Bulls still a long way from looking good with Boylen's offense
In 14 games under head coach Jim Boylen, the Bulls have scored more than 100 points just three times.
In the 1990s, this would have been normal. In today's NBA, it's quite unusual.
Under Boylen, the Bulls are averaging 94.1 points per game, which ranks last in the league, needless to say. Meanwhile, 19 of the 30 NBA teams have averaged at least 110 points over the same time frame.
We already know Boylen wanted to focus on defense first, and that part has improved. The offense has not shown much progress, however. Wednesday's 112-84 home loss to Orlando was another example of bad.
“I can't imagine what it looked like on TV. It felt even worse in the game,” Zach LaVine said after the contest. “I can't figure that out. We have to try to figure that out on our own, but we haven't done that yet.”
LaVine was talking about the entire putrid performance, not just the offense. But scoring more points is certainly on the wish list.
Thursday at the Advocate Center, Boylen was asked how much difference there is in the offense he's running, compared to former coach Fred Hoiberg, who was let go on Dec. 3.
“Yeah, there's different emphases on things,” Boylen said. “We shoot less 3s, I think everybody sees that. We're trying to get into the paint more. I think we won the paint points last night by a couple (true, 50-48).
“But we're trying to get middle and get to the paint and drive the ball and play a little more inside out. I think coach Hoiberg wanted to shoot more 3s, which is the trend in the league right now and we've got a different approach.”
In 24 games under Hoiberg, the Bulls averaged 103.4 points per game, which ranked 28th in the league; and attempted 29.3 shots from 3-point range, which ranked 22nd. Since Boylen took over, the Bulls have launched 22.9 attempts from 3-point range.
Looking at the offense against Orlando, the Bulls took a simple approach. Most possessions featured either a post-up, a play where a guy started in the corner, ran through a double screen and caught the ball at the top of the key with a chance to turn the corner; or they just spread everyone out and someone drove to the basket. Most, but not all, of the 3-point shots came from an inside-out pass.
They also didn't always post up a big man. On the first possession of the game, the Bulls posted point guard Kris Dunn against the smaller D.J. Augustin. Dunn missed a fadeaway in the lane.
“I don't know if we're bucking the trend, we're just trying to play at what I think we can play right now, and how we can play right now to help us set the foundation for not only this year but next year too,” Boylen said. “Hit the paint, play inside-out, the 3s will come, but let's start it close to the rim first.”
Some NBA coaches run more complex offensive plays or use more variety. But the teams with talent usually don't need anything complicated. Guys who can hit shots and drive past defenders will make any coach look smart.
The Bulls have been taking some wild drives lately, which is tough against a shot-blocking team like the Magic. They could probably use a little more drive-and-dish instead of drive and hope a shot-blocker doesn't get in the way.
It's also true the Bulls don't have effective post-up scorers beyond Robin Lopez on a good day. Rookie Wendell Carter Jr. is better at a faceup game. Lopez hasn't scored at all in the past two games and went 3-for-13 from the field last week against Minnesota.
So it's true the offense is a work in progress. There were several times Wednesday when the shot clock ran down mostly because the Bulls were confused about what to do and took a while to start running any sort of play.
“Absolutely, it's still a process,” Boylen said. “That's on me and that's why we practiced today. That's why we have contact practices. That's why we have live shootarounds. We're just trying to get a feel of what we're doing.”