Chicago Bulls Eyeing Fred Hoiberg To Replace Tom Thibodeau Per Yahoo Sports

The Chicago Bulls could potentially replace head coach Tom Thibodeau, who has had clashes with the front office in previous years, with Iowa State Cyclones head men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg at the end of the 2014-15 NBA season, per Yahoo! Sports.

Could Fred Hoiberg possibly replace Tom Thibodeau as head coach of the Chicago Bulls?

Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski touched on this matter in his /4/5 update about Thibodeau:

“As (Derrick) Rose makes an inspired return to a playoff stage that desperately missed him, Thibodeau is pushing closer to the end of his run here. This wasn’t on his mind on Monday after a 99-92 Game 1 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers; only winning. Only the opportunity now.

“Rose is becoming Rose again, slowly, surely, but the progression’s unmistakable. It changes everything for Chicago, except this: Amid the twisted culture of Chicago’s regime — where winning is is losing, where success is failure — management can’t wait to rid itself of one Tom Thibodeau.

Column: The Last Stand of Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. http://t.co/hd0tXUxzSH— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) /4/5, 2015

“Yes, the Bulls have a real good shot now. And the best chance they’ll ever have to win a title here would be with Thibodeau — as terrific of a coach as Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg, management’s choice to ultimately be the replacement.

“The Orlando Magic are waiting to watch what happens what happens at season’s end, league sources said, waiting to see how the team and coach dissolve the remaining two years on his contract and separate.”

Wojnarowski reported about the ongoing feud between Thibodeau and Bulls management on Tuesday. In his article, he even mentions a visiting scout witnessing an alleged argument between Thibodeau and Bulls general manager Gar Forman.

The said scout walked into the office of a Bulls assistant coach and asked,”What the hell is the deal here?” The assistant coach then turned his fan on full blast so that his conversation with the opposing scout won’t get bugged, per Wojnarowski. 

The rumor that never ends! The Bulls are reportedly still interested in Fred Hoiberg. http://t.co/pSRPGFLrc5 pic.twitter.com/UTHitoTx8K— Sporting News NCAAB (@sn_ncaab) /4/5, 2015

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley then asked Thibodeau if he’s bothered by the Yahoo! Sports report. 

“Nope,” Thibodeau told Cowley. “I don’t pay any attention to it. It’s all noise.” 

Cowley stresses it’s basically the same response he elicits from Thibodeau every time he’s asked about his ongoing relationship with the Bulls’ front office. 

“We are in total agreement with Tom that this is all just noise,” Forman told Cowley on Tuesday. 

For his part, Bulls forward Mike Dunleavy, Jr. told The Chicago Sun-Times on /4/5 he and his teammates usually downplay potential distractions and just focus on the task at hand:

“I mean, [that latest report] being told to me right now, I didn’t even know about that. And I think, for the most part, guys aren’t aware of a lot of this stuff, to be frank. I mean, you hear the noise; it’s out there. 

A front office cold war with Tom Thibodeau is alive and well–just not with the players. http://t.co/mzzq84qMzN #Bulls pic.twitter.com/kfsuzeBPoP— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) /4/5, 2015

“I think it’s just a group, though, that’s hardened by a lot of things we’ve gone through and a lot of adversity the last few years.

“There’s just not a lot of stuff that fazes us. We know all that stuff has been going on for a while now, but it doesn’t change our approach at all.

“To be honest with you, we really don’t [talk about it much]. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s just being an aloof group of guys or that we just talk about a lot of other stupid stuff, but it doesn’t really come up. 

“We kind of have our mentality of pound the pavement and grinding it out here. Just not really paying attention to the outside stuff.” 

Cowley’s team source told him the players have actually seen arguments between the two sides over the course of the past few seasons.

One incident even had Thibodeau moving training camp practice locations when he felt Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson was being too meddlesome, per The Chicago Sun-Times. 

ESPN’s Marc Stein also confirmed the Bulls’ interest in Hoiberg, one of their former players, should they part ways with Thiboedau at the end of the 2014-15 NBA season in his March 21 blog. 

Game 2 of the ongoing best-of-seven second-round playoff series between the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers will be on Wednesday, /4/6, at 7:00 p.m. ET. 

Make sure to log on to I4U News for the latest trends and developments for the geek mind.