Chicago Bulls 2015: What went wrong?

Hoiberg had trouble getting the players to buy into his system

A lot of the Chicago Bulls players spent most, if not their entire careers playing under Thibodeau. Some of them were entrenched with Thibodeau’s system, and were resistant to change.

Fair or not, it was Hoiberg’s job to get the players to buy into his system.

He failed at doing that job.

This team never played with urgency. They lacked fire, which is something no one would have dared to say about a Chicago Bulls team in the past.

What is interesting is that when the players were asked about the lack of fire or character, they shrug instead of getting upset for having to answer such questions.

Some of the team’s leaders said the same thing throughout the season.

In December, Butler caused a furor when he publicly called out Hoiberg. He said that the coach was too soft.

"I believe in the guys in this locker room but I also believe we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times. I’m sorry, I know Fred is a laid-back guy and I really respect him for that but when guys aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, you have to get on guys — myself included. It’s not even about being coached a certain way for five years, it’s making everybody do their job. We weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing — what we wrote up on that board before the game. Nobody spoke up about it. I did (but) probably not enough times. (Hoiberg) has to hold everybody accountable from the No. 1 player all the way down to however many guys we have. When you match up and do your job we’ll win the game."

Just recently Gasol called the team out for its struggles defensively.

“We haven’t given it enough importance on a daily basis,’’ Gasol said. “We haven’t been able to put enough games where we play together and with intensity and the effort required on the defensive end. In this league, you’re going to have better or worse nights offensively, but defense is going to give you a chance each and every night, and we relied too much on our offense.

“We just haven’t had the defensive mindset, nor emphasis on it, so we paid the price a lot of times. We’ve been too casual a lot of times. And that’s why we are where we are.’’

When PAU GASOL is talking about not playing good defense, that is saying a lot, since he is not the greatest of defenders. Also, his relationship with Hoiberg is said to be strained.

What happened here could be something similar to what the Chicago Bears went through after the firing of Lovie Smith and the hiring of Marc Trestman. Players did not accept what Trestman was selling.

The answer may be to do what the Bears did — overhaul the roster. The front office will need to evaluate things and see who really wants to play in Chicago and ship out the rest. Giving Hoiberg the right players is necessary to give him a chance to succeed.

Next: More friction on the team than we know?