Chicago Bulls: Thibodeau Deserving of NBA Coach of the Year, Rose for MVP

After a tumultuous two years with Vinny Del Negro as head coach of the Chicago Bulls, the Bulls and general manager Gar Forman decided to hire longtime assistant coach, Tom Thibodeau for his first head coaching job of his career.

Thibodeau and Forman hit the ground running after his hiring, trading Kirk Hinrich to the Washington Wizards for more cap room to pursue Lebron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

James and Bosh were widely presumed to be coming to Chicago after Chicago was the last team to meet with Lebron in Cleveland. After missing out on Wade and Bosh, Forman responded quickly by acquiring Jazz forward Carlos Boozer in a sign-and-trade deal, and re-signing him to a five-year contract worth $75 million. After, Lebron decided to take his talents to South Beach with Wade and Bosh.

Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Kurt Thomas, Omer Asik, CJ Watson, Keith Bogans and Brian Scalabrine joined the Bulls after Lebron's decision, and the Bulls signed JJ Redick to an offer sheet, but the Magic chose to match the Bulls' offer.

Some NBA analysts were picking the Bulls to finish second behind the Milwaukee Bucks, but Milwaukee has not been able to capture magic they had last year to carry them to the playoffs.

The Bulls are the only team in the NBA to have an undefeated record in their division and now hold a commanding 12.5-game lead over the Indiana Pacers.

Thibodeau has been worthy of coach of the year, not only because of the Bulls' record, but because he is one of the few coaches in the NBA who pace and up down the court the entire game, constantly communicates with his players and with referees and has done an amazing job keeping the Bulls performing at a high level, even though injuries to Boozer and Joakim Noah have plagued the Bulls all season long.

He has kept Derrick Rose fresh and has improved the Bulls to the second-ranked scoring defense in the NBA.

Rose has been the spark plug to the Bulls' improvement this season, and his improvement began in the summer, by playing in the FIBA World Championships as a member of Team USA, where he won a gold medal. When he wasn't in Turkey, he was at the Berto Center, practicing his three-point shot and improving his defense. He has made 80 three-point shots already this season, compared to 16 apiece his first two seasons. He has improved his scoring average to 24.7 points a game, and even without pick and roll partners Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, Rose manages to average 8.2 assists a game.

He is the reason the Bulls have improved, and without him, the Bulls would not be in the playoff picture.

Rose would not be as good as he is without Thibodeau and vice versa. Together, their passion for basketball and winning have the Bulls three games out of the first seed in the Eastern Conference. They deserve MVP and Coach of the Year award respectively, but neither will be satisfied with winning just those awards. Their goal is to raise the Larry O'Brien trophy in Chicago for the first time in 13 years.