For some reason, I thought the Chicago Bulls would take a step back this season. Not a big one, but drop one or two Playoff seeds. I thought with Rose and Noah taking a back seat there would be a minor regression, adding onto the new coach which can sometimes disrupt the teams chemistry.
I had my reasons, but with Jimmy Butler taking lead it seems the Bulls will be alright and will definitely be in the Playoff hunt come April/May. But it hasn’t been smooth sailing, not by a long shot. Butler has been very vocal in is criticism of the teams’ work ethic and in a recent Q&A with ESPN’s Scoop Jackson, Butler talks about the difference between former head coach Tom Thibodeau and current coach Fred Hoiberg.
Scoop: At the same time, I’ve heard you make comments that you all aren’t doing what you all are supposed to do or what you all are capable of doing. And it seems like you all are the same team that you were last year. So are the frustrating moments different than they were last year?
Butler: Definitely. The frustrating moments last year was kinda like, Thibs just being a hard-nosed guy. He’s gonna yell, he’s gonna say some curse words, he’s going to let you know. With right here, [Hoiberg] is going to be like, “Hey, guys, you gotta do this, you gotta do that,” and then that’s the end of it.
It’s two totally different coaching styles. Some works for some guys, some works for others. Some guys on this roster can’t take getting yelled at, some guys on this roster getting yelled at gets them going, you know what I mean? And there’s nothing wrong with that. But at the end of the day, we as players know what we are capable of and what we have to do. We’re all grown men, and we’ve been playing this game for so long a coach shouldn’t have to tell us, “Hey, this is what you have to do to win this game.”
Even though Thibs is gone, you can tell that he’s really engraved ‘Toughness’ and ‘Resilience’ into this team. There may be problems but once the tip-off is up, that all goes and they’re in game mode, trying to get the W. That’s a great trait to have. You could call it a champion trait?
