Does Tom Thibodeau Fit In The Modern NBA? – Forbes

Tom Thibodeau's intense, old school style will probably return to an NBA bench next season. Should ... [+] it? Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Tom Thibodeau knows how to win.

He won as an assistant under head coaches like Doc Rivers and Jeff Van Gundy and as a head coach with the Chicago Bulls and, to a far lesser extent, the Minnesota Timberwolves. But after a tenure as a coach and lead executive in Minnesota ended after two-and-a-half underwhelming seasons, Thibodeau is reportedly ready to jump back into coaching.

The New York Post reported Monday that while the New York Knicks will get the first crack at Thibs, the Brooklyn Nets and Houston Rockets would also be interested. But there are significant questions whether Thibodeau can adjust and adapt to a modern NBA that is more player-centric than ever before.

Tom Thibodeau is not for everyone.

Though he made the playoffs in each of his five seasons with Chicago, advancing twice to the second round and once to the conference finals led by excellent defense, he often clashed with management (which now looks like a good thing based on how things went with Gar Forman and John Paxson) and had a reputation for demanding a ton from his players. He had a reputation for playing his guys heavy minutes and not resting them enough, but players like Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson swore by him.

Thibodeau was able to get a lot out of the Bulls during his five seasons in Chicago, though he was ... [+] criticized for playing his core guys too many minutes. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images

Chicago had a trademark style of strong defense and hard-nosed play under Thibodeau, and he tried to re-create that with Minnesota. But he inherited an extremely young Wolves team prior to the 2016-2017 season, with the main core of Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine all in their age-21 season and rotation pieces like Ricky Rubio, Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad, Nemanja Bjelica and Kris Dunn all under 30. They went 31-51, finishing 27th in defensive rating.

So Thibodeau the executive tried to create Bulls 2.0 in Minnesota by swinging a blockbuster trade for Butler, signing veterans like Gibson and Jeff Teague and eventually Rose. The Wolves finished 27th in defense but fourth in offense in 2017-2018, making the playoffs for the first time in 14 years by beating Denver on the final night of the regular season. After a quick first round exit against Houston, things went off the rails.

Though Thibs kept the team mainly intact, re-signing Rose, making a sneaky good move in inking Josh Okogie, bringing in Deng and maxing out Towns after doing the same with Wiggins the year before, Butler demanded a trade and things got out of control. Thibs couldnt convince his prized pupil to stay and eventually traded Butler to Philadelphia.

Minnesota majority stakeholder Glen Taylor saw that the young group wasnt responding to Thibodeau, a season after Towns, Wiggins and Gibson all finished in the top 14 in the NBA in total minutes played. As Berman notes in his piece, no Thibs-coached team has ever finished in the top half of the league in 3-pointers made per game. In an era of threes, player empowerment, rest and load management, Thibodeau relied on the opposite and it backfired.

Thibodeau couldn't connect well enough with young players like Towns, and things fell apart quickly ... [+] in the 2018-2019 season despite a decent record. Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Can Tom Thibodeau change his ways to reflect the modern game?

Hed have to with a young team like the Knicks, who are reportedly looking at options to replace interim head coach Mike Miller, who in turn replaced the fired David Fizdale, who was given a poorly-fitted group to work with and an unrealistic set of expectations from ownership to attain. But Thibodeau worked with new team president Leon Rose while at CAA and there could be a fit in that regard.

With cap space to burn and a top draft pick coming, can Thibodeau work with and develop young players like R.J. Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, Frank Ntilikina, Kevin Knox and whoever else is on the New York roster when next season begins, rather than hinder their growth in favor of young players in a misguided quest for mediocrity? Though those players would do well learning some defense, toughness and tenacity, they also shouldnt be run into the ground, either. It sure seems like he would be a better fit for a veteran squad closer to winning now.

Brooklyn and Houston would certainly qualify. The Nets championship window is as open as its ever been the next couple of seasons, and Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and company could benefit from a coach with pedigree and gravitas. But he needs to improve the way he allocates minutes to players and how he rests them, things he was reportedly working on when he made visits to teams like the Clippers, coached by former mentor Doc Rivers.

How would Kyrie Irving respond to a tough-minded coach like Thibodeau? Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty ... [+] Images

But would the Nets stars bristle at a disciplinarian like Thibodeau and eventually either tune him out or outright rebel? Its why I think Mike DAntoni would make a better fit for Brooklyn than Thibs.

However, DAntoni is coaching the Rockets right now, but he may not be for long. If either he or Houston decided not to renew his expiring contract, Thibodeau could be an interesting fit for a veteran Rockets team constructed to win now. Hed have to manage two superstars in James Harden and Russell Westbrook and would have to embrace the Rockets fast pace and its 3-point-centric offense. Houston wouldnt be what it is without that identity, and trying to change that style would lead to disastrous results.

In a modern NBA thats an adapt-or-die kind of league, Thibodeau has yet to prove that he can change with the times. But with a big name and a winning reputation, it sure seems like some team is going to give Thibs a chance to prove us wrong pretty, pretty soon.

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Does Tom Thibodeau Fit In The Modern NBA? - Forbes