Chicago Bulls unveil new court design for upcoming season

If head coach Fred Hoiberg doesn’t hit the ground and the Bulls end up winning 46 games and get bounced in the first round, what then?

The Chicago Bulls have one of those timeless looks National Basketball Association teams aim to possess.

The lines on the court have been changed to all black.

There are plenty of similarities. The Chicago Bulls star added, “I have a feeling of complete satisfaction, happiness and pride”. Thibodeau didn’t trust McDermott at all a year ago and Doug saw little to no playing time during the season. Sources say that didn’t sit well with management, as the team drafted McDermott to play right away because of his ability to shoot, something the Bulls needed. In an era where more and more studies are showing players perform better and their injury risk goes down with increased rest, Thibodeau coached from an old-school “if they’re healthy they can play” mentality.

Jimmy Butler spoke to ESPN Chicago about his upcoming season and his contract and he was asked about chemistry issues between Derrick Rose and himself. Rose was great in the 2015 playoffs after returning from his third knee operation and showed that explosion and speed that we all love to see.

Ultimately, much of the Bulls’ failure or success will rest on whether they buy what Hoiberg is selling. Anticipate a lot more fresh legs when March and April come around, when the games count the most. Noah, Gasol, Taj Gibson, Kirk Heinrich, and Mike Dunleavy are all 30 or older, and while Rose is 27 there is some heavy mileage on those legs. Hoiberg will most likely be bringing Noah off the bench this year but expect Noah to be in the game during crunch time in the 4th quarter for his defense and energy. It’s basically engraved in each player’s mind now. Kerr had a team primed to improve, to grow, if the right coach came along. Gasol, Noah and Gibson are all in their 30’s. In Chicago, his primary job will be to put Rose in a position that benefits both the player and the team. Gasol and Noah can set a double-drag for Rose, with Noah rolling to the rim and Gasol popping out for a jumper, and you can imagine how that is hard to defend if Rose is his old self. Sure, Noah’s bum left knee didn’t help, but the growing speculation is that Nikola Mirotic or Taj Gibson might be a better running mate with Gasol in the starting lineup.

Chicago is still one of the premier defensive teams in the National Basketball Association, though it will be interesting to see if and how Hoiberg’s reputation as an offensive guy will change that.

The buzzword that consistently pops up among players or coaches when the topic of Hoiberg’s system comes up is “freedom”. This team will only go as far as they are able to carry them as the league continues to become more and more perimeter player-driven. Still, Gasol’s fit is something to watch. Hoiberg may tweak the system, but the Bulls defense should still be top 10. I was a big Tom Thibodeau fan, but I like Hoiberg a lot as well. While he’s not flashy at all, it is without question a good thing that the Bulls were able to re-sign him for a bargain-basement price of $14.4 million over three years this past summer. Maybe, Thibs is a good coach and Hoiberg is unproven; we’ll have to wait and see. They have struggled to regain their former glory, but have fallen short of overcoming the new king. Hoiberg hired Jim Boylen, an assistant coach from the San Antonio Spurs to work on his staff, so hopefully the Bulls will manage their players minutes as efficiently as the Spurs staff has done for years.

But that answer doesn’t automatically lead to contention for a title.

However we felt about the Bulls at the end of the last season is more or less how we feel about the Bulls now because they are nearly the exact same team that was ousted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of last spring’s playoffs.