Imrem: Bulls right to demand the most out of Thibodeau

Not to shock Jeff Van Gundy or anything but Bulls management has legitimate reasons to be concerned about Tom Thibodeau.

The Bulls' head coach has been applauded for his team's spirited play in the past, so he should be questioned now that it too often plays listlessly.

Maybe the Bulls' slump is temporary boredom. Regardless, it's an alarming occurrence under this coach.

Thibodeau is outstanding, and hopefully he'll be here a long time. But sometimes the timing and fit aren't right even for an outstanding coach.

Before we get further into this, can you hear these muffled words of mine?

I must be writing from inside the Bulls' pocket where Van Gundy believes most members of the Chicago sports media reside.

The NBA analyst, who has some snake in him, might be the most compelling color analyst in any sport: funny, outspoken and insightful.

Van Gundy escalated a brushfire into a wildfire last week with inflammatory remarks about Jerry Reinsdorf, John Paxson and Gar Forman.

JVG's claim was that the Bulls' chairman, vice president and general manager undermined previous head coaches and are undermining Thibodeau now.

GarPaxDorf do have a history of dubious relationships with head coaches, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't expect the most of Thibodeau right now.

To be as clear as anyone can be while sucking lint inside this stuffy pocket, my view is that Van Gundy is wrong.

GarPaxDorf can be attacked on myriad fronts but not for being nervous about the state of their coach and team.

The Bulls are losing at home to bad teams. They look dead on too many nights. They play defense like the Bears did.

Thibodeau hasn't faced that during his five years in Chicago, and his new assignment is to steady the Bulls between now and the playoffs.

This might very well happen, and GarPaxDorf have every right to demand that it does.

A case can be made to even fire Thibodeau sometime if only because good coaches are fired in the NBA all the time when good teams struggle.

At the root of the issue is that this is the year for the Bulls to take advantage of their deep roster because Pau Gasol is 34 years old, this might be the last season that much can be squeezed from Joakim Noah's broken body, and Derrick Rose will be day to day the rest of his career.

Beyond that, the Cavaliers are vulnerable in LeBron James' first season back in Cleveland, though not as vulnerable as before a few acquisitions earlier this month.

So it must be scary to the front office that the Bulls appear capable of squandering a great opportunity.

Look, it's no secret that GarPaxDorf like Thibodeau about as much as he respects them, which is not much either way.

Tensions, differences of opinion and personality conflicts persist. The best hope, as it is in many pro sports organizations, is that they coexist.

But it's silly to think that Reinsdorf, of all people, wants Thibodeau be undermined, fired and paid not to coach the rest of his contract.

Even with that in mind, however, it's hard to ignore that a few weeks ago the Bulls were a favorite to win the NBA East and to challenge the best in the West.

A few weeks later the Bulls are an enigma as they begin a rigorous road trip Tuesday night at Golden State.

From inside the Bulls' pocket it sure seems that under these circumstances even a terrific head coach has to be held accountable.

Yes, even if he's Jeff Van Gundy's good buddy.