June 02--Tim Floyd has no doubt that Fred Hoiberg will win far more than he did with the Bulls.
Why? Need we remind you that the second-best player on the 1998-99 Bulls, Floyd's first team, was Dickey Simpkins?
"I like the roster he is stepping into," Floyd told the Tribune on Tuesday. "Most college guys have not walked into that roster."
But that's not to minimize Floyd's respect for Hoiberg, whom he coached at Iowa State and with the Bulls.
"He is one of the two brightest guys I ever coached -- him and Paul Shirley," said Floyd, a 30-year head coach who last season guided UTEP to an NIT berth. "He's humble and inquisitive, which allows him to ask what he needs to ask in order to learn. He is a great communicator. And they (the Bulls) all know that he played (in the NBA). He will win those guys over from day one."
Floyd also likes that Hoiberg spent four years in the front office of the Minnesota Timberwolves, so he will "understand everything" from the perspective of Bulls brass. That perspective was lacking from Tom Thibodeau, a lifelong coach.
"He has a lot more experience coaching than (Golden State's) Steve Kerr had this year," Floyd said.
Floyd went 49-190 in his Bulls tenure but remains tight with general manager Gar Forman, an assistant under him at Iowa State from 1994-98. Floyd and Forman coached Hoiberg during his senior season.
"That was the biggest lovefest going in college sports," said Floyd, who speaks to Hoiberg every week. "A small community that was proud of him and loved him. It was unparalleled. This was not easy for him (to leave)."
