Chicago Bulls Embracing Change of Pace with Fred Hoiberg
CHICAGO — You will never see Fred Hoiberg angry.
That's been the primary adjustment for Chicago Bulls fans and especially for their players. For five years, Tom Thibodeau was a staple on the sidelines in Chicago, and he was a loud presence. He would shout himself hoarse at officials by the second quarter and get technical fouls in the fourth quarter arguing calls when the Bulls were up by double digits.
After a loss as embarrassing as the 130-105 drubbing the Bulls took at the hands of the Hornets in Charlotte on Tuesday, the postgame reaction wouldn't have been pretty. But Hoiberg has been as calm and unflappable as ever, living up to his "Mayor" nickname while installing a new, uptempo offensive system with a roster used to playing slower, focusing on defense above all else.
It's been a bit of a culture shock for the players, going from one extreme end of the spectrum to the other.
"They're two totally different people," Derrick Rose said during training camp. "Fred is a more laid-back guy. Thibs is a little more direct. That's the only thing I can get from it. I haven't seen Fred really get upset about anything. I've seen his assistants get more upset about certain things than him."
It's not better or worse, it's just different. The vibe in the locker room before and after games is looser. And that starts with Hoiberg, who couldn't be more different, in demeanor or coaching style, from his predecessor.
Hoiberg's offense is all about making reads and passing up a good shot to get a better shot. In other words, it's very much in step with the direction the NBA has been trending for the past several years, where spacing and ball movement propelled the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors to championships. Hoiberg is stressing the importance of getting into sets earlier in the shot clock and putting defenses on their heels. And he hardly ever calls plays.
"Not very often," Hoiberg said. "There's certain times as we're coming down the floor we'll call something if there's a player at a certain spot as we're flowing into it. A lot of times, I'll give two or three things we're trying to do and based on a handoff to the side or a handoff to the trail or a swing or throw-ahead, that will determine the action we get into."
For the most part, it's up to the players to decide what they do on any given play, and that suits them just fine.
"This offense is huge for us, especially me and Jimmy [Butler]," Rose said. "When we catch the ball, we are going downhill. We're not catching the ball with teams knowing exactly what we're doing. It's a new wrinkle to us. Coach doesn't call any plays. It's more a read-type offense."
"It's a lot of motion," Pau Gasol added. "It's very dynamic. There's a lot of pace. But at the same time, we're trying to get to the position where our best players can deliver and be effective, so I think the coaching staff is aware of that and emphasizes certain plays and motions where we can get the ball and be a threat and be effective. But at the same time, it's more freedom, more reads. It should be effective. It'll be hard to guard."
Besides the pace, the biggest on-court difference that has arisen from the regime change is more rope. The younger players, like Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic, won't get yanked from a game for blowing one defensive rotation or passing up one open shot.
They're allowed to play through mistakes, to feel their way through a game, just as Hoiberg himself is in his first season away from Iowa State as a pro coach, which has presented its own challenges as he inherits a team that's supposed to be a title contender.
"I think the biggest thing is having a group of guys who buy into what you're trying to do," Hoiberg said. "I think we have that. We've got a great veteran group of players. I don't think you can compare situations. A lot of guys coming from college go to rebuilding situations that are extremely tough. I feel very fortunate to be in this position with a team we feel can be very competitive if we do everything right."
That veteran group has made things easier for Hoiberg, but there have been a lot of moving parts. He's had to teach a new offense, manage egos (such as selling former Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah on a bench role) and earn the trust of a locker room that has been used to one voice for five years.
"It's kind of difficult because we've been around [Thibodeau] for a long time," Taj Gibson said. "It's a whole different system, a whole different scheme. We're veterans now, we're not young bucks anymore. So it's easy for us to understand what he wants. We always ask questions and he was always responsive. And he played in the NBA, so it makes it that much easier for us to communicate with him."
Hoiberg's first year as an NBA coach is going to have some growing pains. The first of those came with the Charlotte blowout, and it won't be the last. But the early returns on his impact in the locker room and on the court are positive, a welcome change of pace for a team that so desperately needed one.
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