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Taj Gibson's first day as a coach came with a phone call he did not expect to last as long as it did. One day after retiring from the NBA and being named an assistant on Tiago Splitter's Bulls staff, Gibson described how Tom Thibodeau, his head coach during his early years in Chicago, reached out immediately. “Yesterday was such a whirlwind, but one of the first calls I got was from Tom Thibodeau,” Gibson said in an appearance at 14.3 The Score. “I thought it was going to be like a quick little 10 minutes. It went from 10 minutes to almost an hour and a half call.”
Joel Lorenzi: Bulls PR announces that with the addition of Taj Gibson, Tiago Splitter has finalized his staff for the season. New faces: Blake Ahearn, Jamelle McMillan (son of Nate), Rex Kalamian, Jonah Herscu, Jordan Brink, Gibson
Josh Giddey on Tiago Splitter: “Yeah, he’s been great. He’s been really good, and I think as a guy that’s a former player in the NBA, he understands it, and he obviously did a great job with Portland last year. I’m super excited. I’ve had a lot of conversations with him. Obviously, he was in Portland last year, so I didn’t know him a lot, but since he’s been in Chicago, I’ve gotten to know him and spend time with him and talk with him. “Everything he’s about kind of aligns with how we want to play and go about things. He’s been great, and the conversations I’ve had with him have been great. I’m super excited to play for him and ramp things up as we get closer to the season.”
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Giddey: “I think as a former player at the highest level, he understands us and he’s able to relate on that more personal level than maybe a guy that hasn’t played in the NBA or hasn’t done the things that he’s done. “He can see the game from a player’s perspective as someone who’s played it for a long time. So it’s probably the best thing about him. And a very high IQ guy. You can tell just talking basketball with him. He knows the game really well. I’m excited to play for him.”
Splitter also stepped in to coach the Bulls at summer league for the team's first two games in Las Vegas. He said he wanted the opportunity to establish a culture with his young players. For a young coach still finding his identity, it was good practice for the challenge of taking over a franchise starved for a winner with newfound expectations of the future. "He's really detailed," Caleb Wilson said. "He knows what he wants you to do and he's pretty serious. Most coaches, you have coaches that are joking around and stuff like that. Tiago's pretty serious and he knows what he wants. "I'd rather have someone who's serious and straightforward with me, so I know what I can do better."
“I haven’t talked to (Splitter) as of yet,” Horace Grant said. “I’m pretty sure he’s still trying to get pieces around him, as far as assistant coaches, player development guys. But the craziest thing is he coached my nephew down in Portland. “My nephew put a check box on him. A great individual, knows how to coach, knows how to relate to his players. The Bulls are going to have a very young core group of guys, so I think he’s the perfect guy for the job.”
K.C. Johnson: Dailyn Swain on Tiago Splitter: “He’s always intense, passionate about the game. He was a player, so he did all this stuff before. He was always motivating, never like ‘C’mon guys.’ You can see how much he loves the game, so it was easy to give your all for a coach like that.”
Joel Lorenzi: Tiago Splitter said he expects Dailyn Swain to be on the ball and run plenty of offense in Vegas. Between him and Swain, the term “big guard” was used a lot today. Swain sounds like he really wants to hone in on being a secondary ball handler to relieve pressure from PGs in NBA.
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K.C. Johnson: As we’ve relayed on @CHSN__, Tiago Splitter said he’s “not done yet” with staff hirings. As for holdovers like Wes Unseld Jr. and player development staffers, Splitter said”it’s important to keep on guys who know the players well. A mix of guys who were here and new guys is good”
Joel Lorenzi: Caleb Wilson on his early impressions of Tiago Splitter “First, he has a big accent. He’s really detailed. And he’s pretty serious. You have coaches that are joking around and stuff like that, Tiago’s pretty serious. He knows what he wants, he wants it now.”