The questions were inevitable once the Chicago Bulls' season ended with a 94-73 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau fielded questions about his future in Chicago during his postgame news conference. Last week, Yahoo! Sports reported that Bulls management "can't wait to rid itself of one Tom Thibodeau."
Tom Thibodeau done in Chicago, regardless of how Bulls' season ends?
If a divorce takes place, Thibodeau told reporters he won't be the one to initiate the proceedings. Thibodeau didn't provide a lot of insight into his situation, but he didn't shy away from questions.
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Cleveland.com transcribed Thibodeau's comments from his news conference:
Question: Do you expect to be coaching this team next season?
Thibodeau: Yeah. Until they tell me I'm not, I expect to be here. That's the way I'm going to approach it.
Question: How will you handle it if other teams approach you in the offseason?
Thibodeau: I haven't even thought about it. Haven't thought about it.
Thibodeau did decline to discuss what he thought the Bulls needed to do in the offseason to get past LeBron James and the Cavaliers next season.
"It's premature," the Bulls coach said. "When a season ends, we like to decompress and take a look at it. To evaluate what is needed moving forward. I don't want to say too much on that right now."
Thibodeau was asked to judge the Bulls' season and noted that he was proud of the team's accomplishments in the face of the myriad injuries it suffered, namely to the prolonged absence of Derrick Rose during the regular season.
"Some good, some bad," Thibodeau said on the season. "It's not for me to judge. I have my own thing I'll look at in terms of where we are and the things we accomplished. For the team to stick together is a credit to them. Our starters played in 20 games and less practices than that. It's a credit to them that we were able to do what we did."
The next move belongs to the Chicago Bulls; the question becomes when that move will be made.
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