Thibodeau leads Bulls into season

OK, Tom Thibodeau, a city turns its lonely eyes to you.

The Chicago sports scene hasn't exactly been all touchdowns, home runs and hat tricks lately, you know.

Bears? They sputtered into their bye week with 3 losses in their last four games.

Cubs? They lost their division to a team that lost to a team that lost to a team that might lose to a team in the World Series.

White Sox? They lost their division to a team that lost to a team that lost to a team that might lose to a team in the World Series.

Blackhawks? Even they squandered their last two games and are struggling to find an identity in defense of their Stanley Cup championship.

Wednesday night the Bulls leap into the fray and Thibodeau into the fire with a season opener against the Thunder.

“I'm excited about it,” the Bulls' first-year head coach said Tuesday afternoon. “I'm excited about our team.”

Thibodeau conducted a final practice at the Berto Center before the team was scheduled to catch a charter flight to Oklahoma City.

The rookie head coach was surprisingly loose, smiling and joking while chatting with about a dozen media members.

Surprisingly, that is, because Thibodeau's reputation is as Mr. Intensity. Like, you'd think he gets on ladders to take bites out of backboards.

“I don't understand that situation,” Thibodeau pleasantly said when his intensity came up.

“Successful coaches come in all different personalities. You have to be true to yourself. What works for you might not work for another guy.”

The problem in this league and most professional sports leagues is being “the” coach instead of merely “a” coach can turn a person into something he isn't.

Thibodeau has been in the NBA for 20 years as an assistant, but this is his first in the league as a head coach.

We'll have to wait to see whether Thibodeau is the intense type like the Utah's Jerry Sloan, who scowled his way to being the league's longest-tenured head coach.

Or will he be intense like Scott Skiles, who seems destined to move from job to job every few years because his intensity wears on players.

So far the Bulls are OK with Thibodeau. They like the knowledge he brings to the gym and even his uncompromising demand for execution.

“He's very intense,” Derrick Rose agreed, “especially on defense.”

The Bulls' star point guard shared what he noticed the day he returned from playing for the U.S. team this summer.

“They were going hard,” Rose said of the Bulls. “They weren't playing around. (Thibodeau) wants you to go hard every single time. He doesn't take any bull (bleep).”

The best NBA coaches have different gears. They know when to push players and for how long, when to let up and how soon.

It's too early to tell whether Thibodeau has that in him. It's easy to be loose before the season opens and much harder during a losing streak.

All Thibodeau has to do to be reminded the job gets tougher from here is to listen to critics berate Bears head coach Lovie Smith.

“I like watching the Bears,” Thibodeau said. “I think they have played fairly well. I'm not a football expert, but I think (Smith) is terrific.”

Not so terrific, however, that the city won't look to the Bulls for some relief this week.

mimrem@dailyherald.com