The intent behind Jimmy Butler’s remarks after Saturday’s Chicago Bulls-New York Knicks game was appreciably clear… at least on the surface.
Jimmy Butler called out Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg after loss to Knicks: https://t.co/KMv4Kwue7T (via @Joshua_Newman) pic.twitter.com/8qx6Uks1qY
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) December 20, 2015
The Bulls are failing to capture hearts and imaginations in the first few months of Fred Hoiberg’s tenure in Chicago. Broadly viewed, this isn’t surprising. More to the point, it shouldn’t be seen as an immediate indictment of Hoiberg’s performance.
Cultures — on the floor, in the locker room, and away from the action — do not change overnight. Even if this first season goes south, Hoiberg would rightly need more time in which to put his stamp on the Bulls… or at least make the attempt to do so. Rushing to a verdict on Hoiberg — which conveys the underlying emphasis on coaching as the source and center of the Bulls’ problems — would be unfair in and of itself.
The bigger issue, though — and this is where Jimmy Butler’s remarks fall short — is that coaching isn’t the biggest problem in Chicago.
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Gar Forman and John Paxson, who guide the Bulls’ front office, did not get along with former coach Tom Thibodeau. They relished the chance to get rid of Thibs, so their hire of Hoiberg represented the vision they wanted for the franchise — perhaps not in words so much as in actions. Yet, by hiring a coach so markedly different from Thibs on a stylistic level, “GarPax” exposed themselves to a certain extent.
With a 180-degree shift in terms of coaches, GarPax might have wanted to see what Hoiberg could do with the same roster, more or less. That is, on a certain aspirational level, pure — let’s see exactly what we have under new guidance. The Bulls might want this season to provide crystal clarity about their resources, such that they can mobilize more effectively for the 2016-2017 campaign. That might be a reasonable view… as long as fans are given that expectation.
However, with Derrick Rose in the fold and the aforementioned Jimmy Butler now a bonafide superstar, the Bulls are not in a position to sacrifice seasons for the sake of finding out what they have. Pau Gasol cost a pretty penny, and Joakim Noah has more yesterdays behind him than the number of tomorrows he faces as a professional. The Bulls should be pursuing the brass ring — that was certainly their mindset under Thibodeau (and rightly so). “Taking a season to get adjusted to Hoiberg” is fair as a fan’s perspective — a new coach deserves patience — but not as an organizational approach.
This brings us to the heart of this discussion: GarPax surely wanted a different coaching approach in the person of Hoiberg, but to supplement that stylistic change, they needed (and still need) to give the new coach a roster he can manipulate in order to suit his style… and meet the team’s needs.
Yet, if you look at the Chicago roster, no profound changes exist relative to last season. Draft pick Bobby Portis is the most noticeable new piece of the puzzle, and he’s not being given the minutes needed to showcase his skills or relieve overworked players. In Friday’s four-overtime game against the Detroit Pistons, Portis didn’t play a single minute. He played 23 on Saturday against the Knicks, but the “DNP-coach’s decision” against Detroit represents an eye-raiser and an indication of how little is different on Chicago’s roster.
Portis is — as much as he might be the future for the Bulls — a rookie. There’s no new veteran piece this team can turn to, and if it doesn’t make a major move before the deadline, “GarPax” will clearly be telling the league and Chicago fans — and most centrally, Jimmy Butler — that they think the talent on the team is sufficient to reach the next level.
They couldn’t be more wrong.
If there’s a reason why Chicago has not been able to break away from the pack in a muddled Eastern Conference where no one has emerged as the foremost challenger to the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s that the talent on the roster doesn’t crackle. The Bulls do not possess an imposing level of skill. They do not have difference makers at all five positions on the floor, and they don’t have a deep bench. Their lack of dependable outside shooters doomed them last May against Cleveland in the East semifinals. Roster composition, not coaching, took them down more than anything else.
Jimmy Butler is trying to be a leader; trying to light a fire; trying to express the idea that what the Bulls have done so far this season isn’t cutting it. All of those intentions are good. However, Butler risks undercutting his coach when the foremost issue (read: problem) with the Bulls is the roster GarPax has assembled. Thibs wasn’t centrally responsible for the Bulls’ failures to make the NBA Finals; the front office was.
If Butler thinks his coach is the one who needs to be awakened more than anyone else in Chicago, he’s missing the boat… no matter how good and sincere his intentions are.
