Tom Thibodeau has transitioned from being an outstanding assistant coach in the NBA to the 2010-11 NBA Coach of the Year as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls.
Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun Times writes of what makes Thibodeau such a special coach.
‘‘Before we made the decision to hire him, we did an incredible amount of background work on all the candidates,'' says Bulls general manager Gar Forman, who with executive vice president for basketball operations John Paxson signed Thibodeau as the 18th head coach in franchise history on June 23, 2010.

Before coming into the league, Dwight Howard built himself up as a very religious man who wanted to make a mark on the league by being a great human. As it turns out, Dwight Howard is a loser.

Even though the Orlando Magic have helped him make it to the NBA Finals, Howard isn't happy in Florida and has instead demanded a trade.

Dwight Howard's wish list is growing. The superstar center for the Orlando Magic is now open to playing for the Chicago Bulls. Previously, Howard had left the Bulls off of his wish list.

"If I could play with Derrick right now and God wanted that to happen, it will happen. It has nothing to do with me not wanting to play with Derrick Rose.

LeBron James just pulled off one of the greatest dunks you will ever see. In a game between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, LeBron James jumped over John Lucas III on his way to finishing an alleyoop dunk. Watch the video below to see the greatness in action.

While Lucas is one of the shortest players in the league, it was still an impressive show of athleticism by LeBron.

Even though the 2011-12 NBA season is less than a week old, we are already seeing the cream starting to rise to the top. Some teams are surprisingly bad, while a number of teams are better than pundits projected. So which ten teams are the best teams in the NBA?

Here's our NBA power rankings:

1.

While it seems like every young player in the NBA wishes they were in a different market, Derrick Rose is happy in Chicago. To prove his happiness, Rose signed a five-year extension with the Chicago Bulls. The reigning MVP will be paid nearly $95 million over the life of the contract.

Derrick Rose doesn't sound like a player that will get fat and lazy now that he's a rich man: "I think I live a humble life.

Dear Scottie Pippen,

Please read the entire title of this blog post before you sue me for $1 million. Please. I don't have $1 million to give you even if you really are bankrupt.

In case you haven't heard, Scottie Pippen is suing every media outlet on the planet that ever claimed he was bankrupt.

With the NBA lockout over, it's time to get back to thinking about basketball. In these NBA power rankings, we'll list the top ten NBA teams headed into the 2011-12 season. Did your favorite NBA team make the cut? Continue reading to find out ...

1. Miami Heat
The Heat are just too talented to not be No.

Jurgen Klinsmann faces this!Jurgen Klinsmann ain't no Bob Bradley. He's younger, has slightly more hair and has won more World Cups albeit by the narrowest of margins, 1-nil.
Now Klinsmann is further burdened by having to coach Bradley's boys. Y'know, the team he molded into Gold Cup and Confederations Cup finalists.

Professional sports has probably never seen a championship coach like Phil Jackson. Jackson was the architect of the NBA World Championships of the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, and was able to win by managing the personalities and egos of some of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game.

Yesterday, we posted the video of Joakim Noah using a homosexual slur. In the video, you can see an irate Noah yell to a fan, "F You, F ". Well, the NBA didn't take kindly to those words. On Monday, Noah was fined $50K for using a term the NBA called "Offensive" and "derogatory".

The center for the Chicago Bulls has apologized numerous times sine the incident.

Usually, it's a good idea for a basketball player to be like Kobe Bryant. However, that's not the case when it comes to using homosexual slurs. In Game 3 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls aimed a homosexual slur at a fan of the Miami Heat. The Joakim Noah homosexual slur video can be seen below.

Chris Bosh has gotten his share of heat this season and not in a good way. The power forward has been in the shadow of Dwyane Wade and LeBron in Miami. However, in Game 3 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals against the Chicago Bulls, Bosh carried the Heat to a 96-85 victory. The Heat now lead the series 2-1.

After the Chicago Bulls drubbed the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, fans have jumped off the Heat bandwagon in a major fashion. Just a couple days ago, their bandwagon was full. Now it's difficult to find a fan who still believes that the Heat can beat the Bulls.

But it's still very much possible.

The Boston Celtics appeared to be on their way to a Game 5 win against the Miami Heat. Then everything changed when LeBron James played like LeBron James down the stretch. Often criticized for not playing well at the end of playoff games, LeBron scored the Heat's final ten points as Miami sprinted to a 97-87 victory.

Heading into a pivotal Game 3, the Atlanta Hawks were talking a bunch of trash. The top seeded Chicago Bulls, specifically Derrick Rose, silenced the Hawks as they won by a final score of 99-82 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. In 38 minutes, Derrick scored 44 points, handed out seven assists, grabbed five rebounds and turned the ball over only twice.

With the second round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs about to begin, let's take a look at an updated NBA power rankings. This is the list of the best NBA teams in order 1 through 8. While any team could theoretically win the championship, expect one of the top four teams to eventually take home the Larry O'Brien trophy.

A big reason why the Atlanta Hawks were able to eliminate the Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs was the play of starting point guard Kirk Hinrich. His timely shooting and rugged defensive play played a vital role in the upset. Unfortunately for the Hawks, Hinrich could be out for the rest of the playoffs.

The Chicago Bulls had a tougher than anticipated series against the Indiana Pacers in the first round. The Hawks, on the other hand, were the underdogs against the Orlando Magic but were able to stun many NBA pundits. Now, with the two teams matching up in the second round, who will win the Bulls or the Hawks?

The Chicago Fire Juniors started in 2004 as the official youth club of the Chicago Fire. There are currently eight branches: Fire Juniors (Naperville), Fire Juniors South, Fire Juniors Northwest Indiana, Fire Juniors North, Fire Juniors Louisiana, Fire Juniors Florida, Mississippi Fire Juniors, and West Michigan Fire Juniors.

