What lineups will Hoiberg use?
Down the stretch during Saturday night’s game against the Raptors, the Bulls ran out Dwyane Wade, Butler, McDermott, Nikola Mirotic and Felicio. These five played a majority of overtime and were key to locking up the win.
Not to hammer on Jimmy’s possible absence, Fred won’t have the flexibility of using Jimmy as a crutch in an already weak rotation. If one were to guess, Butler’s replacement in the starting lineup will more than likely be McDermott.
More from Bulls News
- The dream starting 5 for the Chicago Bulls 5 years from now
- Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu inspires the future with new school program
- Chicago Bulls NBA 2K24 full roster ratings, risers, and fallers
- Bulls sign a pair of promising guards to Exhibit 10 contracts
- When does NBA Training Camp start? Dates Bulls fans need to know
Obviously, without Jimmy, the offense will likely suffer, as he’s been the main contributor for the last three games, and most of the season for that matter.
But the Bulls’ shooting from the perimeter could be a bright spot in tonight’s game, assuming Doug and Niko shoot well, which isn’t promised. The idea of spacing would be helpful for the offense, giving ball handlers like Wade room to get to the basket and allowing low-post scorers like Taj Gibson time to operate.
With Butler, we may see more of the same from the Bulls. Many of the Thunder’s power forwards are quicker, perimeter based players, meaning Mirotic may get more run than normal.
With three wins in a row against playoff quality teams, Hoiberg’s seat on the bench has cooled down, affording him the creative license to play with different matchups and lineups to find what works best.