Mistakes That the Chicago Bulls Are Repeating This Year
Fred Hoiberg and Jimmy Butler are committing the same mistakes this December. Will the Chicago Bulls continue to loss against weak teams and be inconsistent?
The Chicago Bulls need to carefully reassess what is working and what goes out of sync when they lose games to the bottom feeder teams of the NBA. Here are three mistakes we see them doing this year-end.
Jimmy Butler Hogging the Ball, Shooters Open
Jimmy Butler has been playing the same two-man, isolation hero-ball all game long these past few losses. It started with several successful 30 and 40-point games. Then, he wanted more.
But, things changed after the Los Angles Lakers scouted him and just ran an athletic double team at him and last year’s weaknesses were exposed again. The Bulls lost again against Dallas, a bottomfeeder team in the West. Then, again against Minnesota, the weakest team in the league, after leading by 21 in the first quarter. Then, again versus Milwaukee. All those games, Butler was gunning for a point production at the wrong time in the game, instead of allowing his teammates to get their scoring rhythm going, then turning it on in the final quarter for his team. But Jimmy just goes for everything and it brings the whole team down.
Butler does not have the PG handles to split double teams, nor the quick first step to blow by them. What he has is a very strong physique and tight control to get a shot off even with contact and he can drive in a straight line to the rim when there are paths open.
In the Bulls losses, Butler tires himself out keeping his stats that by the end of the fourth quarter, he is so gassed that he wastes possessions bricking the ball or turning it over. Butler is shooting 29 percent in the fourth quarter now.
The Bulls got off to a strong start with Butler still getting strong numbers, but the team was moving the ball around and getting people involved.
Then the starters began getting too concerned about keeping their numbers up. In one game with Nikola Mirotic starting in place of Dwyane Wade, Butler barely passed the ball and Mirotic was just the fifth player on the team, while the rest ran a two-man offense all first quarter long.
In the Timberwolves game, even fans were aghast at why both Jimmy and Wade would be shooting when they had Doug at the corner waiting for a pass.
Butler wants his numbers and Fred Hoiberg is allowing him to overextend himself to a fault at the expense of the team. Butler can get his numbers by playing defense, Wade gets him enough easy baskets or using his stepback jumper instead when they make the return pass.
The bench plays bad because with the starters staggered, they still get most of the touches and don’t involve plays where a shooter gets a return pass to get his game in rhythm.
Nov 22, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg reacts after a play in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Hoiberg Playing Defensive Mismatches
Bobby Portis played as stretch-four, perimeter defender and blitz defense in college as part of Arkansas’ 40 minutes of Hell full-court press system. He did not play as rim-protecting, box out post player. He is playing out of position which is why he is playing out of sync.
Isaiah Canaan is good for short spurts of defensive intensity and spot 3s when the court spacing allows, but if defending long and tall athletic scoring guards – they eat him alive. Canaan can guard smaller guards or players like Matthew Dellavedova but not Damian Lillard or Andrew Wiggins, especially in the fourth quarter when stops are as crucial as knock-down shots. An opposing playmaker must be shut down or slowed down in the fourth quarter. Even with Jimmy bricking shots, the other Bulls guard should slow down his man and make it rough for him to set up a return play. Jerian Grant and Paul Zipser can cover the perimeter well enough and run out for a score but they get to sit on the bench unless someone is hurt.
When the Bulls need to go back on defense and set up a mobile wall, they need Cristiano Felicio in the game to help either Portis, Taj Gibson or Robin Lopez. All those three play better with Felicio playing the wall on defense. Those three get their backs covered with Felicio being a monster boxing out – something Bobby cannot do on his own and still cover the perimeter. Hoiberg is running the same Thibs substitution pattern instead of mixing up players and letting them gel together as a team.
If the Bulls are going to lose to a team having a Christmas holiday shooting the three with a hand in their faces, that is more acceptable than opposing playmakers running rings around either Jimmy or Isaiah to whip a pass at a back door post up player when Robin Lopez is the last line of defense. Get Denzel Valentine or Grant more time because both play passing lines and even when they get into foul trouble or foul out, they do it playing defense.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulls are playing a gassed out starting five instead of a tough defensive team that can squeeze baskets out of stopping the ball and forcing turnovers. Why finish games with Canaan or Rondo or even Taj when Grant, Valentine, Zipser and Felicio are sitting on the bench and have energy to go all out on defense?
Dec 6, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Jimmy Butler (21) against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Pistons won 102-91.Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Jimmy Not Making the Return Pass, A Hoiball Staple
In the losses to the Mavericks and to the Timberwolves, we see the starters get their numbers but Doug is playing empty minutes not getting touches to shoot. Even when he is open at the corner or at the top of the arc.
This is why Portis and Felicio plus McDermott have a nice chemistry with each other. Felicio swings the ball around to the shooter as the first option.
Big Cris will only attack the rim on a pick-and-roll or a pick-and-dive but when there is an open shooter, Big Cris will always swing the ball to the shooter first. It may be a trait of playing Euro-style ball. It is why Mirotic can hardly get into rhythm scoring 3s.
Doug makes the return pass when movement converges on him and he plays well off Niko and Bobby taking turns gunning the mid-range, attacking the rim or posting up. Valentine is a master of the return pass and he can gun the ball on last second bail-outs.
When the three of these Bulls play with each other, they swing the ball to the open shooter or the rim-diving player.
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That completely went out of the window with Jimmy going ISO full-time. Once the ball goes to the post, the center or power forward will pound the ball inside to score even when swarmed or even with an opportunity to get a three point shooter going with his game. It is a strange two man offense even with Doug playing now. So the Bulls lose to teams like the Timberwolves, sputtering on offense.
Until the Bulls revert back to Hoiball – making a return pass, whipping the ball around, they will not play they way they did in the first three games.
If the Chicago Bulls are playing Hoiball, where are the movement traps at the post? Why is Jimmy forcing straight line drives to the hoop instead of attacking from the side and backdoor?
Why is the low post the same black hole it was during the Pau Gasol and Butler two-man basketball last year? With Hoiball in the first three games they blasted opponents by 20 or more points. Why go back to a two-man offense?
Watch the games folks. Without Gasol, the team is still running last year’s problematic combinations and ISO hero ball sets and playing poor defense.
It is extremely frustrating to watch the team lose to cellar dwellers because the starters opt to get their salary numbers, rather than bring the young guys along and help the team win. And Fred Hoiberg has no clue that he must decide whether the team is anchored by empty stats or by what we saw in the first three wins of the Bulls.
