As the Chicago Bulls look to take an improbable 2-0 series lead against LeBron James and the favored Cleveland Cavaliers, the list of people hoping against that scenario includes an unlikely group.
Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Bulls management "can't wait to rid itself of one Tom Thibodeau," Chicago's coach.
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Even a Bulls championship may not enough to keep Thibodeau in Chicago, according to Wojnarowski.
"Yes, the Bulls have a real good shot now," Wojnarowski reported. "And the best chance that they'll ever have to win a title here would be with Thibodeau - as terrific of a coach as Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg, management's choice to ultimately be the replacement. The Orlando Magic are waiting to watch what happens at season's end, league sources said, waiting to see how the team and coach dissolve the remaining two years on his contract and separate."
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Wojnarowski went on Fox Sports 1 and reiterated his belief that a divorce is inevitable.
"If it was up to management, there's no amount of winning here that would bring Tom Thibodeau back," he told Fox Sports 1, as reported by probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com. "And listen, this is difficult on Thibodeau, too. And people around him have never seen him so down this year, so frustrated with just the process of just interacting with the organization every day.
"Jerry Reinsdorf, the Bulls owner, though - this has been a culture in Chicago from Jerry Krause and Phil Jackson to Vinny Del Negro and John Paxson in the past.
"If the team keeps winning and gets to the Finals, and public sentiment keeps going toward Tom Thibodeau, ownership could have pause in this.
"But the management team wants a new coach next year."
The knock on Thibodeau always has been that he wears out his players during regular season games and practice. But Thibodeau also is responsible for making professional basketball relevant again since the exit of Michael Jordan in 1998.
The Bulls have won 50 games or more in three of Thibodeau's five seasons as coach, and the team never has won fewer than 45 games. The Bulls won 62 in 2010-11 when Derrick Rose was the league's MVP.
Rose, however, has played only 101 games since that season because of injury.
Probasketballtalk.com also speculated that as the Bulls continue to win and because Thibodeau has two years left on his contract, the chance for reconciliation improves, but the odds of his return would remain long regardless.
"Thibodeau seems to be playing from behind if he's trying to prove why the Bulls should retain him," probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com reported. "Winning would only help, though it's unclear whether that'd be enough."
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