Both the Bulls and TWolves are finding out “The Curse of Thibs” is real

Former coach Tom Thibodeau left the Bulls and Timberwolves as the second-winningest coach in the history of both franchises. More specifically, he’s also left each organization in shambles since they believed they could move on from him. The numbers tell the story.

The holidays are rarely festive for Bulls coaches.

Tim Floyd was forced to resign on Christmas Eve 2001, while Scott Skiles was fired on Dec. 24, 2007. Heck, Fred Hoiberg barely had the chance to see the Christmas lights in 2018, fired on Dec. 3.

At least the Thanksgiving turkey was digested.

This Christmas, however, came and went on Wednesday, and all indications were that Jim Boylen slept very well.

He not only has the backing of his front office – made very clear earlier in the month when vice president of basketball operations John Paxson spoke to selected media members individually – but he also has the backing of ownership.

All of this despite a 29-61 record (.322 winning percentage) since taking over from Hoiberg.

The worst start to a coaching career in recent Bulls memory? Considering Floyd went 13-37 in his first season, followed by a 17-65 record the next year, not even close.

Still, a .375 winning percentage from the current 2019-20 campaign is not what Boylen expected or hoped for.

Call it “The Curse of Thibs.’’

Not only are the Bulls still trying to recover from the belief that they could easily move on from former coach Tom Thibodeau, but the Timberwolves have fallen into the same trap.

The numbers don’t lie for either organization.

Look at it this way:

When the Bulls moved on from Vinny Del Negro after the 2009-10 season, they were used to mediocrity. Del Negro went 41-41 in each of his two seasons, seemingly hitting the ceiling as a .500 NBA coach. In comes Thibodeau, completely changing the culture of the organization in Year 1, as the Bulls went 62-20, before falling to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

In all five seasons Thibodeau coached, the Bulls never finished worse than 45-37, and were in the playoffs each year. Three of those seasons came with an often-injured Derrick Rose as an anchor.

Out goes Thibodeau and in comes Hoiberg, with the organization insisting that Thibodeau had a championship-caliber roster in that 2014-15 season, and somehow underachieved.

Hoiberg was given that same roster – championship expectations and all – and went 42-40 in his first season, missing the postseason.

That was as good as it would get for Hoiberg, who went 41-41 in Year 2 – losing in the first round of the playoffs to Boston – and then went 27-55 (.329 percent) in the first rebuild year, before getting canned after a 5-19 start last season.

So what has moving on from a coach in Thibodeau that won almost 65 percent of his games and never missed the playoffs meant for the Bulls?

How about a .400 winning percentage since, and one playoff series in four-plus seasons.

The curse doesn’t stop there, however.

Thibodeau took over in Minnesota in the 2016-17 season, one year removed from watching Sam Mitchell take the hapless organization to a 29-53 record. Thibodeau went 31-51 in his first year, and by his second season had Minnesota at 47-35, despite losing Jimmy Butler for almost half the campaign, breaking a streak of 13 years without a postseason appearance.

Even with the dysfunctional start to last season, Thibodeau left Minnesota with a 97-107 (.475) record, which ranks him the second winningest coach in franchise history.

Since then? The organization has handed the reigns to an underqualified Ryan Saunders – son of former coach and executive Flip Saunders – and watched the 33-year-old take them right back to junior varsity status, with Saunders now 27-44 (.380) in the head coaching seat.

Bad luck or simply two organizations that couldn’t recognize an elite coach when they had him?

Either way, “The Curse of Thibs’’ is alive and well.

Fear it.