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Chicago Bulls Fan Fridays: Defense Under Fred Hoiberg and NBA 2K15

By Michael Whitlow

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Every Friday here at Pippen Ain’t Easy, we’ll take the time to answer questions about the Chicago Bulls and the rest of the NBA overall. So, without further adieu, here’s the first edition of Fan Fridays here at PAE.

With the Chicago Bulls prepping for media day and the beginning of training camp, we here at Pippen Ain’t Easy have been brainstorming as well before the 2015-16 season begins, and have come up with an idea to get everyone involved.

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From now until the end of the season, we’ll take Bulls/NBA-related questions from our Facebook page, our Twitter mentions and from Reddit users, and we’ll rack up some good questions to featured in a post every Friday.

Both featured questions came from Reddit, along with a third question from NBA 2K15, because … well, the season never stops in video games either, right? With all of that being said, let’s get into it.

A two-part question from Reddit user Suburbansanity: Not too much has been said about Hoibergs defensive schemes but what aspects of Thibs’ defense will likely hold over to the new team?

This is a great question. The hotly-talked about offense has been the topic of all topics this summer, without hardly any mention of what the league’s 9th-best defense (in terms of total points allowed in ’14-15) will look like in 2015-16.

The defense should be concerning. Not only did the Bulls take a step back defensively last season under former head coach Tom Thibodeau, Fred Hoiberg’s Iowa State teams weren’t exactly the cream of the crop defensively during Hoiberg’s time in Ames, ranking 71st in the KenPom AdjD category.

As for the aspects of the defense without Thibodeau, you don’t just forget to give an effort on every play defensively. Thibodeau may have ran his players ragged, but he instilled dedication and precise execution on the defensive end. They may not be the defense of the early Thibodeau years, but the Bulls have enough talent to play good defense in the weaker Eastern Conference.

Do you think the players will try to convince Hoiberg to fit Thibs’ defensive style to the faster-paced offense?

Absolutely not. Thibodeau’s defensive style was built on being physical with opponents and putting forth a max effort for 48 minutes. Thibodeau wasn’t an offensive mind by any means, and most of the time, the mentality of the Bulls was seemingly, “Well, we can’t outscore them, but we’ll beat them up physically in the process.”

With Hoiberg’s relaxed demeanor as a head coach, along with former Spurs assistant head coach Jim Boylen constructing the defense, the Bulls will find a scheme that fits their personnel. Under Thibodeau, it was go, go, go for 48 minutes, ICE every pick-and-roll, and no good looks from beyond the arc (which the Bulls were tremendous at doing before the injury bug bite them hard).

The Bulls possess one of the older rosters in the league, so I would personally say that the Bulls won’t be complete pushovers defensively, but you’ll see a more balanced effort offensively and defensively this season with Hoiberg.

Question from … myself: What in the world is a “broken thigh”?

To make a long story short, I’m a video gamer (a bad one, but I still play from time-to-time), and during the postseason in MyPlayer mode on NBA 2K15, Mike Dunleavy tweeted that the Bulls have the “BEST” trainers.

Like I said in the picture, Dunleavy must have forgotten the Luol Deng/spinal tap debacle that put Deng’s life in jeopardy during the 2013 postseason with the Bulls.

But seriously, what is a “broken thigh”? I’m assuming this means Kyrie Irving broke his thighbone (aka, his “femur”), but at the same time, I had to screengrab this one because I was utterly confused playing this.

Next: Where does Jimmy Butler rank among the 2011 NBA Draft's best?

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