NBA Rumors: Thibodeau Never Wanted To Coach Under Tyronn Lue

Tom Thibodeau has proven he can be a good mentor although he went through two teams that ended up in different directions. After whipping the Chicago Bulls into a contender during his time with them from 2010-15, the success did not exactly rub off when he transferred to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It does place his capability of being a head coach in question although his stay with the Timberwolves seemed a bit erratic. He did take in most of the players he previously handled with the Bulls but the plan seemed to backfire. He was eventually fired as head coach and president of basketball operations in January 2019 and is still waiting to get that chance to be a head coach again.

So far, the closest Thibodeau had to coach again was when he was being considered to be one of Tyronn Lue's deputies. Much of this was reported in a previous post where it was also narrated that it was a direction that Thibodeau was not willing to go. As most know by now, the Lakers eventually ended talks with Lue and Frank Vogel got the job as the Lakers new head coach.

Though weeks have passed, many continue to ask Thibodeau on the possibility of seeing him as one of the assistant coaches for the Lakers. His stance has not changed and said that he will patiently wait for the right opportunity - likely as a head coach, CBS Radio reported. As of this writing, no team has been linked to Thibodeau.

Thibodeau also confirmed on the "Zach Gelb Show" that the Lakers never really contacted him. Regardless if it was for an assistant or head coaching gig, it is possible that Los Angeles never went through the trouble seeing that he was not interested in working under the watch of Lue. It remains a mystery though why Rob Pelinka and company did not interview him for the head coaching vacancy before naming Vogel.

The Lakers have an ardent task of getting things together following another woeful NBA season. Vogel has his work cut out for him and it all starts with the 2019 NBA Draft. Los Angeles is also in hot pursuit of top NBA stars to partner with LeBron James next season with the aim of at least making the postseason wars. The last time the purple and gold made it over the NBA regular season was way back in 2013 where they lost in the first round to the San Antonio Spurs.