Westerlund: 5 Takeaways From Bulls' Preseason Opener
By Cody Westerlund-
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Bulls opened their 2014 preseason slate with an 85-81 loss to the Wizards on Monday night at the United Center, a setback that didn't seem to get anyone worked up much. Tom Thibodeau preached that it's the process he cares about in the exhibition season, and the players were rather upbeat after starters Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah sat the entire second half.
Here are five takeaways from the preseason opener that were more meaningful than any final score line.
Well, this is more fun
Good news, Bulls fans: You have a team that's watchable – and should be enjoyable so, for most stretches. While the scoreboard didn't get lit up Monday, these Bulls are a far more entertaining bunch than those of the last few years.
In the first glimpse of them, Rose slashed to the hoop time and again, scoring 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 14 minutes. The 6-foot-10 Nikola Mirotic dribbled up court, pulled up at the left wing and drilled a 3-pointer en route to a team-high 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
"Nikola can run the floor, put it on the floor, he can shoot, he can make plays," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.
"You could see there's logic to the way he plays."
All that endless dribbling that went nowhere too often last year? That was only a problem when Kirk Hinrich, Jimmy Butler and Mike Dunleavy played a long stretch together to start the second half as Rose and Noah rested. That won't happen too often in the regular season.
The plan is for Noah to sit out Tuesday's exhibition game at Detroit. Rose will play unless the medical staff believes he shouldn't when he's evaluated Tuesday, Thibodeau said.
High-low with Noah and Gasol
When Noah and Gasol played together for a seven-minute stretch to open the game and again were on the floor together in the second quarter, the Bulls offense primarily operated with Noah in the high post and Gasol moving around on the blocks.
By my unofficial count in that duo's time sharing, Chicago had six sets that were initiated or executed with Noah handling the ball at a pivotal point in the high post and only two such instances for Gasol. On the flip side, Gasol had two traditional post-ups while on the floor with Noah, who had no such action.
The Bulls didn't really run the traditional pick-and-roll much, but they did use some swing passes/cuts and dribble handoffs to simulate such an action between Rose and Noah. They didn't do much, if any, of that with Gasol.
Gasol scored eight points on 3-of-7 shooting, while Noah scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
"It was OK," Noah said. "We still have a ways to go, but overall, I think there's definitely some good signs out there."
Butler leaves negotiations up to agent
Negotiations between Jimmy Butler's representatives and the Bulls are ongoing on a contract extension prior to the Oct. 31 deadline. If Butler's not signed by then, he'll become a restricted free agent next offseason.
On Monday, a new element was thrown into consideration for Butler agent Happy Walters and Bulls management. The NBA and television partners ESPN and TNT announced a new nine-year rights deal that will pay the league about $2.66 billion annually starting in 2016-'17. That's a monster increase over the current deal that's netting the NBA around $930 million annually, and its most significant practical effect for the players is that it will cause a huge spike in the salary cap beginning in 2016-'17.
The salary cap that's at $63.1 million this season is projected by experts to jump to above $80 million for the 2016-'17 season – and perhaps closer to $90 million, depending on how much the first year of the new deal is worth, Grantland.com's Zach Lowe reported.
This means any and all free agents figure to be clamoring for more money in negotiations. Not that Butler would know, though.
"You're asking the wrong person," Butler said. "I have no idea how much the TV deal is.
"I don't know nothing about a TV deal. I just know it's my contract (season), and I got to play well. And I want to win. That's all that I know. I love y'all, I swear I don't know nothing."
Monday showed why the Bulls have so much to think about in this negotiation. Butler scored seven points on some ugly 1-of-7 shooting, his first game after shooting 28 percent from 3-point land last year. But he also recorded seven rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a steal while playing tough defense on Bradley Beal, who shot just 4-of-12.
So how much is a premier wing defender who fills up the box score for 47 minutes a night worth if he can't shoot well? What seemed like $7 million or $8 million-per late last week may be an easy $11 million-per in coming years. And if the Bulls believe Butler will come around as a shooter, he was worth a number in that latter range to begin with anyway.
Hints toward the rotation
As expected, Noah, Gasol, Dunleavy, Butler and Rose started, while Hinrich and Taj Gibson were the first two Bulls off the bench. More notable were those who followed.
Forward Doug McDermott was the third sub off the bench, followed soon after by Mirotic and guard Aaron Brooks. Missing from action until the start of the fourth quarter was wing Tony Snell, who appears to be the odd man out. Thibodeau has spoken of Snell needing to be more consistent, and with so many options, his hand isn't forced with Snell like last season.
Also notable was that McDermott got a short stretch of playing time for Dunleavy with the Bulls' other four starters. And during that short span and his entire time on the floor, Chicago ran McDermott off screen after screen and looked his way.
While McDermott had a terrible careless turnover under his own hoop and was beaten defensively several times, he turned in a respectable debut, scoring eight points on 2-of-4 shooting.
What remains to be seen is if he can crack the rotation, which will be harder to do if Mirotic keeps sparkling.
Thibodeau content with Team USA role
Perhaps because it wasn't even possible to have had a defensive breakdown yet, Thibodeau was in a dapper mood during his pregame interview Monday night. When asked about his busy summer with as an assistant with Team USA, he replied, "What else would you want to be doing? It was great. Basketball every day, a nice restaurant in Spain every night and study film to 4 in the morning."
Thibodeau greatly appreciated the chance to be on the inside of the operation with director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski, but he downplayed any thoughts of himself being the head coach of the national team.
"To me, it's just a great experience to be there," Thibodeau said. "I don't look at it that way. I enjoyed it. I'm assistant coach, and it was fine."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
