Chicago Bulls Should Look at 2016 NBA Playoffs for Retooling Insights
As expected, the best and most efficient offense always wins, as proven by the top four remaining teams in the 2016 NBA Playoffs. GarPax and Fred Hoiberg may look carefully at the winning teams for insights how to replicate their success for retooling the Chicago Bulls next season.
The Bulls have their work cut out for them this summer. This summer, they have to retool the team for better defense, as well as bringing the development of their newer offense into an equally competitive playoff level threat.
Let’s take a good look at the success of the semi-finalists for the 2016 season and find clues how the Bulls can upgrade for next year.
Golden State Warriors: Deepest Bench
For most teams, losing your best scorer to even the most mundane of injuries may cost you a playoff series. The Bulls should know that. Derrick Rose tearing his ACL cost the Bulls a series against Philadelphia in the 2012 playoffs.
Fast forward to 2016, and Stephen Curry sprains his knee and sits out against the Houston Rockets, yet his team blows out MVP candidate James Harden in five games. Still sitting Curry, the Warriors played well enough to blow out the Blazers too, which set up the Western Conference final with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Warriors have a deep bench that allows them to still play competitive against high-scoring teams. The Dubs are 10-deep (with utility defensive players inserted) and they breezed into the matchup with OKC like the 73-win, record-breaking team they are.
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Bulls forward Doug McDermott paid Golden State a compliment for their play style in a recent interview:
“Ball movement kills. It’s another level. They just have so many pieces. It’s not just Curry. Just ball movement, their chemistry, their cohesiveness, it just gives them that much more of an advantage over everyone else. I think that’s what everyone is trying to get to, but you have to have the right personnel.”
For the Bulls to find future success, they have to become as deep (or relatively close to what GSW is) on offense and have several defensive specialists who can score and rebound; something they lacked last season.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Height Makes Might
Who says traditionally-built teams with big centers cannot compete in the competitive small-ball NBA of today? Both the Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs had amazing games in their Western Conference Semifinal series (won by OKC in six).
It was a war of attrition, where the first team to miss too many baskets got clobbered.
Enes Kanter and Steven Adams played key roles in defeating the Spurs at their own game: methodical offense and hard-nosed defense. Kanter grabbed plenty of rebounds as a garbage man in the paint, while sniping from three-point range at just the right moments to allow his team to pull away.
Most possessions of the Thunder in the last three games where they beat the Spurs can be attributed to his monster rebounding. Adams was crucial as a pick-and-roll pass option roaming the paint and also grabbing crucial rebounds.
Both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook learned their lesson from a past appearance in the NBA Finals and their bad loss in Game 1 of that series. They orchestrated the offense, avoided bad shots and allowed the Thunder to actually match the Spurs’ own vaunted defense.
This is one thing Fred Hoiberg should be very astute at. Don’t shoot the ball if you think it’s a good shot. Find the best scoring option, but don’t hesistate when you get a good look.
Having a big, athletic center who can shoot the three and a workman-bruiser power forward allowed the Thunder to grind it out with the Spurs and expose their own weaknesses to steal scoring opportunities. Against a team with superstars and depth, even a veteran championship team cannot compete using aging players who underwhelm when needed to score or defend.
More bulls: Can the Bulls afford to let Joakim Noah walk?
The Bulls should be wary of keeping players who have lost their edge from the grind over the years like Taj Gibson. Guys like Cristiano Felicio, Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic must have their development brought along next season.
Getting rid of Pau Gasol will allow the Bulls to draft any of several promising defensive specialists who can evolve into the next Steven Adams. Texas center Prince Ibeh is my personal bet for this role and the Bulls can grab him under the radar if they can get an early second-round flyer or trade for a low first-rounder.
Cleveland Cavaliers: The Big 3 Formula
Yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers had their bad games in the regular season and LeBron James may have even been planning to jump ship with his eccentric Twitter post messages.
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But, come playoff time, the team clicked on the back of the Boston Celtics formula that haunted James early in his career: Three legit, healthy All-Stars in James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, surrounded by athletic role players who play their roles well on a nightly basis.
The Cavs are an offensive juggernaut few teams can match up with in their own conference. If you can’t guard Irving or Love doing their thing, or at least match their combined offense, the Cavs will bury you.
The Bulls beat the Cavs three times this season in their regular season matchup. In spite of the complaints of fans, the team has a sleeper offense off the bench in Justin Holiday, Cristiano Felicio, and Bobby Portis.
Over the summer, the Bulls front office should trick out the roster into an efficient scoring team that plays with good pace and can keep up with the likes of the Cavs.
Toronto Raptors: Talented, But Able to Grind Games Out Too
As good as the Miami Heat is constructed with a combination of guards and wings who are all athletic defenders and streaky shooters (plus the best shot-blocker in the league), the grind of a seven-game playoff series exposed plenty of glaring weaknesses.
Offense wins in the playoffs. The Toronto Raptors built an eight-point lead in Game 7 from posting down low with their backup power forwards and stretched a flimsy five-point lead into 16 once the Miami guards let up by bricking bad shot after another.
DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry did their job, while the other snipers like DeMarre Carroll and Terrence Ross knocked down threes to contribute.
The key with the Raptors in the series was having more bench depth (plus the loss of Hassan Whiteside in the middle). Miami barely made it past Charlotte, which had a weaker bench. But, the Heat ran out of gas with Toronto, who had extra bigs that could post up and score.
The Bulls also ran out of gas in the regular season with a big hole in the middle and they also lacked a decent backup point guard.
Next: Understanding the Bulls' salary cap situation this summer
GarPax and Hoiberg should not forget the lessons learned from their own regular season debacle, but more importantly, they should look at what happened to the successful teams who reached their respective conference finals to find the right personnel for the Bulls next season.