Bulls GM Gar Forman and coach Tom Thibodeau opened Media Day in a big way, with the surprise announcement that the two sides had agreed to a four-year contract extension. The extension will kick in next year and run through the 2016-17 season. Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski is here with the specifics:
Thibodeau base salary is closer to $17.5M over four years, sources tell Y! Attainable bonuses can bring deal to $20M over course of deal.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) October 1, 2012
These numbers make perfect sense, as they are right in the ballpark of what Thunder coach Scott Brooks received in his new extension. I think Thibs is a better coach than Brooks and probably deserved a tad more, but nonetheless, this is a very fair deal.
Naturally, Forman and Thibs were thrilled with the announcement. Forman called Thibs "best coach in the NBA," while Thibs expressed his desire to remain in Chicago for a long time:
"I'm thankful to Jerry and Gar and John. I never doubted it would work out. I love being here."
After all the negativity surrounding this offseason, including pessimistic reports about a new Thibs contract, I couldn't be more thrilled with this news. The team has enough questions as it is, and they didn't need unnecessary questions about Thibs' status mucking things up even more. I myself wasn't confident a deal would get done, so major kudos to the organization for getting this thing hammered out.
And this was one hell of a PR move to announce this thing on Media Day.