Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald got a brief lowdown of new Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau’s offensive gameplan for the upcoming season:
“We’re going to start with our defense and our rebounding. I believe if you do those things well, it puts you into the open floor. You obviously want to play with pace. I think you try to get as many easy baskets as possible.
“The first thing we’re looking for is layups and dunks. The second thing would be deep post ups and the third thing would be open jump shots. We want to play with a quick pace, we want to get the ball in the paint, play inside-out and we want to play unselfishly.”
My favorite part of the description? Open jump shots came last. And I didn’t see any mention of the Bulls’ favorite option from the past few seasons: The contested, long-range, two-point jumper. Hopefully, that shot is an endangered species in Chicago.
This brief post, Matt, is extremely important and provides deep insight. I say that because there is a strong tendency on the part of stat-obssessed fans to act as if players are simply parts of a machine, and that if you add up their PERS (or whichever metric you like), you’ll have a somewhat accurate reflection of the quality of any given team.
But team sports, and I’d say basketball in particular, are more complicated than that. Thibodeau’s simple outline above is fraught with meaning that goes far beyond numbers. If the Bulls do live up to their outstanding defensive and rebounding potential, then we are likely to see a very different offense. It’s an offense that should not only play to the strengths of the current Bulls roster, but is also likely to help create better (i.e. more open) outside shots than would a slower tempo.
Exciting stuff!
Gee, this sounds like the Bulls offense from the 90’s, defense & rebounding yeilding fast break points and open 3’s.
Wow, that is a refreshing change from: “Run, Run, Run FASTER!”
Agreed, this is great to hear. I’m comforted more and more I hear the players/coach talk and I am about as excited for an NBA season as I have been since entering 1997.
Plan sounds good the tougher part is executing it
nice plan. with rose and watson running the point. we have good slashers in brewer and deng. 3 point threats in bogans, korver and hopefully gibson (he has been working on his 3 this summer to try and be a stretch 4), post players in boozer, noah, gibson, thomas and hopefully asik finds his offensive game. we look real dangerous. but good tough defense means a better offense. lets do it this year baby!
LET THE NBA CLICHES BEGIN!
Gibson added the three 2 his repotoire? i love it when players use the off-season to improve their game. wish the season would start already