Thibs Obvious Coach of the Year Winner

Tom Thibodeau got his share of praise in Boston for being the team's defensive architect. Some people doubted he had the chops to become a successful head coach, but not only has Thibs proven those doubters wrong, but he has excelled in his first season coaching the Bulls. The Bulls are the top defensive team in the NBA and are holding on to the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Derek Rose gets a lot of credit for his MVP caliber season, but Thibs should get credit as well for bringing out the best in Rose. Thibs has also taken poor offensive players and turned them into positive contributors based on the other side of the game, defense.

While too often fans judge a player by how many points he averages or his shooting percentage, Thibs knows that to win other factors that don't show up in a box score matter. This video breakdown does a great job illustrating those factors. Not surprising, those factors are also why two players who learned to play winning defense under Thibs, Tony Allen and Kendrick Perkins, have brought the wins to their new teams. Fans would complain about TA's jumper or Perk's post game, when those deficiencies barely even mattered in the grand scheme of winning. Bulls fans have done the same with starting shooting guard Keith Bogans, yet somehow the Bulls are having their most successful season since MJ was the shooting guard.

Thibs knows what makes a team a winner and that's not stats, but toughness and defense. Congrats to the former Celtics top assistant. You're the obvious Coach of the Year winner.