Chicago Bulls: Seven Habits of a Highly Successful Team
They aren't what they thought they were. In fact they've exceeded expectations to such a level it's become passe to say, "If I'd told you at the beginning of the season..." The Bulls haven't just exceeded preseason expectations, they've made them look silly.
By winning their 60th game the Bulls achieved something with historic significance. In the history of the NBA, 65 teams have had 60 win seasons. Of those 65 teams, only three had fewer wins than last year's Bulls team, which had 41. In all, only 11 of the 65 teams had fewer than 50 wins the season before.
By beating the Magic yesterday the Bulls moved into a tie for fourth biggest improvement by a team with a winning record. With one more wins they will be third. If they win their last two they will tie for the second.
In other words, the Bulls improvement isn't just good, it's historically good. So what is it that vaulted the Bulls so quickly up the echelon of the basketball ladder? It wasn't signing LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, that's for sure.
The Bulls success is the result of a collection of things far less flamboyant and far more blue collar. They are a team with good habits.
Steven Covey sold seven million copies of his book, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." I was considering that many of these habits are similar to the characteristics that have helped the Bulls to be so effective so fast. The following slides show how.
MOST IMPROVEMENT BY TEAMS WITH WINNING RECORDS THE PRIOR SEASON
| Team | Year | Improved From | Improved To | Improved Total |
| Chicago Bulls | 1996 | 47 | 72 | 25 |
| Los Angeles Lakers | 1972 | 48 | 69 | 21 |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 2009 | 45 | 66 | 21 |
| Miami Heat | 1997 | 42 | 61 | 19 |
| Chicago Bulls | 2011 | 41 | 60 | 19* |
*Season still being played
Habit 1: Be Proactive
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Take initiative by realizing that the decisions you make in the preseason are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in the regular season and postseason.
There's a reason they started with a coach. Before they signed any free-agents they signed Tom Thibodeau. They developed a plan and they signed players to fit in their plan.
There's a misconception about the Bulls that they settled for Carlos Boozer after striking out on Amare Stoudemire. The thing is, Stoudemire said that the Bulls were his first choice and John Paxson said (before free agency officially started) that Carlos Boozer was their first choice.
Sure, they would have taken Chris Bosh if he came in a package deal with Dwyane Wade, but he wasn't what they were really looking for. They were looking for a power forward that was hard to push around, who could score with his back to the basket, and could finish with either hand. Carlos Boozer was the best for that so he was their first choice.
They signed Kyle Korver to score from the three. They signed Ronnie Brewer to play defense.
They had a plan and they followed up on that plan. When things didn't work out with JJ Reddick, they adapted the plan. So much of the success of this team goes back to the decision making by the front office in the beginning of the year.
Pat Reilly almost won Executive of the Year before the season started, but if we're awarding the award based on the effect and not the notoriety of the decisions made, the award should go to Gar Forman, not Pat Reilly. Forman and Paxson are a huge part of the reason this team is so good.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
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Self-discover and clarify your deeply important team values and postseason goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various players and playoff roles.
It's funny when people talk about "playoff basketball" as though the Bulls are some kind of gimmick team whose regular season success isn't the type of success to transpire in the postseason.
In truth it's a team built for the playoffs. They have the best defense in the NBA. In terms of differential, they are the best rebounding team in the NBA. They've placed their values in the right places, where postseason series are determined.
Offensively they have a playmaker in Derrick Roe, a sniper in Kyle Korver, and a low post scorer in Carlos Boozer. Most importantly they have the defensive stoppers in Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah. They are a complete team which has built their regular season success on precisely the type of basketball that succeeds in the postseason.
And before you get going on "they don't have a second scorer" keep in mind that there are two teams in the NBA with three players that average at least 17 points per game, the Chicago Bulls and the Miami heat. Or that the Bulls lineup with Korver in place of Bogans outscores either the Lakers lineup with Lamar Odom in place of Artest or the Celtics lineup with Glen Davis in at center.
Some say they don't have that second player who can put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. Realistically, neither do the Lakers really. Are Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown really that much better ball handlers than Luol Deng and CJ Watson? The truth is you don't need to have Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe in the backcourt to win an NBA Championship.
The Bulls have what they need to win it all. Can they improve? Show me a team that can't be. They are chasing down the NBA's best record in spite of a 9-8 start for a reason though.
The problem with some teams that have succeeded in the regular season only to get bounced is they were fancy highfalutin offenses with little to no regard for defense, or else they were gimmick defenses. This is the type of defense and the type of team that wins because they've placed value n the right places and they built the team with the postseason in mind.
The Bulls had the championship in sight all along and they've built for the haul, not short term, regular season success.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
3 of 7Planning, prioritizing, and executing your season's tasks based on importance rather than urgency.
There are three things that Derrick Rose worked on this summer, learning to get contact when he drove the lane, his three point shooting, and defense. There's been dramatic improvement on all three.
In his now famous press conference quote Rose said, "Why can't I be MVP of the league?" and that's where the quote usually ends. The rest is important. "Why? Why? I think I work hard. I think I dedicate myself to the game and sacrifice myself to a lot of things at a young age."
More recently he was asked how he felt about being discussed as the favorite to win the award and said in response, "I don't care about my numbers...if I get it for winning, it's an honor."
