Imrem: Chicago Bulls going through some tough transitions

Transitioning to a new head coach is a tough adjustment for an NBA team.

Transitioning at the same time from one team leader to another is doubly difficult.

No wonder the Chicago Bulls are immersed in high theater that they can only hope doesn't evolve into dark comedy.

For now, the situation has to be categorized as fluid, as in what in the world can happen next?

One day star player Jimmy Butler suggests that Fred Hoiberg must coach players harder … the next day the two meet privately for an hour … the next day each publicly indicates all is OK …

Finally Monday night, the Bulls actually played a basketball game instead of more silly games.

Maybe Hoiberg should step up. Maybe Butler should shut up. Maybe we all should just stay tuned.

It'll take awhile for all this to be sorted out.

Bulls vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman might not have realized that they created a complex chemistry after firing head coach Tom Thibodeau.

Hoiberg and Butler both are feeling their way around their new leadership roles, and the question is whether players such as Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson are inclined to follow them.

Will anyone take Hoiberg seriously if the reputed players coach starts to rant and rave like Thibodeau did?

These players spent five years being motivated by the demanding Thibodeau's demands, so taking some time to adapt to Hoiberg is normal.

Likewise, will anyone take Butler seriously right away as he prods his coaches and teammates to do what he expects of them?

For years, Butler was a role player first following Rose's lead and then Noah's.

It can't be smooth for older guys like Rose, Noah and Gibson to suddenly fall in behind Butler.

It's unlikely that Hoiberg or Butler commands attention, respect and fear just by walking into a Bulls meeting room.

Each has to earn it, Hoiberg as management-anointed coach and Butler as the self-anointed voice of the franchise.

Butler's mistake was declaring himself the Bulls' team leader.

Jonathan Toews didn't have to tell Blackhawks teammates he is their leader. Michael Jordan certainly didn't have to tell Bulls teammates he just walked into the room.

Butler believes he inherited the leadership role from Rose and Noah because he received a huge contract after becoming the Bulls' best player.

The Bulls would be better off if Butler resumed leading by on-court performance and off-court work ethic.

As for Hoiberg, Paxson and Forman inserted him into a tenuous set of circumstances.

A veteran NBA team like the Bulls required a veteran NBA coach to succeed the grizzled, grumpy Thibodeau, not one who a year ago was coaching at Iowa State.

Brad Stevens faced a similar challenge when he went from Butler University to coach the Boston Celtics. The difference between Stevens and Hoiberg was evident when the Celtics beat the Bulls a couple of weeks ago.

In his third NBA season, Stevens is coaching nearly an entirely remade roster of essentially his players.

Meanwhile, Hoiberg will be coaching a roster that essentially still is Thibodeau's until he wins over Bulls veterans or Forman and Paxson remake the Bulls.

Jimmy Butler and Fred Hoiberg should quietly go about their business and wait for the Bulls' transition and this season to run a natural course.

Otherwise the drama figures to continue being fluid in all kinds of directions.

mimrem@dailyherald.com