Only five teams in the Eastern Conference, the weaker of two conferences in the NBA, give up more points per game on average than the Chicago Bulls. That means there are nine teams who are better defensively in the East than your Chicago Bulls.
It just sounds so weird to say: a Tom Thibodeau team is below average (or close to it) defensively. It’s a figurative paradox. like “military intelligence, two words combined that don’t make sense,” as the heavy metal band MegaDeath once famously said.
The Bulls average 99.9 points per game against. That’s 16th in the league out of 30 teams. Since the first of the year, they’ve given up 97+ in 15 of their 18 games. They’ve surrendered the century mark or more in 12 of 18 since January 1. It’s not that 99 point or 100 points is any kind of magical numeration.
Yes, it is a nice round number, but it doesn’t indicate a terrible defensive unit. Instead it indicates a subpar to mediocre one. That is not the way of the Chicago Bulls under Tom Thibodeau of course. Maybe it’s a bit skewed as the Bulls have just completed a Western road trip. Obviously, the Western Conference traditionally is more up tempo and higher scoring year in and year round.
If you’re a weirdo like me who stays up until 3 AM Central time every night, you might enjoy taking in those late night NBA games on the left coast where the concept of playing defense is usually optional.
Grant Hill was on media conference call to preview the NBA All-Star Game and the shared the following insight.
Hill on the struggles of the Bulls defense: “The Chicago Bulls have struggled defensively. It’s easy to point the finger at Pau Gasol, but defense is not one guy. It’s a team effort. I think a lot of the inconsistencies with the minute restrictions and people in and out of the lineup, means [head coach Tom] Thibodeau has not had the chance to work on the cohesiveness, which has really contributed to their defensive problems. The bottom line is it’s a team approach to defense. They’ve had a lot of players in and out, which has lead to a number of struggles and inconsistent play throughout the year.”
As the Chicago Bulls have become a better scoring team, they’ve declined defensively.
“They have had a lot of in and out and haven’t been able to feel that continuity,” said Hill.
“A lot of times you go through a lull, even though you’re doing the right things,” said Kenny the Jet Smith, who was also on this same call.
“The other team is hot, four games in five nights, some of your guys are in a slump, someone has the flu. These things happen, but if you’re doing the right things, you’ll get out of those ruts. The question is, are the Chicago Bulls doing the right things, and just losing games?”
“When you’re not playing well you have to ask, do you trust what’s going on? And I’m not in the locker room to know if they trust what’s going on or not,” said Smith.
“The Chicago Bulls have enough talent, experience and coaching to contend for the NBA championship,” The Jet concluded.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)