3. A Pathetic Bench
Granted, some of the problem with the Bulls’ horrible bench is the result of missing two key rotation pieces in Doug McDermott (still out, sporting his second concussion of the year) and Michael Carter-Williams (recovering from a bone chip in his left wrist and a bone bruise in his left knee; targeting a January return).
In addition to making just 28 percent of their field goal attempts, the five bench players whose numbers were called took just two free throws. Good free throw shooters like Isaiah Canaan (5 points on 2-of-9 shooting across a whopping 25 minutes) and Nikola Mirotic (6 points on 3-of-9 shooting over 21 minutes) hugged the perimeter and couldn’t get a whistle.
While four of the Bulls’ starters actually had solid plus-minus nights (the high man was RoLo with +9; only Wade had a negative mark, at -2, but he made a clutch dunk late that in my mind excuses him), every single bench player posted a negative number.
Canaan, who’s been fairly decent thus far as a Bull, was -19 on the eve in a bit of a surprise.
Guess who was -18? The crazy-eyed genius Fred Hoiberg insists on playing ahead of my favorite back-up center, which brings me to my 4th and final beef with last night’s nutty game plan…