When it comes to a Tom Thibodeau-coached team, one thing we believed we could always count on was a hard-working, technically sound defense. But as we hit the quarter pole of the NBA regular season, the Bulls find themselves ranked 20th in points allowed (100.5) and 19th in opponent’s 3-point field goal percentage percentage (35.6%) So, what’s the biggest reason for the ongoing defensive issues? Taj Gibson had an interesting theory after Saturday night’s loss to Golden State, which was his first game back in action after missing six straight because of a re-sprained ankle. “If we want to win a championship, if we want to win games, our defense has to get better,” Gibson said. “It starts by gaining trust. You’ve got a bunch of new guys, you’ve got to communicate better. We’ve got to rebound the ball better. We’ve got to practice better. But it starts with trust.” Any time a professional athlete invokes the word “trust,” alarm bells go off within the entire organization. Thibodeau’s defensive units have relied on effort and communication, with each player tied together, able to rotate to help a teammate in need. Read more http://www.csnchicago.com/bulls/schanowski-whats-wrong-bulls-defense
Mark Schanowski @MarkSchanowski At the end of the night, Bulls will be in 2nd place in Division, 5th in Conf. Need to get their half-court, screen/roll def. issues fixed
Gibson and Thibodeau not seeing eye-to-eye on defensive woes There’s no denying that the Bulls defense has been broken throughout most of the early part of the season. The fix? That was debated on Wednesday, and not a quiet debate at that. After the morning shootaround, it was Taj Gibson explaining the defensive lapses as, “Just the effort and having trust in one another. We really haven’t had any practice and had the chance to go over the defensive sets the way we normally used to. It kind of hurt us a little bit. The last two days, we were back to the old stick-stick-stick drill, all our old plays to help us get ready to play defense. Hopefully we can make a change.’’ It wasn’t the first time “trusting each other’’ was used as an explanation for the defensive problems, with Joakim Noah also insisting that was an issue over the weekend. Coach Tom Thibodeau, however, had a very different explanation, and one that didn’t seem to sit too well with his players. “That’s garbage,’’ Thibodeau said of trust issues. “That’s garbage. Trust is work. That’s how you build trust. You gotta know what you’re doing. You have to be tied together. You have to work at it. It’s a cop-out. Read more http://chicagosuntimes.com/sports/gibson-and-thibodeau-not-seeing-eye-to-eye-on-defensive-woes/