Bulls, Timberwolves finding out ‘The Curse of Thibs’ is real

The holidays are rarely festive for Bulls coaches.

Tim Floyd was forced to resign on Christmas Eve 2001. Scott Skiles was fired Dec. 24, 2007. Fred Hoiberg barely had the chance to see the Christmas lights before he was fired Dec. 3, 2018.

But this Christmas came and went Wednesday, and all indications were that Jim Boylen slept well.

He not only has the backing of the front office — made clear this month when vice president of basketball operations John Paxson spoke to selected media members individually — he has the backing of ownership.

All of this despite a 29-61 record (.322 winning percentage) since taking over for Hoiberg.

Is it the worst start to a coaching career in recent Bulls history? Considering Floyd went 13-37 in his first season, followed by a 17-65 record the next year, it’s not even close.

Still, a .375 winning percentage this season isn’t what Boylen expected.

Call it “The Curse of Thibs.’’

Not only are the Bulls still trying to recover from the misguided belief that they could easily move on from former coach Tom Thibodeau, but the Timberwolves have fallen into the same trap.

The numbers don’t lie. Look at it this way:

When the Bulls moved on from Vinny Del Negro after the 2009-10 season, they were used to mediocrity. Del Negro went 41-41 in each of his two seasons, seemingly hitting the ceiling as a .500 NBA coach. Then Thibodeau arrived and immediately changed the culture of the organization. The Bulls went 62-20 before falling to the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.

In Thibodeau’s five seasons, the Bulls never finished worse than 45-37 and were in the playoffs each year. Three of those seasons came with an oft-injured Derrick Rose as an anchor.

Out went Thibodeau, and in came Hoiberg, with the organization insisting that Thibodeau had a championship-caliber roster in 2014-15 and somehow underachieved.

Hoiberg was given that same roster — championship expectations and all — and went 42-40 in his first season, missing the playoffs.

Hoiberg went 41-41 the next season, losing to the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. He went 27-55 (.329) in the first year of the rebuild before getting canned after a 5-19 start last season.

So what has moving on from Thibodeau, who won almost 65 percent of his games and never missed the playoffs, meant for the Bulls?

How about a .400 winning percentage with one playoff series in four-plus seasons season.

And the curse doesn’t stop there.

Thibodeau took over the Timberwolves in the 2016-17 season, one year removed from watching Sam Mitchell lead the hapless organization to a 29-53 record. Thibodeau went 31-51 in his first year, and in his second season, he had the Wolves at 47-35, despite losing Jimmy Butler for almost half the year. It broke a streak of 13 seasons without a postseason appearance.

Even with the dysfunctional start to last season, Thibodeau left the Wolves with a 97-107 (.475) record, ranking him second in wins in franchise history.

Since then? The organization has handed the reigns to an underqualified Ryan Saunders — son of former coach and executive Flip Saunders — and watched the 33-year-old take them right back to junior-varsity status. Saunders is 27-44 (.380).

Bad luck, or simply two organizations that couldn’t recognize an elite coach when they had him?

Either way, “The Curse of Thibs’’ is alive and well.

Fear it.