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The dust is beginning to settle on the NBA’s third-most winningest franchise. A day after the indignant firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau, the Chicago Bulls are ready to move forward with a presumably more laid back, new-school coach. Though it seems likely that front office duo of Gar Forman and John Paxson plan to seduce Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, he should not be their only top target; they don’t have to look far for another quality coach: current assistant, Adrian Griffin.
Griffin played nine NBA seasons, two of which were in Chicago, following his four-year career at Seton Hall. He landed with the Milwaukee Bucks after a 2008 offseason trade, but never played with the team. Instead, just a few days after Griffin was released, Scott Skiles hired him as an assistant coach. He held that role for two years before returning to the Bulls organization as an assistant coach in 2010, Thibodeau’s first season. He’s been on the Bulls’ bench since then. He’s also been their Summer League head coach the past few seasons.
Hoiberg’s resume is similar. He played 10 years in the league, including four with Chicago. He had a brief stint as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves before joining their front office where he worked until his hiring at ISU in 2010. His quick success earned him a 10-year contract extension which he signed in 2013, and while he has said that his ultimate goal is an NBA gig, he also seems to truly love it in Ames. His contract has a $2 million buyout clause if he leaves for another college position, but the buyout is only $500,000 if he leaves to become an NBA head coach.
Despite his lack of head coaching experience, I believe that Griffin is the better option for the current state of the Bulls. His time spent under Thibodeau, one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the league, cannot be overstated. Nor can his familiarity with the organization, the city and most importantly, the players. The Bulls are in a tough spot. Derrick Rose, though healthy for the first offseason since 2011, remains mercurial. Pau Gasol, though coming off a career year, is turning 35 in 2016. Joakim Noah, though as passionate as ever, is on the wrong side of 30 and has had knee and foot issues. The same can be said for Taj Gibson. The lone beacons of hope are still-rising star Jimmy Butler and young scorer Nikola Mirotic. This isn’t a rising team like the Golden State Warriors. A brand new coach won’t be able to grow and nurture young talent like that. This is a team of veterans whose trust must be had from day one, so why not promote a trusted, familiar face, while still reaping the benefits of a young, laid back coach?
Griffin is naturally a more laid back guy than Thibs. It seems unlikely that he’d clash with the front office the way Thibodeau and other previous coaches have. But then again, there remains one constant in each of the past three sour-ending coaching eras in Chicago and that’s Paxson and, to a lesser extent, Forman. Their stubbornness may eliminate Griffin, because of his connection to Thibs, as a serious candidate before he even interviews. Let’s hope that’s not the case.
The worst that can happen if Griffin gets hired is the inevitable, continual, slow decline over the next two years until the salary cap hindering anchor that is Rose’s contract expires in 2017. At that point, if it hasn’t worked out, Hoiberg can be hired to help champion the next youth movement of the Bulls.
The best that can happen is that Griffin really meshes with the guys he’s been with for a few years, Rose finds his fire again, Butler and Mirotic continue their progress and Gasol, Noah and Gibson have enough left in the tank for a few more playoff runs after carefully restful regular seasons.
He has learned under two of the more respected coaches in recent memory in Thibodeau and Skiles. If he can combine those coaching principals with a more collaborative, open relationship with both players and upper management, Griffin will be a hell of an NBA coach. Here’s to hoping it’s with the 2015-16 Bulls.
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