The Chicago Bulls are going through yet another case of, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
For a second consecutive season, the Bulls are dealing with a multitude of issues that talent alone cannot fix. A lack of identity, leadership and a locker-room with spilt personalities and levels of experience have all been consistent issues which have been masked by a winning record.
Although, now on a three-game losing streak, going down to the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, those issues are now rising to the surface and the internal disconnect between players, coaches and front office are now being exposed.
This wasn’t meant to be the case for this season’s Bulls. After suffering much of the same issues last season, Chicago fired long-time head coach Tom Thibodeau in an effort to reshape the culture and style of the team.
Thibodeau, while being one of the more respected and successful coaches over his five-year tenure with Chicago, had built up a large amount of tension with the front office that resulted in his sacking on May 28. This was shortly after Chicago bowed out of the 2015 playoffs in six games at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Known for his hard-nosed attitude, defensive minded approach and his tendency to play his players big minutes, Thibodeau seemed to be an old-school coach stuck in a new age of NBA basketball.
In the 90s, the Bulls were a team built on the principles of a tough defence and rugged play-style, balanced with the class and greatness of Michael Jordan. Back in 2011, it seemed as if Thibodeau and the Bulls were almost recreating that style of Chicago basketball.
In 2011, the year that Chicago made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls were the league’s top-ranked defence, as their 97.4 defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) was unmatched in the NBA. Put that next to Derrick Rose’s MVP season, where he put up 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game and it seemed as if Chicago was set to build another dynasty.
Thibodeau attempted to add a few different elements to the formula last season, attempting to revamp Chicago’s always-questionable offence. It seemed to work out pretty well for the Bulls, as they ranked 10th in the NBA in offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) with a 104.7 number.
Although, a by-product of this was Chicago’s defensive falloff, as they only ranked 11th in defensive rating last season. That isn’t a horrible mark but it is something unseen to Bulls fans.
So after a season where the Bulls spend most of it trying to establish a new identity by redesigning their offensive game while not giving up their tenacious defence, they hit the exit button on Thibodeau’s reign as head coach and seemed ready to move into a new era of Bulls basketball.
Well, that new era Chicago hoped for has turned out to be the same old story for the Bulls.
After an off-season filled with hope for the Bulls, with the hiring of new head coach Fred Hoiberg and the retaining of superstar-in-the-making Jimmy Butler with a sparkling five-year, $95-million contract, many experts and pundits had Chicago penciled in as the Eastern Conference’s second best team and most realistic challenger to the Cavaliers’ throne.
With the hiring of Hoiberg, a two-time Big 12 Tournament champion and 2012 Big 12 coach of the year with Iowa State, the Bulls were given a new sense of hope and excitement heading into the 2015-16 season.
Hoiberg preached a fast-paced and free-flowing offensive attack at Iowa and planned on bringing that style of basketball to Chicago, a city that has never really brought into the run-and-gun style of the new-age NBA.
“I absolutely love this roster.” Hoiberg explained at his introductory press conference as Bulls coach. “I love the versatility of the players. The different line-ups that we’re going to be able to play; can play small, can play big, You’ve got line-ups that I really think can get out and play with pace.”
Hoiberg would continue, talking about his coaching style that he intended to bring to the Bulls, “We had the second fastest pace of play in all of college basketball last year. We like to get out and play with pace and play with spacing, I think we ran more pick-and-roll than anybody in college basketball last year. We really like to flow into an offence as opposed to coming down and getting set on every possession. It’s something that has always been my philosophy.”
So, the blueprint was laid out for Chicago. Hoiberg was going to transform the Bulls into a fast-paced, offensive minded team, which still feeling weird to even type. After five long years of grind it out basketball, Chicago was set to undergo a makeover.
The results haven’t turned out as planned.
The pace that Hoiberg talked about when he was hired is definitely there, but at what cost? Chicago ranks seventh in the NBA in pace with 99.94 possessions per 48 minutes. For comparison, last season’s Bulls ranked only 21st in the league in pace, with a number of 95.35.
