Former Chicago Bulls: Tom Thibodeau ready to coach again next season

The last year that Tom Thibodeau was the Chicago Bulls head coach was in 2015, when Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose were still with the team.

The former head coach of the Chicago Bulls Tom Thibodeau is an often discussed free agent head coaching candidate around the NBA at the moment. There’s a lot of either high-profile head coaches on ever-increasing hot seats and current job openings in the NBA. A few of the jobs that are currently manned by interim head coaches include the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.

Thibodeau was the Bulls head coach from 2010-2015, and held a regular season record of 255-139 over that span of seasons. He would then hold the same role with the Minnesota Timberwolves for three years before the front office there figured out he wasn’t the solution either.

But the head coaching experiment for Thibodeau in Minnesota didn’t really solely because of poor team performance on the court. Personality clashes and Jimmy Butler were two big reasons why Thidodeau is not currently the Timberwolves head coach.

Since the Timberwolves let him go around two years ago, Thibodeau is still out of work in the basketball world. But that may not last too much longer.

According to a report from Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, the former Bulls head coach is “confident” that he’ll find work in the same role by the start of next season.

Here’s what that piece from the New York Daily News had to say about Thibodeau and his coaching prospects for this coming offseason.

"Thibodeau is confident he’ll get a job next season and has even been asking around the league for advice on picking the best opportunity, according to sources. The Knicks, Nets and Rockets are expected to have the three highest-profile coaching gigs available. Keep an eye on the Pelicans, Bulls and Hawks. Then there’s the big question of whether Gregg Popovich is returning for another season in San Antonio. Our advice for Thibodeau, if he lands a job, would be to hire a couple assistants who can connect and serve as a bridge with younger players.There are two other potential Knicks candidates worth mentioning. John Calipari has publicly rejected the idea of leaving Kentucky but is so close to Knicks president Leon Rose that he should never be taken out of the mix. Mike Miller served well as the interim coach and team spokesman during a difficult three months for the organization. Word is that Rose was impressed."

Current Bulls head coach Jim Boylen is likely to see more pressure put on his hot seat in the coming months. Former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas was just hired to be the Bulls next executive vice president of basketball operations, hence he could radically reshape the coaching staff, which includes Boylen.

This piece from the New York Daily News even mentioned the Bulls potential job opening as a possibility for Thibodeau. But that is an idea that we should put by the wayside for the time being. That would be a very bold move for Karnisovas to make right out of the gate.

Landing with a team like the Knicks, Nets, or Atlanta Hawks would be more likely for Thibodeau. The Bulls could certainly be an option down the road if Karnisovas really like what he brings to the table. A lot of the reason why Thibodeau was ousted in the Windy City in the first place was all the dysfunction occurring up in the front office under Paxson and general manager Gar Forman.

Thibodeau finished with a record of 97-107 in his slightly under three years with the Timberwolves. He’s still a solid head coaching candidate with a lot of valuable experience and success at his previous two stops.