As the Chicago Bulls usher in their rebuild for the 2026 offseason, the franchise is finally heading into a direction they needed to years ago. It’s clear that there is need to go into this direction. But even so, there was a time where this franchise had a window to potentially win a title.
That was over 10 years ago.
The times have changed but the stories that come out from that era of Bulls’ basketball are still pretty good. The latest is from Taj Gbson, and his early time with the Bulls under Tom Thibodeau.
Taj Gibson calls practices under Thibs’ “hell”
Former Bulls draft pick Taj Gibson is still going strong, signing a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies recently. While his career is coming to an end soon, Gibson has had some time reminisce about his early days for the Bulls. Gibson was the No. 26 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft for the Bulls and had a lengthy career in Chicago.
He appeared on the “All The Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson where he talked about the Thibodeau era and practices via Bleacher Nation:
“It was hell. Because you think about, we got a young Thibs. Imagine Thibs back then. You think he was tough now, imagine him back then. We didn’t have no regulations, we didn’t have no strict timing. No large training staffs. So then, you’re dealing with the Thibs factor. And Thibs is that guy. He’s gassing the situation up every day, ‘Oh you’re gonna let the first team destroy you guys again? You guys [are] getting thrown around like rag dolls!’
“And then you’ve got Carlos, in the back of his mind, he’s hearing the chatter. Joakim is the biggest s— talker in the whole NBA. Every day he’s clapping, ‘Yeah, T.G., you all not doing nothing today.’ And a couple times, I tried to fight him. I was like, ‘Yo.’ And that’s how it had to be. Every time in practice, we went at it. We tried to fight, we tried to scrap because we had to go against guys like y’all, the Clippers, we had to go against the top of the top every day. It was no holds barred.”
That’s awesome to hear.
We know how intense Thibs was in his time with the Bulls but hearing these stories are still pretty awesome.
LeBron James’ agent shoots down Michael Jordan take
Read MoreFor More Great Chicago Sports Content
Get the latest Chicago sports news, analysis, and breaking stories on the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, White Sox, Sky, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News, so you never miss a story on your favorite Chicago teams.
Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE
