Fellow Denver Stiffs:
The fact that we are not even entertaining recently fired Tom Thibodeau (sixth best winning percentage ever in a minimum of 400 games, with Rose only playing approximately 47 percent of those games) for the only open HC position in the NBA is a strong indicator of the philosophy and attitude of the Denver Nuggets organization. And it's not good.
Put aside Thibodeau's personal feelings about the Denver Nuggets opening. Put aside the fact that the Denver Nuggets are a small-market franchise without a bonafide All-Star, nonetheless a superstar.
Follow me down the rabbit hole.
With all due respect, I'm not sure I will ever quite understand many of our delusional fans who are clamoring for Mike D'Antoni. The fantasy seems to be primarily predicated upon the notion that our philosophy/identity is and should remain a fast-break, run-and-gun offense so as to ensure an increase in home victories in the Mile High City. A desire for a D'Antoni led-squad is a desire for mediocrity, albeit entertaining, and early postseason exits at best. I don't need to remind you as we've seen our own version of this story just a couple of years ago. While I understand the philosophy's advantages and do support its implementation at home (to a far lesser extent than most want), my argument here is that it should not be the fundamental identity of our franchise as it clearly does not translate to postseason success.
To those that oppose this and do strongly believe that a fast-break offense leads to postseason success, I ask you to please teach me something new. And don't bother with D'Antoni's Western Conference Finals Phoenix Suns teams that were lead by MVP Steve Nash in his prime along with an All-Star cast of Amare Stoudemaire, Shawn Marion, etc. They would have arguably succeeded in any system, and would have very likely reached the Finals, and won it, with the RIGHT system.
To those that agree but claim that D'Antoni is the best option currently left who is willing to coach the Nuggets, I simply point to Tom Thibodeau.
We've heard it all with Thibs. Doesn't want a small-market team; wants a competitive, talented roster. What coach doesn't want that? Any coach will come to any team if the money and managerial power is right. The Bulls still have to pay $9,000,000.00 to Thibs. That's the number, that's all we have to do. Beat that number.
When looking for a head coach, you never look for a stop-gap replacement. You look for a leader that you believe will install an effective strategy, find and develop players that fit within that mold, and ultimately produce a winning culture.
As so many have mentioned before me, we need to have a culture change. And it begins with the head coach. Not just selecting the head coach, but trusting the coach, specifically his in-game strategies, his views of each position's importance to that respective strategy, and his evaluation of talent.
First comes determining the philosophical strategy of a franchise followed by finding players that can execute the specified strategy. Not the other way around.
We, especially the Front Office, cannot allow players to dictate the franchise's (and accordingly the fan's) attitude towards the coaching staff and strategy. Many of our players who led the mutiny of Brian Shaw are now attempting to facilitate their trades out of Denver. This is eerily reminiscent of Utah with Deron Williams getting rid of a Hall of Fame coach in Jerry Sloan, and then ultimately leaving for Brooklyn. Any idea of how they've done since then? Better question, do you really want to know? They are 150-190 since Sloan's departure. We'd be lucky to reach even that dismal mark.
Without the Front Office's backing and trust of the coach, at least long enough to observe the success or failure of the newly installed strategy and players, our franchise will continue to remain unstable and continue to see constant turnover. Aside from the Chicago FO's disagreements with Thibs (primarily regarding the drafting of Marquis Teague over Draymond Green), many Bulls players wanted Thibs out because he made them work "too hard." Know what other team that sounds like? The San Francisco 49ers, who just got rid of a coach who led them to three straight NFC Championship appearances and one SuperBowl appearance.
Thibs has fallen into our lap. Not a hot assistant coach with zero head coaching experience as our former. Not another fading coach rotating on the carousel as our apparent future. He is an extremely successful NBA head coach whose superstar player was injured for more than 50 percent of games he coached. He is, without a doubt, a top-3 mind with Popovich and Kerr. At the very least, let's go out there and attempt to sign the best coach that our franchise will very likely ever have the sole chance of obtaining. Saying nothing or publicly claiming that we are not interested is not only a foolish act, but it makes us a foolish franchise destined to be the joke of the league once again.
