How the Chicago Bulls Offense Can Reach Its Full Potential Next Season

For the past five years, defense has been the Chicago Bulls' calling card.

That's all about to change.

Fred Hoiberg has replaced Tom Thibodeau as Chicago's head coach, a sideline shift that will completely reinvent who the Bulls are and how they play. 

Over the last half-decade, even when Derrick Rose has been healthy, the Bulls' sometimes-efficient, oft-lumbering offense was an ancillary device—something that always took a backseat to the defensive identity Thibodeau championed all the way to the unemployment ranks.

Hiring Hoiberg is a commitment to the more glamorous end. His Iowa State Cyclones ranked 11th in the country in offensive efficiency this past season, per KenPom.com, and he wields an NBA-friendly clipboard that begets pace, spacing and versatility.

What the Bulls make of this new-age thinking next season is up to them.

The Easy

Upping the Pace

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

Not once did during Thibodeau's reign did the Bulls rank higher than 23rd in possessions used per 48 minutes. Since the 2010-11 campaign, Thibodeau's first at the wheel, they rank 29th in pace, behind only the New Orleans Pelicans.

(Aside: Listen closely, and you'll hear Alvin Gentry sighing.)

Statistically efficient offenses are peppered throughout the Thibodeau era. Mostly, though, the Bulls earned a reputation as the NBA's premier snail.

Season	Pace	Rank	ORTG	Rank
2010-11	90.4	23	108.3	11
2011-12	89.1	28	107.4	5
2012-13	89.3	27	103.5	23
2013-14	90.2	29	102.5	28
2014-15	92.8	23	107.5	11
Combined	90.4	29	105.8	17

This was by design, mind you. As the fine folks at Blog A Bull wrote, these "teams took their time on offense, conserving their energy for the defensive end." Thibodeau wasn't about to let them blitz opponents, potentially at the expense of their defensive stamina.

Hoiberg is going to implement a more free-flowing offense. He likes to get up and down the floor in the hopes of creating transition opportunities in volume, and while he's not exactly Mike D'Antoni's seven-seconds-or-less protege, players will be expected to fire away inside 10 seconds of the shot clock.

Contrary to the slumbering speeds Thibodeau preferred, the Bulls do have the personnel to push the tempo.

Rose isn't as explosive as he once was, but he's still lightning in point guard form; Jimmy Butler is your prototypical athletic wing who will cover even more ground when he's not logging roughly 42,376 minutes per game; Taj Gibson is understatedly nimble; Joakim was the big-man equivalent of a blur 10 lower-body injuries ago, but he'll sprint until his legs fall off (or his ponytail comes undone); Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic will be off to the races knowing that transition threes are no longer outlawed; and Aaron Brooks, should he return, wears a jetpack for a jersey and roller skates for shoes.

To be sure, teams needn't run like crazy to maintain efficient offenses. The 2014-15, Finals-fighting Cleveland Cavaliers are concrete proof.

But, in this case, Hoiberg's offensive success is founded upon speed. The Bulls, as currently constructed and despite what the last half-decade implies, can live up to those standards.

More Small Ball

Chris Covatta/Getty Images

Small in the figurative sense, that is.

Traditional, dual-big lineups were a staple under Thibodeau. Hoiberg is of the one-in, four-out persuasion and uses the threat of an extra shooter to create open driving lanes for his point guards and ball-handlers, and clear pathways for a slashing big.

Basically, there's a ton of perimeter action at the beginning of each play:

Credit: YouTube.

That's spacing the Bulls cannot duplicate when running two bigs who cannot chuck threes. Though Thibodeau was more prone to actually acknowledging defense-stretching shooters such as Mirotic and McDermott—mostly Mirotic—at the 4, there was no avoiding the interior traffic jams that came with catering to a frontcourt rotation also consisting of Pau Gasol, Gibson and Noah:

Credit: NBA.com.

Forging additional space isn't a matter of blowing up the Bulls roster. Not entirely. They once again already have the personnel to slot orbiting shooters at power forward.

Thibodeau admittedly fell too much in love with lining up Mirotic at the 3. Nearly 25 percent of the rookie's minutes came at small forward during the regular season.

Ill-equipped to keep opposing wings in check at 6'10" or act as an incisive dribble-driver, Mirotic's player efficiency rating took a dive when he played the 3, according to 82games.com. Still, he found nylon on 35.4 percent of his spot-up treys, and when he manned power forward, the Bulls' spacing was noticeably better:

Credit: NBA.com.

Rangier lineups make life easier on everyone. Creating off-ball separation isn't as difficult, roll men are given more room to operate on pick-and-rolls, and it encourages dribble penetration, opening the door for the ever-effective drive-and-kick opportunity once defenses collapse:

McDermott functions in the same vein and is yet another defense-drawing weapon Hoiberg will use in ways Thibodeau did not.

