and stop playing starters at the end of game that are out of hand? How will it go down when Rose eventually returns?


Joakim Noah says Bulls coach Thibodeau ‘doesn’t understand the whole rest thing’

Brett Pollakoff

Tom Thibodeau

The questions about how hard Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau rides his starters have been asked countless times, and the answers are always the same: That’s how he chooses to do it, the players can handle it, and the results have been mostly successful.

That doesn’t mean that they’re going to stop, especially when the guys normally logging the heaviest of minutes end up doing so even when the game has seemingly already been decided, as was the case in an easy 96-85 win over the Nets on Saturday.

Chicago led by 18 points after three, yet Luol Deng played the entire fourth quarter giving him 44 minutes on the night, and Joakim Noah was subbed back in with just over six and a half minutes to play and the Bulls leading by 20.

It seemed excessive, more so than usual. And Noah had an opinion about it afterward.

From Sam Smith of Bulls.com:

“I saw the way the game was going,” said Thibodeau. “You’re jogging back. They’ve got a lot of three point shooting on the floor. A 10-point lead can dissipate in a minute. You knock down three threes, you get a foul, boom. And then we were in the penalty; we’re recklessly fouling. We’ve got to do better.”

“What do you want me to say? Yeah, I’m tired, pretty tired,” Noah offered with a shrug. “Working on (his plantar fasciitis) every day, massages, lots of treatments, doing everything possible to keep it under control. It’s not really right after the game (you feel tired). It’s the next morning that’s the roughest.

“We’ve got a great coach,” Noah said as he began to smile and let out a laugh and you know one of those subtle, understated zingers was coming. “But he doesn’t understand the whole rest thing yet I don’t think. But it’s all good. We all want to win. It’s good.”

The thing about the Bulls is that while most teams are able to turn it up a notch once the postseason begins, Chicago is already playing at maximum effort, and playing its players maximum minutes — even in a situation like this where it would seem to be a good time for Thibodeau to get his guys some rest.

Thibodeau isn’t going to change his style, though, and the way he obsesses about the little things, even when up 20 with only six minutes remaining, is what has made him a successful head coach.

Having his two All-Stars log 40-plus minutes in a game that has already been decided, however, is eventually going to take its toll — perhaps as soon as Sunday night, when the Bulls head to Indiana to take on the Pacers.

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Every single decent team in the NBA has two players in the top 40 for minutes per game.

Kobe plays about 45 SECONDS less per game than does Loul Deng. Kobe also has played about 130 MORE minutes this season than has Deng.
Kobe is also 7 years older than Deng.

People blaming Thibs for injuries are just looking for excuses for their heroes.

Let's take Rose. HE wanted a triple double that night. HE did not have to crash the board as one of the smallest players on the court with his team up 12 with 2 minutes left to go.
But he needed that rebound.

I know this is the age of blame the other guy...but sometimes it is your own fault.

I get your point but don't know if the Lakers, who will barely make the playoffs, are a good example of a "decent" team. In terms of contenders, Durant and LeBron are just after Deng in minutes played, while Melo and Westbrook average 2-4 minutes less than Deng.

I don't know if injuries can be blamed on minutes played, but I do think Thibs needs to learn how to take his foot off the gas once in awhile. Popovich is the standard, and it would do Thibs well to learn from Popovich's big picture approach to the season.

Thibs' talent is obvious, but my greatest fear is that he ends up being another version of Scott Skiles: a very talented coach whose intensity eventually saps all energy out of the team.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

It's a valid knock. Thibs has to find a way to use the rest of his team better and manage mins. In the playoffs this will work but over the course of 82 games it does not make a lot of sense.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

the guy isn't coaching the Celtics anymore. this is the baby bulls. I doubt thibs sees a need for rest when everyone sucks at their game.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I believe he is dead.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

And in the third season he rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures and is seated at the right hand of the Chairman.

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