Bulls choose to go with anti-Thibodeau
CHICAGO — Somewhere between a sweet story about the birth of his twin sons in Chicago and a wry claim that his high school team in Ames, Iowa, was better than Doug McDermott’s, it became apparent Tuesday what about Fred Hoiberg appealed most to Bulls executives.
He’s not Tom Thibodeau. The contrast was stark and immediate between Thibodeau, a workaholic bachelor with no children who clashed with management, and Hoiberg, a married father of four who came across as balanced as a nutritionist’s diet.
The new Bulls coach went 10 minutes into his introductory news conference before mentioning basketball. He was too busy introducing his Rockwellesque family — wife and high school sweetheart, Carol; daughter, Paige, and sons Jack, Sam and Charlie — and thanking friends from his hometown and former bosses at Iowa State.
“You guys are everything to me,” Hoiberg said in a tone that left no doubt.
Perhaps perspective comes easier for a man who underwent his first of two open-heart procedures at 33 because of an aortic root aneurysm, which ended his NBA career after 10 seasons.
“If there was danger in me doing this, I wouldn’t have taken this job,” Hoiberg said.
The more Hoiberg talked, the more you wanted to hear. Hoiberg easily won the news conference, for what it’s worth, but when divvying up credit for that victory please remember the Bulls front office just to avoid hard feelings. The affable coach made clear nothing likely will faze a guy who attracts success like a magnet to steel. Not someone with Hoiberg’s blend of humor and intelligence, character and charisma.
When Hoiberg finally addressed basketball, he promised an up-tempo pace and plenty of pick-and-rolls while describing traits of individual Bulls players as if he were an advance scout for the Cavaliers. When he responded to a question about going from college to the NBA, it was as if he was reading from a script Bulls management prepared.
“Coaching is coaching,” Hoiberg said. “A big part of coaching is the human element.”
The Bulls’ championship window must stay open next season to justify replacing one of the NBA’s best coaches with Hoiberg. Nobody disputes the Bulls landed a coach ideal for the challenge, someone who wanted this job badly enough to list it as one for which he would leave Iowa State.
But Hoiberg appearing to be the right man doesn’t change the fact the Bulls went about this the wrong way, a reputation hit that shifts pressure squarely on the front office.
It started with Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s petty statement insulting Thibodeau for polluting the culture rather than just wishing him well. Then Bulls General Manager Gar Forman only sounded disingenuous, at best, insisting the search for a replacement who excelled at communicating didn’t include a favored candidate.
The Bulls really should have introduced Hoiberg, nicknamed “The Mayor,” at City Hall for all the cronyism surrounding a hire that had the whiff of Chicago politics. The exhaustive process lasted four days. The so-called search included one candidate. To suggest otherwise only insults everybody’s intelligence.
It was amusing when Hoiberg asked Forman if he could talk about “guys who played here last year” when discussing Aaron Brooks, a reminder of the compatibility the Bulls front office now enjoys with its conforming coach. Can anyone imagine Thibodeau doing that?
The last time Hoiberg and Forman sat at the same table after closing a big deal, a Realtor was involved. Hoiberg sold Forman his home when the shooting guard left the Bulls for the Timberwolves in 2003. Forman also coached Hoiberg at Iowa State on Floyd’s staff.
As Forman pointed out, they have known each other 20 years. And as the Bulls proved in firing Thibodeau and hiring Hoiberg, they value relationships over everything else.