The 23-year-old sharpshooter logged just 321 total minutes through his rookie crusade, 95 percent of which came as a small forward. At 6'8", McDermott, like Mirotic, is a stretch 4. He shouldn't be expected to defend wings or, more importantly, create off the dribble against swingmen far faster than him.

And even though McDermott struggled to flash his three-point touch (31.7 percent clip), he helps generate the spacing Hoiberg's offense needs by just being on the floor:

Credit: NBA.com.

Mirotic and McDermott can play together in a pinch—as in if Mike Dunleavy doesn't return. But their presence alone will help the Bulls make the transition from lane-cloggers to architects of wiggle room.

The Not So Easy

Derrick Rose's Assimilation

Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images

A lot of what Hoiberg implements will come natural to Rose.

Point guards are given the freedom to look up the floor and run. There is room enough for isolation sets. There will be more open lanes than a bowling alley after midnight on a Tuesday.

There will also be a need for Rose to work off the ball.

Speaking with Kelly Scaletta for Today's Fastbreak, BBallBreakdown.com's Randy Sherman explained what Hoiberg's arrival will mean for Rose:

"

It’s with Rose that I see the most adjustments coming. Iowa State has had the nation’s leader in assist-to-turnover ratio for consecutive years – point guard Monte Morris. While Morris is a terrific player, this can be deceiving. For a point guard, Morris has a low usage rate (16.9 percent) due to Hoiberg’s point forward schemes.

Also, compared to the rest of the NCAA, Iowa State shoots the ball quicker. Thusly, Morris doesn’t have as many turnover opportunities as many others. It seems that in college basketball, the longer the possession the higher the likelihood of the next pass being a turnover becomes. And Iowa State doesn’t have long offensive possessions. I would anticipate a Bulls team with the ball in the hands of Rose less.

"

Rose has never posted a usage rate lower than 22.6. He's used to working with the ball in his hands—more than 65 percent of his made baskets went unassisted during the regular season, and he shot just 28.9 percent on standalone looks.

It helps that the Bulls don't really have a point forward who will force Rose to cede control of the rock. But they do have Butler, and reflexive offenses function best when piloted by a floor general who can dabble in spot-up three-point shooting.

Think Steve Nash with the Phoenix Suns or Stephen Curry with the Golden State Warriors. Rose has never been that guy, nor will he ever be. The Bulls just have to hope his three-point-heavy attack in 2014-15 is a sign of things to come, all while banking on his efficiency being the exact opposite.

Indeed, Rose has had more economical showings from beyond the arc; his 28 percent clip is nothing to tout. But he was shooting more threes overall. His 5.3 heaves from deep per game were a career high, and 32.5 percent of all his shots came from downtown, another career high:

Parlaying that additional volume into a more efficient three-point touch overall would go a long way in streamlining Rose's comfort off the ball. And, for better or worse, his comfort off the ball will go a long way in determining Chicago's offensive ceiling in 2015-16.

Figuring Out the Frontcourt

D. Clarke Evans/Getty Images

Figuring out the frontcourt may entail breaking up the frontcourt.

A rotation of Gasol, Gibson and Noah won't sit well in Hoiberg's offense. This tricycle isn't conducive to generating space; all three are most comfortable inside eight feet of the hoop:

Player	%FGA < 8 FT	8-16 FT	16-24 FT	24+ FT
Pau Gasol	52.3	21.3	24.1	2.3
Taj Gibson	72.1	19.8	8.1	0
Joakim Noah	78.2	3.3	18	0.5

Unless Gasol is ready to start launching threes in volume, not one member of this trio is fit to play power forward for long stretches in Hoiberg's offense.

Rather than deploy two at a time, the Bulls will only have room for one. That leaves plenty of minutes for two at center, assuming one is willing to come off the bench, but it also means at least one of them could—and should—amble their way into trade talks.

Issac Baldizon/Getty Images

Just prior to Hoiberg's arrival, SheridanHoops.com's Joe Kotoch heard the Bulls planned to shop both Gibson and Noah over the offseason. That makes sense in theory, since Gasol remains the only one of these three who is a somewhat proven perimeter threat.

At the same time, Gasol is pushing 35 and won't be winning any footraces. Hoiberg also praised the value of Gibson and Noah at his introductory press conference—most notably that of Noah, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.

"

When you create space for him and allow him to be a passer and a playmaker, he can bust the ball up the floor after a rebound with guys who can knock down shots. We had a lot of success with that at Iowa State, using our bigs as playmakers in the open floor.

"

What becomes of the Bulls' present frontcourt is very much still up in the air. They could push forward with all three of their traditional bigs, hoping that Gasol's experience outside eight feet is enough to keep an open-floor model intact.

But for the Bulls to really maximize the potential of Hoiberg's offense from the get-go, they cannot compromise when it comes to employing the ideal personnel.

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @danfavale.