Interim head coach Tony Brown got his first win on Wednesday night as the Brooklyn Nets defeated city rival New York Knicks. Brown is taking over for Lionel Hollins after he was fired over the weekend, but he is not expected to be the long-term coach. The Nets will take their time in announcing a new coach, as they also have to find a new general manager, but they have reached out to Tom Thibodeau, according to Mitch Lawrence of Sporting News.
The Nets have been going downhill over the past couple of years and didn't like the way the team was playing, so they fired Hollins even though he still has another guaranteed year on his contract. Hollins wasn't the only one to go, as the Nets also officially re-assigned GM Billy King, so they will have a lot of work to do to fill these positions.
Earlier this week it was reported that Bryan Colangelo might be an option for the GM job, and names like Danny Ferry and John Calipari have popped up as well, but that domino will likely have to fall before a coach is named, as a GM will likely want a say in the matter. Regardless of who the new general manager is, Thibodeau figures to be a prime candidate, as he has had nothing but success in the past.
Thibodeau was an assistant coach in the NBA for 20 years before finally getting his chance as a head coach with the Chicago Bulls in 2010. In his five years with Chicago, Thibodeau led the team to the playoffs and a top two record in the East every year but ran into LeBron James too many times. Thibodeau won the NBA Coach of the Year award in his first season as head coach and is considered a brilliant defensive mind.
In Chicago, Thibodeau was often criticized for running a very vanilla offense and running his players into the ground. Thibodeau also clashed often with upper management, so if he is going to take another job he would likely need to be in cahoots with the GM. If the Nets do offer Thibodeau the job, it is far from a guarantee he takes it as he reportedly doesn't want to coach a rebuilding team, which the Nets are, and he wants a team that is ready to compete for a championship.
Before you say teams that are ready to compete for championships don't fire coaches, the Oklahoma City Thunder did it last year and the Memphis Grizzlies the year before that. Thibodeau may be a long shot for the Nets for those reasons, but they would be foolish not to at least reach out.
