Mixed Messages, Mismatched Pieces Could Leave Bulls Lost This Season

CHICAGO — Every player on the Chicago Bulls might be worse than public opinion of him.

You have guys who've achieved and won in the league, so their names now do more than their games (Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo). You have guys once underrated and now respected to the point that they're a little overrated (Jimmy Butler, Robin Lopez).

And you have guys whose poor training camps leave them far from the potential we dreamed for them (Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis, Jerian Grant).

Simply put, there's reason to be skeptical of both the parts and the whole in Chicago, where folks are just peeking out from under that ever-obfuscating Derrick Rose injury cloud.

The reasons go beyond the somewhat suspect games of the players involved.

The June trade of Rose to the New York Knicks signaled the team was beginning to rebuild after all the Rose uncertainty grew tiresome. The choice was fitting considering Fred Hoiberg played at Iowa State for Tim Floyd, who oversaw his own rebuilding effort in Chicago when the Bulls broke up their last three-peat title team in 1998.

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Yet upon reaching the crossroads of a total teardown, with the opportunity to trade Butler for future considerations, the Bulls backed away—then completely reversed field when Rondo and Wade wanted to come.

A change, indeed; but how can absorbing some of Rondo and Wade's basketball IQ not give Butler, 27, a boost to his unwavering push to be great, too?

Indeed, this is the time for optimism.

Spend some time around the Bulls in the preseason and it's impossible to miss the joy with which Wade and Rondo have embraced this team.

Wade walks around the off-stage United Center corridors with his head up and smile wide, looking to make eye contact with everyone who crosses his path. In the spotlight for starting lineup introductions, Wade turns his back to the court to raise his arms and acknowledge the fans as a voice booms over the arena speakers saying he is "from Chicago!"

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While Wade regales the local media with those colorful stories and opinions from his years winning three titles in Miami, Rondo remains self-focused—stoic. But Rondo is investing in his new team, too, taking the bus ride up to Milwaukee last Saturday just to watch and gain a better feel for his teammates' games while Butler and Wade stayed home.

"It's not about me making every play," Rondo said.

How much Rondo and Wade can succeed without the ball is an obvious concern, more so when you factor in Butler and the touches he'll receive. Hoiberg's style is to let the players make decisions on the court, though he has been trying to create a little room for his stars to breathe this preseason by pulling Wade out early in games so that he can come back in as the de facto point guard when Rondo is resting.

"I finish quarters well," Wade said. "I finish games pretty well."

Wade said he is showing his new teammates that he can set them up for shots better than most people know. Perhaps that will create opportunities for someone like Taj Gibson, in line for his best season yet as the starting power forward with tons of pick-and-pop plays at his disposal. Or rookie Denzel Valentine, whom we haven't gotten to see because of injury but arrives with a multifaceted skill set.

Hoiberg's idea is that his spread-floor alignment will attack before defenses are set and will open more driving lanes to the hoop than Rondo and Wade have seen in recent years. That, in theory, opens up teammates to knock down three-pointers on kick-outs from Wade, Rondo or Butler. (And it is true that Miami's best record with Wade [2012-13] and Boston's best record with Rondo [2007-08] coincided with those teams posting the most three-point makes [Miami third in the NBA, Boston eighth] of Wade's and Rondo's tenures.)

But a look at the roster and its surplus of ball-handlers—Wade, Rondo, Butler, newcomer Michael Carter-Williams—and it adds up to a whole lot of dribbling but not a lot of shooting. And for all the talk of sacrifices to be made for superteams, consider this about Wade, Butler and Rondo: They ranked 23rd, 30th and 32nd, respectively, in the league last season in screen plays as the primary ball-handler—each with more than 400 such opportunities, according to B/R Insights.

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Simple math dictates that their impacts will be muted with the duplication of their skills and just one ball. At least Butler and Carter-Williams can defend at the other end. It's not at all clear Rondo and Wade can do that anymore.

For now, everyone is saying and doing the right things. Despite their prickly past as opponents, Rondo is already referring to Wade by the brotherly initial "D." Both new alpha males have said the Bulls are Butler's team. And Hoiberg has been working early and often with both Rondo and Wade on their much-maligned, but possibly improving, three-point strokes. (Rondo hit 36.5 percent from three last season, and after making just seven threes in the regular season, Wade made seven consecutive threes in the 2016 playoffs—and has hit six this preseason.)

But how much Butler, Wade and Rondo make each other and that potentially poor supporting cast better on the court, however, is the pickle.

It's a stretch for the Bulls to think they can just change their mind from a pace-and-space style to a ball-dominant overlap…or switch from rebuilding to contending.

Whether a Midwestern basketball team, a New England university or a South Beach club, an organization confused about its philosophy and direction makes it impossible for great teamwork and execution suddenly to arise.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @KevinDing.