McCaffrey: Bulls Need More From Rose, Noah
By Brendan McCaffrey-
(CBS) Every team gets a clunker or two in the NBA regular season. Like it or not, it happens. The Bulls gave fans one Wednesday night at United Center in a 97-77 loss to the Utah Jazz, as they shot 33 percent from the field and were down as many 26 to a Jazz team with 23 losses on the season.
No problem, everybody. Burn the tape, move on, head to Washington and play better against the Wizards on Friday night, right?
But what do you do when two of your starters keep putting up clunkers?
Point guard Derrick Rose continued his streak of poor shooting nights Wednesday, going 3-for-15 from the field after missing his first 10 shots of the game, but his defensive lapses should be more worrisome and frustrating than his shooting slump. If Jazz guard Trey Burke were a better player, he would have put up more than 17 points and four assists. Rose had trouble keeping Burke from getting into the lane off the dribble, the same problems Rose had for three quarters against Houston's Patrick Beverley on Monday night.
"You got to play hard every night," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game when asked about Rose's defensive effort. "That's a habit, and you have to build it, and that comes through your work. (Rose) is capable of doing that, and I think our team is capable of doing that."
Offensively, nobody would ever confuse Derrick Rose for Steph Curry, but the numbers in this extended slump are alarming. Since a 7-for-14 performance from the field on Christmas Day against the Lakers, Rose has gone 36-for-128 from the floor in seven games. That's 28 percent -- way past "volume shooter" status and nearing "Rajon Rondo jumper" territory.
"It's basketball," Rose said. "Shots aren't going to fall, it's just part of the game. When they start falling, things will change, like, who knows, but I'm going to continue to shoot my shots."
Thibodeau stressed patience with Rose's offense, as he has done all season.
"There's gonna be some bumps in the road," Thibodeau said. "He'll figure it out. I have a lot of confidence in that."
Another Bull working to figure things out is the longest-tenured one on this current roster, center Joakim Noah. His one point on 0-for-3 shooting against Utah on Wednesday is one thing, but Noah is still battling injuries and has seen his production drop from last year, especially on the offensive end.
He's shooting just under 45 percent from the field and 62 percent from the free-throw line, both career lows. His scoring is down below 10 points per game as well, and his per 48 minutes scoring average stands at 12.6, down from 17.1 last year. These are numbers Noah hasn't seen since his second year in the league.
While much less of the Bulls offense runs through Noah is 2014-15 (a good thing) and he's learning how to play with Pau Gasol (another good thing), his struggles have been noticeable.
"I'm concerned with everybody," Thibodeau said when asked about Noah. "We know that (Noah's) game is high energy, but it's timing too. The more he plays, the better it'll be. He's still navigating through his injury, too. We're hopeful that it'll improve. We need him to be who he is. If he and (Rose) are playing at a high level, the depth of our team is significant."
Noah didn't speak to reporters after Wednesday's game, but he told them after Monday's win against Houston that he was not feeling banged up, saying he's feeling "better and better."
Noah may believe that, but he doesn't look quite right as he battles back from his offseason knee surgery. Thibodeau's solution was a familiar refrain.
"The biggest thing, with everybody on our team, is to be mentally tough when you're going through adversity," Thibodeau said. "Everyone's going to deal with something. You have to keep grinding away and you gotta work. You got into a hole, you work your way out of it. That's the only way out."
Brendan McCaffrey is the sports director at 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @b_mccaffrey.
