MINNEAPOLIS — Joakim Noah misses him now, but admits he and his former coach Tom Thibodeau “butted heads’’ across their time together with the Bulls. Derrick Rose enjoyed his tenure with Thibodeau, but says he spent a lot of time with the coach “cussing me out.’’
There was a lot of reminiscing at the respective Wednesday morning shootarounds as Thibodeau’s Timberwolves readied for the Knicks with Rose and Noah. Thibodeau even talked of the season when Noah became the fulcrum of the Bulls’ offense because the roster was devastated by injuries.
Asked whether Thibodeau got too demanding, Noah said, “It doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, you have to be demanding because it’s hard to win in this league. With Thibs, you definitely butt heads. But you don’t realize what you have with him until he’s not around. He told me that when I played for him. We used to butt heads all the time.”
Butting heads?
“I think it’s just being truthful,’’ Thibodeau said. “Jo is a very bright guy, so we shared ideas with each other. And I’d rather have a guy be honest and then you can give him the reasons why you feel a certain way.’’
Noah, who is battling a sprained ankle and did not play in the Knicks’ 106-104 win over the Timberwolves, has been a disaster on offense through 17 games with the Knicks. But Thibodeau remembers his offensive skills differently.
“One year, we lost all our point guards and we ran our offense through him,’’ Thibodeau said. “We ended up winning 48 games. He was defensive player of the year, fourth in MVP, and helped save our season.’’
Rose hoped to talk to Thibodeau before the tip-off, though he knows his former coach can’t be in good spirits after a 5-12 start. The young T’wolves aren’t taking to his taskmaster ways.
“He’s probably driving himself crazy — a lot of late nights, staff having a lot of late nights, too,’’ Rose said. “All comes with him trying to win. He’s a winner at heart. He wants to win every game. That’s the crazy thing about him. He’s probably up nights driving himself crazy a bit.
“I thought their record would be different this year. But it takes time getting used to new players and they getting used to a new coach.”
Asked if he indeed cursed a lot at Rose, Thibodeau said, “That’s probably true.’’
Thibodeau now feels for Rose’s plight as the former MVP point guard battles back from three knee surgeries.
“I hate to see any player, particularly one that I’ve coached and I know as well as I know him … and I know the type of person that he is and I know what he’s gone through,’’ Thibodeau said. “I think it’s very difficult to go through one season where you’ve missed an entire season, but to go through three seasons the way he did and to get through it, it’s great.”
Thibodeau, a former Knicks assistant coach under Jeff Van Gundy and Don Chaney, won’t bite on whether he would have been interested in the Knicks’ job had he gotten a call, but Rose says Thibodeau has got a strong affinity for the Big Apple and the Knicks.
“He brought his time with New York up all the time, talking about the players, the environment, talking about places to eat — he likes to eat,’’ Rose said. “Just everything. He loved New York.’’
Noah has now grown to appreciate Thibodeau, who guided Noah and Rose to five straight playoff berths.
“It was definitely a relationship,’’ Noah said. “Thibs is great. I’m really happy for him. He cares about winning. Our run in Chicago, I’ll never forget. Some of the best times in my life. I got a lot of love for Thibs.
“A lot of great memories more than disappointment,’’ Noah added. “We came close to winning a championship. It didn’t happen. They were great times overall.’’