Category: Chicago Bulls Blog

Here’s the Chicago Sun-Times with interesting notes on the Bulls lineup:

Derrick Rose was hitting the pads on Tuesday, while Joakim Noah was hitting the bench.

And with the games actually counting in less than a week, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg obviously still had more questions about his roster than answers.

“Whatever is best for the team,’’ Noah said of his temporary demotion from the starting lineup to the bench prior to the 103-94 win over the Indiana Pacers. “It’s not about me right now. It’s about this team. We have to figure out ways to get better. And we will.’’

They might want to in a hurry, especially with the Bulls scheduled to tip off the NBA regular season Oct. 27 against LeBron James and the defending Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

Here’s ESPN Chicago reporting on a key member of the Bulls; a talented, well-bearded player who loves to pump-fake perhaps a tad too much:

As he made his way through an up-and-down rookie season a year ago, one piece of advice seemed to stick with Nikola Mirotic more than most. Tired of seeing the talented big man pump-fake his way out of shots, his teammates continued to pepper him with the same message.

“Niko, don’t think,” Mirotic said in April, recounting the advice. “Just shoot the ball because you’re wide open. Don’t pump fake.”

Six months later, Mirotic is trying to keep that same mentality in mind as he finds his way in coach Fred Hoiberg’s new system. When the topic of playing the 3 or playing the 4 came up recently, Mirotic responded with the most straightforward answer he could.

“The most important [thing] for me is to play,” he said.

In preseason win, Jimmy Butler scores 23 points in 25 minutes

Here’s the Bulls.com blog reporting on the squad as they learn to play under new head coach Fred Hoiberg:

No one called it Freddie-ball yet. But the Bulls Tuesday seemed to be having a ball in a 105-95 preseason opening win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

“You’ve got the freedom to shoot it when you are open,” said Jimmy Butler, who had 23 points in 25 minutes and was matched by Doug McDermott with 23 points, McDermott’s all after halftime. Nikola Mirotic added 18 points as the Bulls were 13 for 39 on threes, more threes attempted than in any game last season. The Bulls also attempted 99 shots, just short of last season’s most, which Tuesday was 22 more than Milwaukee’s as the Bulls dominated the backboards even with their perimeter emphasis and had 24 offensive rebounds.

The shots were quick and frequent as the Bulls scored 68 second half points to pull away even with Derrick Rose, Mike Dunleavy, Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson and Kirk Hinrich all out with injuries or rest.

“The second half I thought we got out and moved it,” said coach Fred Hoiberg. “I thought we rebounded the ball extremely well. Anytime we can get it off the glass and push it down the floor generally good things happen. We gave up too many transition points (22-14 Bucks fast break edge). Overall, first game especially, that second half I liked what I saw.”

Here’s CSN Chicago reporting on the Bulls offense this upcoming season:

[Pau] Gasol and fellow Spaniard Nikola Mirotic will be key pieces in the diversity of the Bulls offense this season, as the Bulls will employ the popular “four-out, one-in” offensive set many teams use to maximize floor spacing for drivers and open 3-pointers for shooters.

“We’ll run some four out and one in,” Hoiberg said. “We’ll run some four out and one in with two bigs on the floor, especially with Pau out there. He has proven he can make shots and he can also make plays. If you swing it to him and he doesn’t shoot it, you can get into a second side action.”

Mirotic, in theory and form, is a good 3-point shooter but the numbers say he’s a 31.6 percent shooter. Teams won’t be so quick to run out and defend a shooter with those numbers, no matter his skill set.

Apparently it’s been a point of emphasis in camp, as the Bulls hope to improve on their 35 percent efficiency last season, but they were middle in the pack in terms of attempts.

Joakim Noah is really good when healthy, in case you forgot

Here’s CSN Chicago reporting on a Bulls frontcourt that, with health, has potential to be a lot better than it’s been:

When the Bulls made their expected coaching change, one of the on-court changes many expected was to break up the tandem of Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol in the frontcourt.

In fact, when Fred Hoiberg had his availability on Media Day, the new Bulls coach anticipated it would be among the first three questions. The notion stemmed around Noah limping around last season and to a lesser extent, Gasol advancing in age. With Gasol being an All-Star player, the speculation was growing louder that Noah should come off the bench to balance out the floor.

But Noah feels Hoiberg should hold off on making a decision based off the tape from last year. The film doesn’t lie that the duo looked uneven last season, despite the gaudy record posted by the starting five for the few games they played together (16-5).

“I think we should give it an honest evaluation while I’m healthy,” Noah said. “Last year, I wasn’t healthy. Let’s see how it goes and then coaches can make a decision from there.”