The Chicago Bulls have been more offensive minded this season. It’s not a surprise. With the addition of Pau Gasol, the offensive explosion that Jimmy Butler has had this season and of course Derrick Rose. It’s clear that despite Joakim Noah and Tom Thibodeau who have made careers of being defensive minds. Offense was the focal point of the Chicago Bulls’ season.
But maybe it was wrong of them to do that. Maybe their problems this season has stemmed from their lack of focus on the defensive end? Jimmy Butler thinks that may be the reason why the Bulls have been a roller-coaster this season as he talks to ProBasketballTalk about their identity.
“I think it’s more about us being able to score the ball so well now that we think we can outscore opponents,” Butler told ProBasketballTalk. “If we want to win a championship like we say we want to, we’re going to have to start guarding and stop trying to outscore people and just stop them from scoring as a whole.”
Thibodeau is not yelling about defense in practice. Well, any more than normal.
“He don’t have to talk about it, we know,” Butler said. “We’re not a team that’s normally giving up 100 points, let alone 110. We know that we have to guard, play better defense, so Thibs doesn’t have to tell us, we don’t have to tell each other, because we already know.”
“Thibs doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Butler told PBT. “I think injuries, they just happen. I wasn’t overtired when I ran into the screen; it’s just basketball. It really does happen. It has nothing to do with Thibs. Thibs is good at what he does and he’s always putting us in a great position to win games, so kudos to him. He’s a great coach.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Tom Thibodeau is NOT the problem. If you think that you need to check yourself. Injuries have been a big problem for the Bulls. The inconsistent health of the team has affected the teams chemistry and you can see that game by game.
Defense made them a threat in the years DRose was out. And they have to find that identity once again if they want to stop the bleeding and make this years Playoffs a special one.
