Chicago Bulls Rumors: 3 coaching candidates with ties to Karnisovas

Tom Thibodeau

Wait — don’t close out of the story yet. I know what you’re thinking, but hear me out. There is a scenario in which Tom Thibodeau returning to the sidelines for Chicago makes some sense.

For starters, he has some connection to Karnisovas, albeit it a tenuous one. This may sound a little like “six-degrees of Kevin Bacon” for a second, but humor me. Karnisovas came from Denver where he hired their current head coach Mike Malone.

Malone and Karnisovas share a New Jersey connection, with Malone growing up in Queens and attending Seton Hall Prep in New Jersey as a kid. Malone returned to the Tri-State area in 2001 as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks under defensive-minded head coach Jeff Van Gundy. Also on that staff? Another defensive-minded assistant coach named — you guessed it — Tom Thibodeau.

Not only do both Malone and Thibodeau both come from the Van Gundy coaching tree, but they both are defensive-minded coaches. Furthermore, Tom obviously has a strong connection with the Bulls and while things didn’t necessarily end on the best of terms, with Paxson and Forman relegated to the back-burner, perhaps he could have a successful second act.

And let’s face it, he’s clearly been the most successful coach the Bulls have had since Phil Jackson and it isn’t even close. So while you may scoff at the idea of a Thibs return, it’s not that crazy — is it?