Chicago Bulls set out to fix struggling offense as schedule turns brutal
The Chicago Bulls took a deep dive into the fundamentals at Tuesday's practice.
While coach Fred Hoiberg spoke to reporters at the Advocate Center, players and coaches could be heard counting out the number of passes thrown as the team worked through some dummy offense on the other side of the gym.
"Defensively, we're getting to the point now where we're giving ourselves a chance, even when the offense has not performed well these last five or six games," Hoiberg said. "We need to catch that up. We're going to work a lot on execution today, on thrust, on movement and hopefully improve in that area moving forward."
Meanwhile, the Bulls will have a good handle soon on the race for the top spots in the Eastern Conference. Over the next four days, they'll play Boston, Milwaukee and Toronto, possibly the three best teams in the East.
The Bulls will remain short-handed for the near future. The best chance at getting one of their injured players back is probably Lauri Markkanen in about two weeks, if all goes well.
"That's the league. I think we're all aware of that," center Robin Lopez said Tuesday. "You play whoever comes up on the schedule with whoever you've got on the roster. No one is going to feel sorry for you."
The Bulls might have picked the wrong week to improve the offense. As of Tuesday morning, the Bucks ranked second in the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage, the Celtics are fifth and Raptors seventh. The Bulls actually are No. 8 in that category, which is encouraging.
But the offense is feeling the effects of being low on firepower. Teams are ganging up to stop Zach LaVine and his offensive efficiency has plummeted in the process.
LaVine still ranks among the NBA leaders at 27.1 points per game, but he has shot below 35 percent from the field in four of the last six contests. He talked about being the focus of opposing defenses following Monday's 103-98 loss to Dallas.
"I did a good job the first half reading the plays, 4 or 5 assists off the bat," LaVine said. "But then I tried to force it a couple of times, so they started blitzing higher. I have to make a better or quicker decision. I have to do a better job taking care of the ball.
"It's a blitz every time. I'm not worried about the first defender; it's the second one I'm trying to read. I'm still attacking, but I missed some real easy shots. We only lost by a small amount. That's the game right there; I have to do my job."
This seems like a natural progression. LaVine has never been a team's go-to scorer before this season, and he has done a pretty good job under tough circumstances. But the job figures to get even more difficult until the Bulls get some players back.
"We do have a tendency when the shot isn't falling to try to be heroes," Justin Holiday said after Monday's game. "Everyone wants to try to be the one to get it back going for us, which ends up not having the ball move or playing iso ball or one-pass-and-shot-type things, which obviously we need to get out of."
The first step Tuesday was counting out at least six passes before a shot went up. Counting the days until the team gets healthy isn't going to help.
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Bulls game day
Bulls vs. Boston Celtics at TD Garden, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Outlook: The Celtics (7-6) just finished a 1-4 road trip with the only victory coming in Phoenix. Boston has been healthy, but seems to be struggling to put all the talented pieces together. PG Kyrie Irving is the top scorer at 21.0 ppg, followed by PF Jayson Tatum (16.1) and reserve forward Marcus Morris (14.8). The Celtics rank 28th in field-goal percentage, with Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart all shooting below 40 percent. The Bulls have dropped six in a row at Boston.
Next: Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum on Friday, 8:30 p.m.
- Mike McGraw