Chicago Bulls: Selecting franchise's 2010 All-Decade team

Chicago Bulls: Selecting franchise’s 2010 All-Decade team

PHOENIX, AZ - JANUARY 30: Joakim Noah #13, Derrick Rose #1 and Jimmy Butler #21 of the Chicago Bulls react during the second half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center on January 30, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated the Bulls 99-93. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

3 of 9

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Coach of the decade: Tom Thibodeau

The Chicago Bulls have had four coaches over the past 10 seasons. Vinny Del Negro guided the team to a playoff appearance in 2009-10 but was fired after his second season. Jim Boylen took over during the 2018-19 season after the team parted ways with Fred Hoiberg.

The Bulls went 17-31 under Boylen last season and they have just 13 wins through their first 33 games and could be headed towards another season in which they fail to make it to the playoffs.

Under Hoiberg, the Bulls produced one playoff appearance during his two-plus seasons with the team. But before Hoiberg and Boylen came onto the scene, there was a no-nonsense coach that seemed to get the best out of his players on a nightly basis. That coach in question is none other than Tom Thibodeau.

Thibodeau arrived in the Windy City before the start of the 2010-11 campaign, where the Bulls compiled a 62-20 record. Thibodeau won the Coach of the Year award and the Bulls went to the conference finals for the first time since their last title run in 1998.

Unfortunately, the Bulls were defeated in five games by the Miami Heat. The following season, the Bulls tied the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the league (50-16) during a lockout-shortened campaign. This time around, Chicago’s playoff run was derailed when Derrick Rose went down with a torn ACL injury in Game 1 of the 2012 playoffs.

Despite Rose missing significant stretches, Chicago won 64.7 percent of its games during Thibodeau’s five seasons in the Windy City and the teams finished in the top five of scoring defense in four of those five seasons. While the Bulls went 23-28 in the playoffs during the Thibodeau era, he was by far the Bulls’ top coach over the past decade.

Home/Chicago Bulls