CHICAGO — In his final postgame address of the season, Tom Thibodeau praised his Chicago Bulls for their "fight," for showing "no quit" and for the way they "hung tough" through a difficult season. It was a typically Thibsian appraisal—and a fitting epitaph for this Bulls era, assuming this era might soon need an epitaph.
The season had just ended with a thud Thursday night, a 94-73 blowout by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the sixth game of the second round, leaving the Bulls well short of their goals and grasping once again for answers.
For the fifth straight year, they proved to be tough and resilient and many other admirable things—everything but champions, the only label they have sought since Thibodeau and Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah began their rise in the East.
This seemingly perfect marriage—between the hard-driving head coach and the relentlessly energetic lineup—is almost certainly over, for reasons that go well beyond basketball.
The epitaphs will come soon enough.
The rift between Thibodeau and the Bulls front office is the NBA's worst-kept secret, a clash of conflicting agendas and egos and philosophies, and it has become untenable.
A breakup is considered almost certain, with only the timing and the details and the press-release wording to be determined.
"I can't even come close to imagining" that Thibodeau stays with the Bulls, said a source with ties to the coach, calling it "almost impossible" for the two sides to reconcile. The source put the chances of a breakup at 95 percent.
"Until they tell me I'm not [the coach], I expect to be here," Thibodeau said late Thursday.
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This is where matters get complicated. Jerry Reinsdorf, the Bulls' notoriously frugal owner, is reluctant to fire a coach with two years and a reported $9 million left on his contract. Thibodeau could volunteer to rip up the deal, assuming he receives an equally generous offer elsewhere, but even then the Bulls could demand compensation (i.e. draft picks) to let him leave.
"It's a game of chicken," said another source with ties to the team.
Yet there is enough motivation by all parties to find a solution. And there are enough interested teams—chiefly the Orlando Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans—to envision a mutual, if not necessarily amicable, divorce.
No matter where the fault may lie, it all seems a little senseless.
Since Thibodeau was hired in 2010, the Bulls have accumulated 255 regular-season wins—trailing only the Spurs (286), Thunder (266) and Heat (261), and this despite losing Rose for the entire 2012-13 season and most of 2013-14 because of knee troubles.
In so many ways, Thibodeau has been the perfect coach for these Bulls, never letting injuries dictate expectations, forever pushing them to excel and even to overachieve, forever insisting, "We have more than enough to win."
More often than not, they did. And although Thibodeau's screaming and his perfectionist tendencies sometimes grate on his players, they generally respect his unwavering ideals.
"It's not up to my decision, but I love him as a coach," Rose said Thursday, adding, "If it was up to me, he would be back."
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Team officials have their eyes on Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, a former Bulls guard, as their top choice to replace Thibodeau, according to sources. Hoiberg is highly regarded across the league and could provide a fresh vision and voice.
What the Bulls arguably need most, though, are fresh legs on the court.
Noah, an indefatigable force, rarely looked like himself this season after undergoing knee surgery last summer.
Rose needed another knee surgery in February, his third since 2012. At times in these playoffs, Rose looked like his former self, exploding past defenders and rising to the rim, looking once more like the player who claimed the MVP award in 2011. Other nights, he looked ordinary. As the curtain fell Thursday, Rose struggled to put up 14 points on 7-of-16 shooting, without a single trip to the foul line—a common and alarming trend in this postseason.
Jimmy Butler's breakout season also ended on a flat note: 20 points on 8-for-22 shooting. Pau Gasol, who fought through a hamstring injury, managed just eight points and five rebounds.
Through five games, the Bulls appeared to be the Cavaliers' equal, with two games decided at the buzzer, and with each team winning at least once on the other's home court.
By the sixth game, the Bulls appeared inexplicably gassed, falling behind early and then caving entirely in the second half. The Cavaliers played the entire series without Kevin Love, and were missing the banged-up Kyrie Irving for most of Game 6, and still led by as many as 27 points Thursday night. LeBron James shot poorly in five of the six games, and went 7-of-23 in the finale, and still the Cavaliers rolled.
It was a humiliating and inexplicable end to a resurgent season, and it leaves the Bulls franchise with a nagging question: Is this as good as it gets?
There is no guarantee that Rose will ever regain his All-Star form, or that Noah will regain the spring in his legs. Gasol turns 35 in July. The Bulls' upside rests with the 25-year-old Butler and rookie Nikola Mirotic. Their ability to revamp the roster is limited.
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The Bulls have roughly $64 million in committed contracts for next season, not including Butler, a restricted free agent. He is almost certain to receive a max contract, starting around $15.7 million. The Bulls are privately vowing to match any offer; that means they will likely be paying the luxury tax next season for largely the same roster.
LeBron has become to the Bulls what Michael Jordan was to the Knicksand Pacers in the 1990s: a stubborn, unyielding obstacle.
Four years ago, Rose was the MVP and the Bulls were dueling James'Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. But LeBron has knocked Chicago out of the playoffs four times in six years, leaving the Bulls to wonder if they will ever find their way past him.
"We'll get it," Noah vowed. "Just gotta believe and keep working."
It sounded like something Thibodeau might say, a final, fitting epitaph for an era of soaring aspirations and perpetual heartbreak.
