"A really, really good NBA coach," Thibault said. "He got to the Finals twice and lost to Michael Jordan's teams. I don't think that makes him a failure."
Thibault certainly wasn't a failure. He also wasn't a champion. If Nykesha Sales hits that three-pointer instead of the backboard in Seattle in 2005, he has a ring. If Lindsay Whalen didn't go lame in 2006, he has another ring. Yet look at Katie Douglas going down in the decisive Eastern Conference Finals games. The Fever not only won, they trounced the Sun at home and went on to upset a heavily favored Lynx team that home-court advantage. Champs find a way.
The Sun want to have a coach in play by the time free agency starts on Feb. 1. Thibault said Alba Torrens and Sandrine Gruda are expected to join the team next year, so the Sun should be very good and deeper. There is truth in Etess' calling the Sun coaching job "definitely the best" in the WNBA. The Mohegan Tribe has made sure the team has not wanted.
"We owe the tribe, we owe our fans a championship," said Etess, who stressed that the players did not call for the firing.
"When we got the team our objective was to win a championship within the first five years," Sienko said. "We got to the Finals twice and did not win. When Mike had his first losing season, we extended his contract, because we felt he was going to get us to that point. It didn't happen. I think we have been patient."
Thibault's last game was shocking. In 35 years of sports writing rarely have I seen a team of equal talent perform worse in a vital situation. Asked if he was embarrassed, Etess said, "Yeah and I think Mike was, too."
"Players were embarrassed themselves," Sienko said.
Yet Thibault gave a curious answer Tuesday.
"I've watched the film a couple of times," he said. "It's not the exact mirror image, but we took many of the same shots in Game 1 [the Sun won] and they went in. In Game 3 the same shots didn't go in. Is that something you fix? Maybe, maybe not."
That's not the way I saw it. I saw a team melt down on both ends of the court. And as long as we're not cutting anybody any slack …
"We believed we had all the tools in place to win the championship this year. We also thought we could get a little further [than the first round] last year," Sienko said in one breath and then in the next said, "I don't think anyone can expect anyone to come in and ultimately win a championship their first year, but it can happen."
Sorry, Chris, if Thibault should have been able to take the Sun to a title, so should the new coach.
The hard truth is the Sun will be hard pressed to find someone better than Mike Thibault.
The equally hard truth is after a full decade he doesn't leave as a champion.
