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Year after year the offense just disappears come playoff time. Is that a coincidence?
I'm not a coach killer type of guy, but every year except for his first one, the Bulls under Thibs are out of gas come the post-season. Yes there have been injuries, and no I didn't expect them to win the title these past few years, but having nothing left is a direct result of Thibs running these guys into the ground during the regular season. I don't know if he has the same attitude and directives in practice as he does during the games, but if he does, then he should be fired yesterday.
Now that's not to say guys shouldn't give max effort when out on the court, but if you're going to ask your guys to go all in on the defensive end then you damn well better have a 10 man rotation during the season. You can't play your core heavy minutes and then think attrition won't set in. Adding to that, I'm not sure the Bulls have the best athletic training staff in the league either. One or two guys being injury prone or dealing with nagging issues I can see, but it's five to six players year after year. Something has to change.
I know Pax doesn't get a lot of love around here but I think the guy has done a tremendous job. He pulled the team out of the depths of obscurity and consistently brings in players of talent. I'm a big believer that a talent evaluator is the single most important part of any sports organization and Paxson, IMO, is one of the best in the league at it.
Is it Paxson's fault that Gibson, Hinrich, Noah, Butler (Deng before him) etc.. have been overworked?
Take Korver for example. When Kyle was here he struggled with his shot and didn't play up to his or our offensive expectations. He moves on to Atlanta and is back to being lethal from behind the arc. Why is that? Are guys being asked to do too much under Thibs? I think so.
There is no excuse as to why Snell and Butler prior to that can't get off the bench early in their careers. Same goes for McDermott. What's the point of drafting these guys and investing in them if they only get chances because someone else is injured. Think of Mirotic this year. Only because injuries did he see his playing time increase. Why?
Back to Snell. I bring him up a lot because I think the guy is talented. He's fearless out there and would provide some much needed athleticism on the perimeter. Unfortunately for Tony, he plays sparingly and never really gets the chance to get into a groove out on the court. It's strikingly similar to Butler's first two seasons. Jimmy couldn't sniff more than a few minutes here or there and languished on the pine because Deng needs to lead the league in minutes for some reason unknown to us, the keen observers of the passing scene. It's maddening to witness stubbornness.
"Let the record show," I was never anti Thibs prior to this season, but now, I just don't believe in his coaching ability anymore. This post season has really opened my eyes. The Bucks series should have been a sweep. And I'm with "long time guy" on this one, he was outcoached by Kidd in more than one game during that matchup. Teams have been double teaming our pg's at the top of the key year after year and we haven't adjusted. Our offense looks great when we're hitting our threes (Yes, I know all offenses do) but if we go cold from the outside, forget about it. It be nice to pick up the pace, get out and run when your shot is struggling. Sadly, one cannot do that if one has no legs.
The basketball universe lined up perfectly for the Bull this second round and yet here we are, in the same frustrating place we always find ourselves in. Cleveland has tried multiple times to give the games away to no avail. Matching basketball wits with Blatt should be an easy win for Thibs, but it hasn't materialized. It's always something. If you "have more than enough" you should be able to "do your job" coach.
With an aging Lebron, no Kevin Love and a gimpy Kyrie Irving the series should be over.
After tonight, it is.
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