What gets lost in a lot of the numbers talk about the MVP talk is that the full value of a player isn't what happens on the court, and isn't measured in production. Leadership is the amorphous indefinable quality. It can't be measured, weighed or quantified but it can't be ignored either.
I review my less than extensive knowledge of NBA history and I honestly cannot find in my limited knowledge a 22 year old player who has more effectively led his team. I don't mean led his team in scoring or rebounding or some other stat, I'm talking about really leading the team.
In one sense we can say that all the leaders lead, but where they lead them and who follows are more important. Rip Hamilton "led" his team too. That wasn't the kind of leadership teams want though.
Rose's leadership is in working hard, improving, not resting on his laurels, taking direction from his coach and just about any positive intangible that you can think of. It is amazing that players near a decade his senior follow him and genuinely admire and respect him.
People that have been around greatness like John Paxson and Scottie Pippen, players who played with the greatest ever talk about this intangible quality that Rose has that Jordan had. What makes Rose's leadership so impressive is that he doesn't try to lead. He just is Derrick Rose and he's so charismatic that players just follow him.
They follow him in being players that set their priorities right. The whole team puts in the work, takes direction from the coach, and do all those things. Rose has the priorities right and as a result the team has their priorities right.
He embraces the scolding from Thibodeau so the team embraces it. He gets just as discouraged by a "bad win" as he would by a loss, so the whole team does. He determines to keep getting better so the team does. He knows what's important so the team concentrates on what's important.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
4 of 7Genuinely striving for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your game.
Try and watch a Bulls game without seeing the extra pass. It seems to be a consistent theme of the team. If there were a team stat for the "unselfish plays" then the Bulls would lead the NBA in it.
As a team they recognize that the team goals are higher than individual goals. On this point the exemplary model is Luol Deng. He consistently does what the team needs him to do. It is intriguing that if you look at the overall stat line for Luol Deng his numbers are a tad down but the prevailing opinion is that this is by far Deng's best year as a pro.
Why is it that? Because he does everything the team needs him to do. He is the ultimate glue guy. It's my opinion that the NBA needs an award for the glue guy and if there were, Deng would be the run away winner. He does the little things, and when needed he does the big things.
But it's not just Deng, it's a team effect. Ronnie Brewer got paid starter money but has never once griped about coming off the bench and backing up an inferior player. Kurt Thomas came out of nowhere and plugged in to fit for an injured Joakim Noah.
In fact, if you stop to think, there hasn't been a single complaint about a single player or play or a anything by a single Bull. As a team, they collectively know that by the team succeeding they all succeed. They have bought entirely into the win-win concept, and that's why they win.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
5 of 7Using empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a player, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you.
If you don't listen very carefully while watching the Bulls you can hear Carlos Boozer yelling on defense. In fact, if you mute your TV and live within an 8-10 mile radius of the United Center you can hear Carlos Boozer yelling on defense. It's why it works.
The Chicago Bulls have the best defense in the NBA and the biggest reason is communication. The entire team is in constant communication with one another in addressing assignments and that turns into help defense and all that translates into the best defensive unit in the league.
The drill above is from a Celtics practice when Thibs was in Boston, but it's the same rudimentary principle he brings to Chicago. Practice communication. The Bulls don't just practice plays, they practice communicating. Because they practice it they are effective at it and it is a huge part of their success story.
Habit 6: Synergize
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Combining the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. How to yield the most prolific performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership. Everyone is a master of something and not everything. Positive potentials can be put together to achieve better results.
You almost don't even need to add to that. It virtually defines what the Bulls are as a team. At the beginning of the season people labeled the Chicago's offseason additions by what they'd "settled for," but as discussed earlier, it was a proactive plan.
That plan in action is synergy. Before the season started people would argue why they couldn't do better than a fourth seed, and then they'd list the players for the Bulls. Now in arguing against Rose as the MVP they list the players on the Bulls to show how good they are.
How did that happen? Synergy. The Bulls simply put are just greater than the sum of their parts. Because of all the aforementioned reasons they have become the best team in the NBA even though they aren't necessarily the best collection of players.
They go out to eat together. They text each other. They call one another. They really, genuinely like each other. The fruit of this is manifested on the court and that manifestation is synergy. It's why when people break down the player by player comparisons it looks like the Bulls shouldn't win, but when the game is played on the courts the Bulls do.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
7 of 7This is constant improvement of each player in order to be a better team and to sharpen skills in order to achieve better results.
The best part about the Bulls can be explained in why they are playing their starters and trying to win in spite of the fact they've sewn up the overall seed for the last two games. It's because they aren't about getting a seed, they are about getting better.
It's almost impossible to listen to a postgame interview from Thibodeau or any player without hearing more about what they did wrong than what they did right, even if they win. Even after 30 point blowouts and even after clutch come from behind heart stopping comebacks the team is more concerned about what they can do better than what they did well.
They recognize achievements and successes, but they don't rest on them. They strive to be better constantly. They want to be a team that succeeds in the postseason, not the regular season. They are constantly sharpening the saw.
Over their first 20 games they were 12-8.
Over their second 20 games they were 15-5, through the easiest stretch of their schedule.
Over their third 20 games they were 15-5 through the hardest stretch of their schedule.
Over their last 20 games they have gone 18-2.
The team has steadily improved through season because they are continually striving to improve and "sharpen the saw."
