National Basketball Association

Report: Several Bulls players threatened to boycott Thibodeau

Published May. 29, 2015 8:18 a.m. ET

foxsports

By Steve DelVecchio

Several members of the Chicago Bulls wanted Tom Thibodeau gone so badly that they threatened to not show up to the team facility if he wasn’t fired, according to a report.

Dan Berstein of CBS Chicago reported on Thursday that “at least three” Bulls starters ripped Thibodeau in their end-of-season meetings with management and said they would avoid the facility during the summer if Thibs was still around.

While we don’t know if the information is accurate or not, we’re fairly confident that its release is part of what is turning into an ugly smear campaign from the Bulls front office.

When the Bulls fired Thibodeau on Thursday, they ripped him in a press release to validate the move. The team later had security escort Thibodeau to collect his belongings before leaving the building.

While Thibodeau won a lot of games and brought the Bulls to the playoffs each year he was in charge, he obviously wasn’t getting along with management and some of his players. That became evident when this report came out before Chicago was even eliminated from the postseason. That said, it’s easy to see that the Bulls are putting as much information out there as possible to justify firing a coach who has been very successful.

More from Larry Brown Sports: