Thibodeau went to Boston as an assistant and helped Rivers build a defense good enough to win a championship. Believe its a mistake to discount the importance of having quality assistants on a team. It was one of Phil's assistants who taught him the Triangle. Dont care what sport it is, championship teams usually have top notch assistants on their staff.
The same people who were saying that Rambis is just fine for head coach, are saying the same thing about him as as Hornacek's lead assistant. I doubt Jeff would put his possible replacement, Phil's best friend, one step closer to taking his place.
Some coaches can motivate players to D up better than others, some are better at game-planning defense than others. We can do better, Phil can do better, confident of that,