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Thibodeau update

By Mike Prada

More of the facts have come out on Tom Thibodeau's resignation, and I'm starting to calm down a bit.

From what it seems, it was an awkward situation all around.  Ernie went and got a coach over EJ's authority, but didn't give Thibodeau the lead assistant role, which pissed off Thibodeau.  Then, Ernie signed all of EJ's assistants to one year deals while offering Thibodeau a two-year contract, which probably stung EJ a bit.  Still, the whole thing seems a bit murky.

It also doesn't seem like this came out of nowhere.  Thibodeau apparently was never so sure he'd take the job.

According to a league source, Thibodeau had entertained several offers before choosing the Wizards but had reservations about his decision throughout the week.

If we really have to assign blame, it should include everyone.  Blame Thibodeau for quitting after giving a verbal agreement.  Blame Ernie for creating an awkward situation by signing Thibodeau to a 2 year contract, then giving all of EJ's assistants one-year deals.  Blame EJ for seemingly not being all that receptive to Thibodeau and not giving him the lead assistant role.  Each played a role in this debacle.

The good news is that we're talking about an assistant coach, and those aren't so hard to find.  The Times is reporting that former Minnesota head coach Dwayne Casey is among the candidates to replace Thibodeau.  Considering that he led Minnesota to a decent 20-20 record before everything fell apart after his firing, I'd be behind that move.  

In the end, this isn't the end of the world, though it's not exactly positive.  A far bigger problem would be trading Juan Carlos Navarro for Donyell Marshall.  

I've included Jake's original post on the subject below the jump.  I hid it because we both posted at the exact same time.  

Ivan Carter of Wizards Insider just reported that Tom Thibodeau, one of Wizards' assistant coaches who came on less than a month ago is stepping down.  This hurts Washington in two ways:


  1.  The Wizards are now shorthanded on the coaching front right before the Wizards start their summer league action.
  2.  Thibodeau was seen as one of the better defensive assistant coaches in the league, and was seen as someone that could help the Wizards improve their less than stellar defense.

"He decided to have a change of heart," Jordan said, following today's workout. "He is going to back to Houston (where Thibodeau lives,not to the work for the Rockets) and he's going to pursue other options. He was here for four or five days, we came to some agreements and then we had a meeting with him this morning. We thought he was terrific here going through some things but he decided to go in another direction."

While I still say the week as a whole is a plus with the news that Navarro is probably coming stateside, Thibodeau's loss will hurt unless the Wiz can find a great replacement.  I wouldn't count on it though, most teams have already locked up their assistant coaches as they try and get ready to work with their summer league players, but we'll see what happens.