Bulls' Offensive Struggles Are Mental As Well As Physical
By Cody Westerlund--
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Bulls' uncertain words Saturday night reflected their continued befuddlement as to why a team that includes a pair of 2014-'15 All-Stars, a former MVP, a promising stretch four and an emerging 3-pointer marksman under the direction of a bright coach with new-age offensive schemes continues to be so poor offensively.
First, there was the leader, Fred Hoiberg. Asked if this was any expectation of the offense he imagined after 17 games, Hoiberg was having none of it.
"I don't know," he said after a 102-96 loss to the Hornets at the United Center in which the Bulls shot 41.6 percent. "I don't know."
Then there was big man Pau Gasol, a second-team all-NBA center in 2014-'15, when he feasted on plenty of postups on the block. Does he feel like a good fit in this Bulls offense?
"Sometimes," Gasol said after scoring 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting in his 1,000th career game.
The Bulls have taken an intriguing route to their 11-6 start. After unceremoniously firing a coach in Tom Thibodeau last May who revolutionized the NBA defensively during his five seasons in Chicago, the Bulls have actually improved defensively from 2014-'15 to 2015-'16. Chicago entered Saturday with the best field-goal percentage defense and third-best defensive efficiency rating.
The offense? It may be playing faster, but it's not in full gear. It's too often coasting in neutral. The Bulls entered Saturday with the fifth-worst shooting percentage and the fourth-worst offensive efficiency in the league. Their near league average scoring rate is nothing more than a nod to playing at a faster pace under Hoiberg, who of course wants the Bulls to keep playing faster.
And that's been part of the challenge. The Bulls – who entered Saturday ninth in the NBA in pace at 97.5 possessions per game, according to basketball-reference.com – haven't fully adhered to Hoiberg's preferred style.
Hoiberg and star wing Jimmy Butler admit as much.
"We just weren't playing with pace," Butler said of Saturday's loss. "Coming out the gates, they came out playing harder than we did as a whole on both ends of the floor. When we play like that, we're not a good enough team to just play lazy and expect ourselves to outscore people."
"Our movement's getting better," said Hoiberg, who wouldn't mind if his team played at the fastest pace in the league. "Again, just got to sustain it, got to do it for 48 minutes. And we have yet to do that."
In a league that's as player-driven as the NBA, there's give and take between implementing a new coach's system to full effect and tailoring an offense to the players' strengths. The Bulls are still tinkering in this transition, seeing how far they can tilt to Hoiberg's preferred style without getting players completely out of their comfort zone.
There are plenty of reasons as to why Chicago isn't there yet. The season's still young. Veterans know it's a marathon, not a sprint, and treat it as such. Personnel such as Gasol and Joakim Noah isn't suited to play such a style for long stretches. Derrick Rose is no longer the supercharged point guard of yesteryear.
"I try to adjust as good as I can," Gasol said of his changing role that's involved more pick-and-pop action. "Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's hard to get the ball close to the basket if you don't roll. We're trying to find that balance. Some games works better than others. It's a pretty free-flow offense for the most part. We just have to stick with it."
Butler insists this struggle to create efficiency while playing at a fast pace is as much mental as physical.
"I don't think it's hard," Butler said. "I just think we have to buy into it and do it. I think sometimes we may take possessions off and if a couple guys do it on one possession, it looks really bad. It's easy to play with pace, it's easy to pick up our energy level.
"We got guys that can score. It's all about our energy level."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
