The Bulls Continue To Lack Discipline, But Who Is To Blame?

The recent pattern for the Chicago Bulls is one you can pretty much count on like clockwork because they’ve been repeating themselves every couple weeks. First, they win a game they probably had no business winning. It’ll be called a “signature win,” and the message from people within the organization will be that the team is finally back on track. But then, just as quickly as that happens, they’ll get blown out, stack a couple losses together against subpar teams, and the players will stage another players-only meeting that stresses accountability and lack of effort on defense.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Meanwhile, at the end of the aforementioned cycle, poor Fred Hoiberg is left to explain why his team continues to underperform, and why the veterans continue to ignore him. Earlier in the season, it was Jimmy Butler who called out Hoiberg for perhaps being too laid back, indicating that the team needed more discipline from its head coach.

“I believe in the guys in this locker room,” Butler said back in December. “But I also believe that we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times. I’m sorry, I know Fred’s a laid-back guy, and I really respect him for that, but when guys aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, you got to get on guys, myself included. You got to do what you’re supposed to do when you’re out there playing basketball.”

To his credit, Hoiberg did not shy away from Butler’s comments, and immediately cleared the air with his lone All-Star. However, it’s been nearly two months since Butler called out his coach, and after Monday night’s game — an overtime loss to the Utah Jazz — it’s clear that something still seems to be lacking with this team in the discipline department.

Perhaps it’s long overdue for the Bulls to stop blaming their rookie coach, and start looking in the mirror. When asked if that’s true, Hoiberg didn’t exactly disagree.

“It’s on everybody,” said Hoiberg. “We watch a lot of film going into these games, each coach is responsible for a scouting report. You spend a lot of time and effort putting the game plan together and it’s very important to go out and do the things that you put together to try and win that game or give yourself the best chance to win that game.

“We’ve done it on multiple occasions this year, and we’ve had slippage in certain games. So yeah, you have to have that. It’s gotta be somewhere the guys can look each in the face and hold each other responsible and accountable when they’re not doing it on the floor, and be able to take that.”

So, it’s clear Hoiberg thinks he knows what’s wrong with this team. But recent events indicate he has no idea how to fix it. The Bulls have now dropped nine of their last 13 games. On Monday night, the Bulls were outscored 12-3 during the overtime period, and their play during those five extra minutes was like a microcosm of their struggles this season: They seemed to completely lose focus at the worst possible time. At one point in the extra period, they committed turnovers on three-straight possessions, and finished the overtime period without a field goal.

Afterwards, Butler didn’t have much to say about what went wrong.