Bulls' Problems Run Deeper Than Injuries to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah
CHICAGO — The Bulls have their work cut out for them.
They lost Saturday to the Boston Celtics 106-101, ending a four-game winning streak and finishing their first four-games-in-five-nights stretch on a low note. The usual culprits of fatigue and injury were both in play, but the night betrayed some lingering problems the Bulls are going to have to solve if they hope to live up to the expectations of title contention.
Chicago was once again without star point guard Derrick Rose, who sat out his fourth game of the season with sprains in both ankles. The team has been without a full-strength Joakim Noah all year; the reigning Defensive Player of the Year had knee surgery over the summer and has been on a minutes limit. When he’s played, he has mostly been limping up and down the court as a shell of himself.
But the health concerns of the Bulls' two best players aren’t the cause of their problems. They may be 5-2, tied for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and fifth-best mark in the NBA, but rebounding has emerged as an early concern (they’ve been out-rebounded in each of their last six games), and their defense hasn’t been what we’ve come to expect from a Tom Thibodeau-coached team.
"We have to do something to change it," Thibodeau said of the team’s rebounding woes. "It’s happening game after game. In order to do something special, you have to be a great rebounding team. That is something we have to correct."
As of Saturday night, the Bulls ranked 23rd in the NBA in rebounding rate, grabbing just 47.9 percent of all available rebounds, per NBA.com. They led the league in rebounding rate in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and they finished in the top 10 in each of the following two seasons.
"I wish I could tell you why it’s happening, but I can’t," said power forward Taj Gibson. "We have to fix it, play harder and look at film."
Noah’s minutes restriction doesn’t help matters, but that’s not what’s to blame. The Bulls’ rebounding rate when he’s on the floor (47.6 percent) is almost identical to their rebounding rate when he sits (48.1 percent), per NBA.com.
"Rebounding oftentimes is similar to shooting in the sense that a guy can get a rhythm on it," Thibodeau said Tuesday. "The more you do it, the more you get. Right now there are a few things we want to focus in on—the contact, the fight and then rebounding with two hands. We’re getting to it, but we’re not securing it, so that’s something we have to be better with."
Rose’s health isn’t the issue here. The Bulls were always going to be taking it slowly with him. That he’s missing games to be on the safe side doesn’t come as a surprise to anybody. The offseason additions of Pau Gasol and Aaron Brooks were meant to ensure that they’d have other weapons when Rose sat out, and they’ve succeeded at that goal.
It’s the other stuff—defense and rebounding—that’s been the problem.
In a lot of ways, these Bulls are the opposite of the Thibodeau teams we’ve come to know. They’ve had a top-five defense in each of the past four years and succeeded by playing an ugly brand of basketball without a lot of scoring.
The 2014-15 Bulls, even with Rose missing four of their seven games, have the third-best offense in the league, scoring 108.6 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. But their defense is decidedly middle-of-the-pack. They’re allowing 102.6 points per 100 possessions, the 16th-ranked unit in the NBA.
"We’ve got to challenge shots better," said Thibodeau. "It wasn’t any one aspect. Our ball pressure wasn’t great, our defensive transition wasn’t great, our rebounding wasn’t great. There’s a lot that we can correct."
The Bulls have been able to mask their problems so far with a soft schedule that has led to a 5-2 record. Even Saturday’s loss to the Celtics can be chalked up in part to it being their fourth game in five nights.
But they’ve been far from the powerhouse that other teams with similar records have been, mostly because their defense has paled next to the 5-0 Golden State Warriors (allowing 89.4 points per 100 possessions, via NBA.com), 6-1 Houston Rockets (92.5) and 6-1 Memphis Grizzlies (92.6).
"The bright spot is, it’s not June or May or April right now," Gibson said. "Right now is just the start of it. We’ve still got a lot of time to correct it."
Yes, it’s early. But there is no end date for these problems. Even when Rose plays, he’ll be taking nights off, and the questions about his health won’t dissipate until he makes it through an entire playoff series. Noah is still going to be banged up. This is the template Thibodeau is working with for the foreseeable future.
Even with their injuries, the Bulls have the ability to be great. They just aren’t there yet.
Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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