It has been well documented that there is a growing rift between Coach Tom Thibodeau and the Chicago Bulls front office. Whether it is Jeff Van Gundy bringing his personal feeling to the fore front of a national broadcast (he really has been a “studio gangster” in the way he’s behaved about this) or the local Chicago media reporting on the situation, the Thibs vs GarPax quarrel has reached even the most uninformed Bulls fan.
Editor’s note: this Doug McDermott feature article authored by new Sports Bank contributor Wes Evans. (@WesEvans24)
The most recent chapter of the saga centers on Thibs playing (or not playing) the Bulls 2014 lottery pick (via a trade), Doug McDermott, who was the NCAA’s ‘National Player of the Year’ award winner last year. Thibodeau’s refusal to play the small forward has added fuel to the fire which has left GarPax and fans puzzled.
McDermott’s lack of playing time has been magnified in the past week because of injuries to Rose, Butler and Gibson. Due to the injuries, one might think that Thibs would be forced to play his entire bench since he is down 3 starters and has an open roster spot that was not filled by Kendrick Perkins or Ray Allen. Not to mention that Hinrich is an injury waiting to happen and Pau Gasol is a 34 year old player logging 40+ minutes a night…but no one knows how Thibs will approach the vacant playing time, especially when it comes to playing Doug McDermott.
There are 3 options for Thibs going forward regarding playing McDermott while the Bulls overcome their injuries and none of these options will help Thibs augment his image with GarPax and/or Bulls fans.
• Thibs plays Doug McDermott and he does well: leaving everybody to wonder why he didn’t play him sooner. Then McDermott gets regarded as “wasting away on the bench when could have been another added scoring threat.”
• Plays Doug McDermott and he does poorly. The narrative then becomes “lack of playing time prior to this opportunity has stunted McDermott’s’ NBA growth and Thibs has wasted his rookie season”
• Doesn’t play Doug McDermott. Then the storyline will become “Thibs is not playing McDermott because of his feud with GarPax and the end result hurts the Bulls, but it doesn’t bother Thibs as much because he is leaving after this season anyway.” Not saying this narrative has any truth to it, just saying that’s the narrative which will emerge
Even without the McDermott situation, the relationship between the Bulls and Thibodeau is trending in the wrong direction.
Also, the window for a championship is THIS year. Due to all the injuries, the lack of continuity on the court and the strained relationship between the head coach and front office, the Bulls will really have to over-achieve to reach the conference final.
No matter what side you are on for the Thibs vs GarPax rivalry, Thibs has been backed into a corner regarding Doug McDermott ’s playing time.
@WesEvans24