans Pelicans and the Chicago Bulls, offseason questions begin to rise. For both of these teams, lots of these questions revolve around the topic of head coaches.

On the Pelicans’ side, they fired their head coach Monty Williams, after what some would call a successful season. Despite going to the playoffs, the front office felt Williams did not utilize his resources well enough to keep his job.

On the other hand, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau is reportedly at risk of losing his job with the Bulls. Although he’s done a good job of making the Bulls a consistent face in the playoffs, he’s failed to get past LeBron James and his team several times, and failed to make it to an NBA Finals.

A big part of this has been his point guard Derrick Rose‘s constant injuries, but we will get back to that.

In what some are calling a “divorce,” the rocky relationship between Chicago’s front office and Thibodeau is likely coming to an end. Questions first started flying around when Thibs made the decision to play Rose with just above a minute left in the game, and he tore his ACL.

Although it was said that the Bulls’ management was behind Thibs’ decision to play Rose this late, it was the start of a fire between the two parties. It’s one that appears to be beyond repair at this point.

For both of these coaches, it’s not the end of the coaching road, if they don’t want it to be. Williams has been rumored to have drawn interest from the Oklahoma City Thunder as an assistant, and Thibodeau is rumored to be drawing interest from the Pelicans, Williams’ old team.

After an inaugural year as far as new team logos and names go for New Orleans, they will have another inaugural year for a new coach. But is Thibodeau really the right choice?

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He’s been rumored by countless analysts to be the lead dog for the position, and rightfully so. He has a winning attitude and can back it with actual statistics that show he is a winner.

As a team that is looking to become a dominant force in the playoffs in the coming years, the Pelicans surely don’t want to become a stagnant team, much like the Bulls became for several years. The promise of young star Anthony Davis is evident, and he certainly isn’t a player that should want to be okay with losing in the first and second round of the playoffs. In fact, I’m sure he’s already fed up with the losing after just his first playoff series loss.

After a history of winning, and being an integral part of the Kentucky Wildcats’ 16-0 conference record one year, it’s clear losing isn’t something Davis is familiar with.

Davis is bigger than losing, and very soon, the Pelicans as a whole will also be bigger than that, just like the Bulls thought they were. Bringing in Thibodeau just may promote this stagnant attitude.

Sure, Thibs comes with a fiery attitude, and a desire to win. He didn’t lose in the playoffs on purpose. No coach ever does. But he comes with that history, and it can’t be forgotten by the Pelicans.

On top of that, some credit Thibodeau and his fiery attitude with part of the reason Rose was injured so often. They claim that he worked his players all too hard, and put too much stress and pressure on him. While I don’t think it was all Thibs’ fault, I do think he may have contributed to the fragile knee of Rose.

And wouldn’t it be devastating for the Pelicans to lose the player they’ve spent all their time and energy on, the player they’re going to be building their franchise around likely for the next few years? Davis would be the obvious candidate to get attention from Thibodeau, as he is the player the team is being built around. He would likely get a lot of the attention, the unrelenting, stressful, and strenuous attention from the head coach.

It’d be terrible to lose Davis because of a strenuous workload from a coach.

Although there are certainly some things that draw red flags and lead us to believe Thibs is not the best fit, he’s a good coach. In his time with the Bulls, he was given great players, and was able to lead the Bulls to an overall winning record in his time there. With the Pelicans, he would have a great cast of players to start, and could potentially do the same.

At the same time, he’s only made it to the conference finals once in his coaching career, and lost in the first round twice with the Bulls.

Thibs has also won Coach of the Year, and been the Eastern Conference’s All-Star team head coach. He’s got honors, but that doesn’t automatically make him the right man for the job.

Next: Golden State Warriors: Western Conference Finals Preview

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