Chicago Bulls ink coach Tom Thibodeau to a four-year contract extension.
Written by Adrian Gregory Glover // October 1, 2012 // Feature, NBA // No comments
Chicago Bulls fans that support coach Tom Thibodeau can breathe a sigh of relief as he has gotten his contract extension.
The chorus grew to a roar in Chi-Town after the team seemingly let Thiboeau twist in the wind walking into the offseason without a new deal in place.
The speculation was only going to get louder as the team started 2012 and maybe that gave him some leverage in getting his four-year pact taken care of.
ESPN is stating that his money is close to the $18 million that Oklahoma City’s Scott Brooks got earlier this year.
The four years are really five as they will be tacked onto the option that team picked up fro the 2012-2013 run.
“Obviously, I’m very excited to be here and very thankful to (owner) Jerry (Reinsdorf) and to (executive vice president) John (Paxson) and (general manager) Gar (Forman) and certainly all our players and our fans,” Thibodeau said on Monday. “I love being here, I never doubted it would work out. This is where I want to be. Jerry has been great to me from the day I arrived.”
Forman spoke of his intentions throughout the process.
“It was certainly our goal for Tom to be the coach of the Bulls long term, (and) it was Tom’s goal to remain with the Chicago Bulls,” Forman said. “He’s obviously one of the top coaches in the NBA. Of course, I’m biased. I get to watch him every day. But I think he’s the best coach in the NBA.”
The Bulls’ All-Star Derrick Rose commented that he was happy about the timing of the situation.
“It’s great, man,” Rose said. “Just to know that we finally got a deal done, he got his deal done. I don’t know if he has been thinking about it. He hasn’t said anything (to) me. No one has said anything to me about that but you all. I’m just happy that he’s my coach for an x amount of years. He’s a guy that we need around this organization, where he’s pushing everyone in the entire organization to want to be better and try to push this organization to win a championship.”
For Rose’s dreams to come true he must focus on his rehab work while his coach handles the team’s other pressing issues.
