Chicago Bulls: 4 things to know going into regular season

2: Bulls might lead NBA in run-and-gun

One thing I remember quite vividly about the Tom Thibodeau-led Bulls was that offense wasn’t necessarily the focus. Of course, to be a great NBA team, you’ve got to play well on both ends of the court. That’s a no-brainer. But, it always seemed that Thibodeau’s offense was boring and stagnant. There was no where near the amount of movement there should have been.

Enter Hoiberg.

Per NBA.com, the Bulls actually led the league in miles traveled by a player, per 24 minutes of game action. In summation, the Bulls led the entire NBA in player movement — pretty astounding, actually.

Chicago Bulls

It’s tough to think that the Bulls could have led the league in something positive last year, but they certainly did. In today’s NBA, teams have to move on offense. Unless you have five guys on the court who can spot up and knock down jumpers on every possession, you better believe you’re going to be running a decent amount.

The Bulls don’t have those jump-shooters, which is why the run-and-gun offense will work well for them. If they have players who can cut to the hoop, set screens, run pick-and-roll, and other things like that more often, they are going to have a much higher likelihood of scoring at a higher efficiency.

I think we all remember the Thibodeau offense well enough to know just how many key possessions ended with a poor shot by either Luol Deng or Derrick Rose (or God forbid Carlos Boozer), which left us wondering, “That’s what you drew up?”

That’s not Hoiberg’s offense. He’s had his guys move constantly, and that won’t change. If the team continues to buy in, like I said earlier, they should be fun to watch, win or lose.