All is not well in Chicago. Despite snapping their 4-game losing streak with a win over the Pacers last night, the Bulls are still 2 games out of playoff contention. There have been a lot of question marks surrounding first-year head coach Fred Hoiberg. Joakim Noah was reportedly unhappy with him, and Jimmy Butler has publicly made comments about his lack of discipline.
Now, ESPN’s Chris Broussard reports that several Bulls players don’t trust their head coach(transcribed by Dan Feidman of NBC):
Some of them have said it publicly – Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson to a certain degree. A lot of them don’t believe in Fred Hoiberg right now. It’s just as simple as that.
Hoiberg coached Iowa State prior to this season. Coaches who transition from college basketball to the pros have a history of struggling to adapt, and their efforts have been largely unsuccessful, with some exceptions(looking at you, Brad Stevens).
The Bulls’ odds of making the playoffs aren’t great. If they fail to make the postseason, that will be their first miss in 7 seasons; that’s the third longest active streak in the league, behind San Antonio(19) and Atlanta(9). Atlanta and San Antonio’s streaks both include this season, as they’ve both clinched playoff berths.
