"I don't think there are any issues with the team," Derrick Rose said following the Bulls' third straight loss on Monday. The standings, and his teammates, appear to disagree. Let's start with the standings. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf argued firing coach Tom Thibodeau last season was necessary for the team to "continue to grow and succeed." So far, though, the Bulls have appeared to regress with Thib's replacement, Fred Hoiberg. Chicago finished last season with the third-best record (50-32) in the Eastern Conference, and with a point differential of 3.0. Twenty-six games into this season, they're in seventh place in the conference (15-11), and their point differential is only 0.8. The drop in point differential suggests the Bulls are on pace to win five or six fewer games this season. Rose's teammates think there are issues, although they don't necessarily agree on what those might be. Jimmy Butler, the team's All-Star shooting guard, told reporters last week that the problem is Hoiberg. "I believe in the guys in this locker room, yeah, but I also believe that we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times," he said after losing to the Pistons on Friday. "I know Fred is a laidback guy and I respect him for that, but when guys aren't doing what they're supposed to do, you gotta get on guys, myself included." read more https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/derrick-rose-is-stinking-up-the-bulls
That was a helluva road win against an outstanding OKC team. That's the problem...we're still at a point in the season and in Fred Hoiberg's head coaching tenure that a single game can change the narrative. Derrick Rose has been historically awful so far this season. I choose to believe that he can't keep up this horrific pace. This choice leads me to the next choice, namely to believe that the Bulls are going to be OK this season.