So, while Chicago is playing at the pace Hoiberg has wanted them to, it hasn’t resulted in any type of consistency or efficiency on the offensive end.
Chicago currently has an offensive rating of 98.4, good for 27th in the league, ahead of only the Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers, the NBA’s three worst teams. As mentioned earlier, the Bulls actually improved on the offensive end last season, finishing 10th in the league in offensive efficiency, so the drop-off all the way down to 27th in quite a surprise.
Chicago’s low rankings in points per game, field goal percentage, true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage provide even more evidence to the Bulls drastic drop-off on the offensive end with Hoiberg at the helm.
The Bulls average 100.4 points per game this season, which is 20th in the league. Last season, they averaged 100.8 points per game, which was good for 15th in the league, a sign of how the NBA is evolving into a more offensive-minded league, with more teams scoring more points. Chicago though, despite their attempts, is still stuck in the mud on the offensive end.
The Bulls new pace has cost them the efficiency they began to find on the offensive end last season. They are shooting only 42.4 per cent from the field, which is a woeful 28th in the entire league. Their true shooting percentage (50.8%) and effective field goals percentage (46.9%) don’t fare much better, as the Bulls rank 26th in both those categories.
Any kind of consistency, efficiency or confidence that the Bulls created with Thibodeau last season has been completely lost under Hoiberg. No one saw this drop-off coming.
The general feeling was that it would be the defence that would suffer the most from Hoiberg’s hiring but in a wacky, weird way, it has turned out to be the exact opposite.
The Bulls are the second best defensive team in the league this season, with a defensive rating of 97.8. Hoiberg was never known for his defensive exploits at Iowa but he has been able to improve the defence, which is always a positive and is one of the main reasons for the Bulls being able to will themselves to a 15-11 record.
That 15-11 record is misleading though, as Chicago have a NET rating of 0.6, which ranks them 15th in the league, which is a more appropriate ranking of where Chicago is. The Bulls are about a .500 team at best this season and that frustration is beginning to show among the players.
Butler called out Hoiberg after the loss to the Knicks, as the 30th pick in the 2011 draft has attempted to take up more of a leadership role this season.
“I believe in the guys in this locker room, yeah,” Butler said. “But I also believe that we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times. I’m sorry, I know Fred’s a laid-back guy, and I really respect him for that, but when guys aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, you got to get on guys, myself included.”
Butler has since said that the media probably wasn’t the best place to voice his frustration with the head coach but his comments simply expose another problem and that is the Bulls lack of leaders in the locker-room.
Butler is trying to proclaim himself as the alpha dog of Chicago’s locker-room and mould himself into a leader. But multiple rumours of Butler clashing with Rose and their seemingly shaky relationship aren’t qualities indicative of a true leader.
Pau Gasol brings a championship pedigree to the Chicago locker-room but his mature personality isn’t enough for him to take the responsibility of a leader. Even he is questioning the Bulls, as he stated, “We all have to take it (the recent losses) personally. This has to hurt. If it doesn’t hurt, then we might have a problem that might not be correctable.”
Joakim Noah was the vocal leader and the heart and soul of those Bulls teams under Thibodeau but injuries have put Noah’s best days well and truly behind him. It is tough to be a leader when you aren’t effective on the court or always injured and even Noah’s fiery passion seems to have gone by the wayside this season.
Hoiberg has recently said that these Bulls will be undertaking a “leadership by committee” approach. While that is all well and good in theory, it hasn’t materialised. Whenever a Chicago player decides to stand up and take some ownership of any kind of leadership, the others seemingly don’t follow. No one is doing their job on the court and this has translated into the locker-room, as the Bulls are all jockeying to be an alpha male but none of them are actually doing what they should be and that is embracing each other and improving on the basketball court.
The Bulls had hope entering the season and still do. We are only in December and Chicago has plenty of time to turn it all around.
But after an off-season filled with hope and an excitement built around a new era of Bulls basketball, it has been the same old story in Chicago- no identity and a general lack of confusion and numerous question marks surrounding the Bulls.
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