The Indiana Pacers are taking their sweet time to decide what to do with Larry Bird. Bird, who is currently the president of the Pacers, is waiting to hear from owner Herb Simon regarding whether or not he will be given a new contract. My question: What is taking so long? Bird has done a great job and deserves to continue leading the Pacers organization.

Although the Indiana Pacers played extremely hard and gave it all they had, the Chicago Bulls were just too good. With a 116-89 victory in Game 5, the Bulls eliminated the Pacers. As you might expect, the Bulls were led by MVP-to-be Derrick Rose, who scored 25 points and handed out six assists in 30 minutes.

After the Indiana Pacers were eliminated by the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday by a final score of 116-89, Pacers all-star forward Danny Granger hand some unkind words for Bulls center Joakim Noah. According to Granger, the always energetic Noah doesn't always play fair.

Said Granger: "He pulled a cowardly move.

Things have gone from bad to worse for Carlos Boozer. The highest paid player on the Chicago Bulls struggled in the first round against the Indiana Pacers. In the final game of the series, Carlos Boozer suffered a turf toe injury. His status for Bulls' next series is unknown; Chicago will either play the Orlando Magic or the Atlanta Hawks.

It's the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. However, even though the playoffs are just beginning, there are some teams that appear to be the cream of the crop. While things my change between now and the NBA Finals, these teams appear to be the top five teams to beat going forward in the postseason:

1.

The Chicago Bulls are both lucky and good. In Game 1 of their first round series against the Indiana Pacers, the BUlls were down 10 points with three and a half minutes remaining but went on a 16-1 run to end the game. The Pacers were giving the Bulls another hard push in Game 2 even though they lost starting point guard Darren Collison.

The Indiana Pacers will take on the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 2010-2011 NBA Playoffs starting this weekend. It's interesting to look back at some other years when the Pacers were really bad like in the 1983-1984 season. Our Midwest cousins in Indianapolis were so bad that year, they qualified to be in a coin flip with the Houston Rockets for the rights to the first pick of the 1984 Draft.

The 2010-11 NBA regular season ends on Wednesday night. In the Eastern Conference, all the postseason matchups are set. However, in the West, there are a number of spots up for grabs. That means we'll see a couple hard-fought games on Wednesday. That said, in terms of the power rankings headed into the 2011 NBA Playoffs, we know who we like.

Even though the Chicago Bulls have been on fire for months, NBA pundits have been slow to give 'em credit. But after what we saw on Thursday night, it's now impossible to overlook the Bulls. Going up against the Boston Celtics, the Bulls dominated and won by a final score of 97-81. The victory all but wrapped up the Eastern Conference for Chicago.

Just a week ago, it appeared that the San Antonio Spurs were destined to finish with the best record in the NBA. But on Thursday night against the Boston Celtics, the Spurs lost their fifth straight game. With Rajon Rondo leading the way, the Celtics took home one of their best wins of the season in a game that featured two struggling title contenders.

Derrick Rose is very likely to win the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player award. His chances to win MVP just got better after he got a key endorsement ... from LeBron James. LeBron, who is also in the MVP race, had this to say when asked who the MVP should be for the 2011 season: "I think Derrick Rose".

The San Antonio Spurs were without Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Antonio McDyess on Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers. All four players missed the game due to injury. To the surprise of no one, the Blazers were able to send San Antonio to their fourth straight defeat.

The surprise was how close the game was in the fourth quarter.

The Boston Celtics are having a difficult time finding the win column. They've lost three out of their last four games and seven of their last twelve. On Monday night, the Celtics traveled to Indiana and left with another loss. The Pacers won by a final score of 107-100 after outscoring the Celtics in the fourth quarter, 26-15.

The Chicago Bulls hadn't lost at home since Jan. 18 against the Charlotte Bobcats. On Monday, the Philadelphia 76ers ended that streak by handing the Bulls a 97-85 defeat. The Sixers built a big first half lead and then held on late to improve to 38-36 on the season. The loss dropped the Bulls to 53-20.

Derrick Rose can do no wrong. He has lifted his Chicago Bulls to the top of the Eastern Conference. On a nightly basis, he cements his standing as the NBA's favorite to win the 2011 MVP award. On Saturday, Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks got a front row view of what Derrick Rose could do and just how nasty he could be.

We can smell the 2011 NBA Playoffs in the air. Only about five weeks from the postseason, NBA teams are fighting for position. Which NBA teams are a cut above the rest? Here's our look at the current 2011 NBA power rankings where we list the ten best teams in basketball starting with number ten.

Losing four games in a row is bad. Getting outed as a group of crybabies is even worse. That's where the Miami Heat stand after they lost to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday afternoon. Following their 87-86 loss Miami's fourth consecutive defeat that featured another fourth quarter meltdown, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra admitted his team is a team of crybabies.

Now that we are finished with the 2011 NBA All-Star Game, it's time to get back to business. Who are the best teams in the NBA? That's the question we will answer below. There are currently six teams with a legit chance to win the 2011 NBA championship. Here is our current power rankings in reverse order:

6.

Jerry Sloan was the rarest of NBA coaches. First of all, he coached the Utah Jazz for 23 seasons a ridiculously long time by any measurement. And when it was time for him to go, Jerry Sloan went out on his own terms. According to reports, Jerry Sloan's abrupt move on Thursday was due to an ultimatum involving superstar point guard Deron Williams.

Tonight the Chicago Riot take on the Missouri Comets at the Odeum in Villa Park, IL at 7:00 PM CST. Is there another big game going on? I wouldn't know. The Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks play tomorrow night, the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, and Chicago Fire are all dangerously close to starting pre-season and I know that the Chicago Bears are out so it's just the Riot as far as I know.