Westerlund: Bulls Blossoming On Offense
By Cody Westerlund-
CHICAGO (CBS) – In tracing through his time in Chicago, so much of what's made Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau successful is an inherent belief in his coaching style, in his ways. It can be equal parts dedication, stubbornness, genius and craziness, but Thibodeau's attention to detail and smarts for the game are renowned.
Those traits have most notably manifested themselves in a couple bedrocks of the Thibodeau era: defense and cohesiveness. It's always been tough to score on Chicago, and within the locker room, there's a belief in each other, accountability to the man beside you. Drama has long surrounded star Derrick Rose, but there's never been questions among teammates.
Now in his fifth year in Chicago, Thibodeau's entering uncharted territory in his NBA head coaching tenure: another path in which to find the ultimate success, and perhaps one that better lends itself to championship aspirations.
He has the team with the ability to be an offensive juggernaut.
This much was again made clear when the Bulls torched the East-leading Raptors for a franchise-record 49 points in the fourth quarter of a 129-120 win at the United Center on Monday. Beyond the numbers, this was simply a sight to behold, one that occurred on the same floor in which a ragged Bulls team finished off the season quietly last April by scoring a mere 69 points in a Game 5 loss to the Wizards.
This late offensive outburst coincided with the usage of a closing lineup that featured Rose, Aaron Brooks, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Mirotic and Joakim Noah. Offensively, no Bulls lineup has the ability to space the floor and create off the dribble like this quintet, which played basketball at its most simple – by dribble driving, sharing the ball and hitting the open man.
"Every game, it's going to change," Noah said of who's called upon. "I think we got a lot of weapons, a lot of guys who can score the ball in different ways."
For Thibodeau, the toughest decision lies in how he chooses to utilize his big man pairings. In the big picture of a season with perhaps seven or eight true title contenders, it could make all the difference.
Playing Noah and Mirotic together more Monday was a prudent decision by Thibodeau, and he should continue that practice moving forward, even if it's not in closing time. Of the Bulls' six possible big man combinations with their top four of Noah, Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson and Mirotic, the Noah-Mirotic grouping entered Monday with the best net rating (plus/minus per 100 possessions). That duo also had played the fewest minutes together.
Here's a quick look, with numbers from NBA.com:
Gasol-Noah: +3.6 (354 minutes)
Gasol-Gibson: +10.0 (251 minutes)
Gasol-Mirotic: +0.5 (179 minutes)
Gibson-Mirotic: +11.4 (139 minutes)
Noah-Gibson: -9.8 (129 minutes)
Noah-Mirotic: +14.5 (119 minutes)
While there's some noise in those numbers (reserves often play against the reserves of the other squad), we're almost to Christmas. It's time that we start drawing conclusions, and one is clear.
The Bulls are more dangerous when they use the Noah-Mirotic and Gasol-Gibson pairings more often. To date when fully healthy, the pattern has usually been to get Gasol-Gibson about eight minutes together (last four minutes of the first and third quarters) and Noah-Mirotic less than that together (usually a few minutes in the second and fourth quarters). It's not optimal, and it would take a notable rotation juggling to rectify this.
In a testament to Thibodeau, he has displayed a recent knack for adapting. Chicago won at Memphis on Friday by closing with Noah and Mirotic (Gibson sat out with an ankle injury), and Thibodeau called on the same duo Monday in what played out as a high-level basketball game.
"I was actually waiting to put (Gasol) back in, and then we got rolling with that group," Thibodeau explained, adding he's not locked into any late-game closing unit.
Thibodeau can be as stubborn as they come – no one will ever change his belief in giving go-to guys big minutes – but he's smart enough to see the end game here. If the Bulls are to achieve their goal of winning a championship, they will almost certainly have to power past two teams capable of offensive fireworks (the Cavaliers and the Western Conference champion, hypothetically).
And sometimes, you need to fight fire with fire – which means having a lineup that can light it up and is familiar with one another. The time to build that chemistry is now, so that it's an option later.
This isn't to say Brooks will be playing significant minutes if the Eastern Conference Finals come down to a Game 7, but it's to say that Thibodeau could make defensive concessions in the name of offense -- and Mirotic is at the forefront of that case study.
He works hard on defense, but in a complex system, he's still not processing everything as quickly as needed and sometimes works his way out of position. He missed a few rotations Monday that left the Raptors with easy looks.
At the same time, with his long range shooting (41 percent on 3-pointers), quirky fakes and adept ball-handling at 6-foot-10, Mirotic is such a unique offensive talent that even Thibodeau admitted he changes the equation.
"Anytime you have a guy who can shoot like Niko can, and I think the dribble penetration of Derrick, Jimmy and Aaron, it really opens up the floor," Thibodeau said. "You're trying to break the defense down in different ways. We can also do it with Pau through the post-up. It's a different game when Niko is in. And we have a dribble handoff game with Joakim. So there's a lot of weapons we can go to."
That acknowledgement from Thibodeau was echoed by postgame thoughts from Rose, who said this offensive system – one with seemingly more continuity action than in past years – has evolved.
"It's a different team," Rose said. "It's a different way he's letting us play. We're hitting a lot more threes too. It's kind of a free offense, where if we get it, we're gone, letting us run pick-and-rolls, let us run drags or whatever we want to run when we're in the open court. There's a lot of freedom."
Now at 18-9 and back to full health, the Bulls like where they're at. Tough decisions lie ahead too, and a keyword they used early and often in training camp will be tested.
Sacrifice. It's going to take it from everyone with this squad having more options.
"We have a really deep frontcourt," Noah said. "Every game it's going to be different. We just have to play for the team. And you know, it's a lot easier said than done. As a competitor, you want to be out there. At the end of the day, whoever has the favorable matchup, it's going to be there time. And I understand that."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.