Former NBA coach and ESPN NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy thought the way the Bulls management handled the firing of former coach Tom Thibodeau showed a “lack of class” among the organization.
The statement that they put out when they let Tom go proves once again that every organization needs a vice president of common sense, Van Gundy said in an ESPN conference call on Monday, via Sports Illustrated’s Ben Golliver. When you have a public relations, high powered public relations business put that out and then you have multiple people have to co-sign it to put it out, and it just absolutely reeked of a lack of class, it shows that you just need somebody to say whoa. Let’s just acknowledge his greatness, Thiboeau’s greatness, and let’s just move on. But it didn’t happen that way.
Van Gundy, who coached in the NBA for 12 seasons, was angered by the statements made by Bulls management, but he said it also showed the true colors of general manager Gar Forman, vice president of operations John Paxson and owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
And in some ways, in an odd way, I think it was good because, to me, that statement revealed exactly who each person was, he continued. It reveals who Jerry Reinsdorf is. It reveals who Gar Forman is. And Tom Thibodeau’s statement reveals who he is. Everybody had to put their name finally on who they were, and they did. I think that’s great.
Thibodeau is currently unemployed and every NBA coaching vacancy is filled (besides the Bulls). Looks like the former Bulls coach will have to wait for someone to be fired until he coaches again in the NBA.
