Butler meets with Hoiberg but doesn't regret comments

Jimmy Butler didn't waste any time addressing his postgame comments from Saturday, when he said the Bulls need to be coached harder at times by Fred Hoiberg.

At the end of Monday's shootaround, Butler walked across the gym at the Advocate Center to face reporters.

"Do I regret it? No." Butler said. "(I was) a little frustrated after a loss, yeah, but then again, I put a lot of it on myself now because I've got to lead better, can't allow stuff to happen. Yeah, we lost one I didn't want to lose at home against Detroit and the way that we lost against New York. You've got raw emotion right then and there."

Butler said he met with Hoiberg for about an hour on Sunday, then addressed his teammates on Monday.

"Yeah, you can't hide the elephant in the room," Butler said. "I think everybody knew what was going on today when we talked in the building. So it was taken care of and it was good that it happened.

"Tell you the truth, I had more things to say to people individually. Fred did majority of talking when we were in the film room earlier. But I think when I walked in this building, everybody knew what was going on. I explained my opinion and what I'm going to do to change things here. Everybody accepted what I had to say."

Butler had said during training camp that he planned to be more of a leader this season. In his first four seasons in the league, Butler went from the 30th pick of the draft to an all-star and team's leading scorer. He admitted Monday his leadership skills remain a work in progress.

"I've never been in this position before in my life," he said. "Not high school, not junior college and not here. So I'm learning. It's different, a lot goes into this, and there's good and bad."

Hoiberg heeds advice:

First-year coach Fred Hoiberg took Butler's criticism in stride.

"I had a great talk with Jimmy (Sunday)," Hoiberg said. "We met for over an hour in my office and talked a lot of things out and I think came out in a better place. Sometimes, in a situation like what happened, you can become a better team and a better leader."

With a 15-10 record, the Bulls are only a game behind last year's pace, but the team hasn't taken to Hoiberg's desire to play a higher-scoring, fast-paced style.

"Are there some things I can do better? Sure," Hoiberg said. "Are there some things that all of us can do better? Absolutely. Are there some things I need to demand probably a little bit more? Sure. But it's something where I thought we made a lot of progress as a team. It's getting back to those things we demanded leading into that win streak.

"It absolutely can turn into a positive. That's all we can do moving forward. The situation happened. Now we have to get better because of it. I think the last couple days have been a step in that direction."

Butler backs coach:

Even though he had some suggestions for his coach, Jimmy Butler insisted he has Fred Hoiberg's back.

"I have to be. Because he signed here for five years, I signed here for five years," Butler said. "We're going to be here, so I think we have to make it work. We have to make it work within this team. And I know that we will.

"He's a heck of a coach, he's doing what's right now by everybody. And it's a learning curve for everybody. We're only, what, 25 games in? So we'll be all right."