Imrem: Have we seen the last of Thibodeau?
The aftermath often is more compelling then the scoreboard math.
So it is now in the wake of the Bulls-Cavaliers playoff series, which ended Thursday night with the Cavs' 94-73 victory over the Bulls.
Now the suspense begins over Tom Thibodeau's future in Chicago … or lack of a future.
“Yeah,” the Bulls' head coach said when asked whether he expects to be back next season.
Thibodeau is one of the few who expect that. Most speculate that he and the Bulls will split up.
“Until they tell me I'm not (going to return),” Thibodeau said, “I expect to be here. That's the way I'm approaching it.”
If the Bulls are going to whack a coach as good as Thibodeau, now is when they might get away with it and suffer a minimal backlash.
A coach never looks worse than after his team is ousted from the playoffs. Every defeat is dissected, bisected and vivisected in new and old media as well as on street corners and bar stools.
However, few seasons end as ignominiously as this one did. The Bulls scored only 42 points in the final three quarters and trailed by as many as 27 points in the second half.
Most puzzling was that the Cavaliers dominated the Bulls even though LeBron James made only 7 of 23 field-goal attempts for 15 points.
“He controlled (the game),” Thibodeau said of James' 11 assists and 9 rebounds.
Thibodeau wasn't at fault for this NBA East semifinal series defeat. Still, he was doubted more than probably ever before in his five seasons as Bulls coach.
“He should use his bench more.” … “His offense is stagnant.” … “He wore down the Bulls during the regular season again.”
It's all pretty much nonsense, but that's what happens when a coach is around as long as Thibodeau has been and can't get to the NBA Finals.
The Bulls gave Thibodeau more legitimate NBA players than ever this season, and the Cavaliers were as vulnerable as they could be with LeBron James in the lineup.
Yet for the fourth time in six seasons, the Bulls failed to advance past a James team.
In an ideal world, divorce never would be an option despite the friction between Thibodeau and the front-office tandem of general manager Gar Forman and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson.
No, the Bulls would keep contending and competing and challenging until they finally beat James.
But some, if not all, good things come to an end.
From the day the Bulls hired Thibodeau, his mannerisms and methods figured to irritate and annoy sooner than later.
So unless something serendipitous occurs in the coming days or weeks or months, the Bulls will try to figure out the best way to end the relationship on their terms.
It'll be tricky: The Bulls will not want to pay Thibodeau for the last two years on his contract and they will want to wrangle compensation from the coach's next employer.
Probably the best way for something to be consummated is for Thibodeau's representatives to feel out the teams that have a coaching vacancy.
Maybe the Bulls will get lucky and bidding between teams like, say, the Magic and Pelicans will drive up the compensation for Thibodeau.
“I haven't even thought about it,” he said of what might happen.
In the aftermath of Thursday's loss, that's one of the things a lot of Bulls fans were thinking about.
Let the drama begin.
mimrem@dailyherald.com