HOIBERG’S HOT SEAT
Bulls’ coach feels the pressure after missing playoffs in first season
Bulls general manager Gar Forman wore his summer tan well Monday, appearing in good spirits and looking comfortable with his standing in the organization during media day.
Same story for John Paxson, the Bulls’ vice president of basketball operations: Intense as usual, but no signs of stress about job security.
Coach Fred Hoiberg doesn’t share in that luxury.
Ending an eight- year run of postseason appearances, as the Bulls did last season, comes with consequences. Hoiberg was a rookie NBA coach last year, just starting a five- year deal, so blame shifted instead to the roster. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah are now in New York, and Pau Gasol is a Spur. But the Bulls are running out of places to point the finger, and Hoiberg admits he’s feeling the heat.
“Sure, yeah,’’ he said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. This is a highpressure job, and I understand that. And again, nobody looked at this thing harder in the offseason than I did, and was harder on themselves than I was. I know that I have a job to do, to try and put these guys into position to go out and win basketball games, and that’s my sole focus, to go out and do that.
“But, yeah, the pressures in this job are very high. And again, after games, win or lose, you go back and watch the film and try and make the necessary adjustments.”
A top adjustment priority for Hoiberg will be making sure his communication with his players is stronger. There were some struggles in that area last season, with Hoiberg and Noah disagreeing on Noah’s benching and Jimmy Butler publicly neutering Hoiberg by saying he needed to coach harder.
Over the summer, Hoiberg had frequent talks with Butler and sat down with new veteran additions Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade.
“I told Fred, ‘ As much as you can, use me as an example — I want you to really get on my tail about every little thing,’ ” Butler said Monday. “Because if Doug [ McDermott] or Tony [ Snell] or whoever it may be is watching Coach talk to me like that, it’s going to be like, ‘ If he can talk to Jimmy like that, I know he’s going to come at me a certain way.’ That’s what I try to remind [ Hoiberg] every day. I think he’s ready for that. I’m a player. I’m coachable like everybody else. I want that. I need that.”
The defense needs to be better, and the Bulls need to play harder and with more toughness overall, but Hoiberg needs the respect of the locker room first and foremost.
“The big thing about making thiswork is having communication,” Hoiberg said. “I’ve had really good conversations with Rajon, with Dwyane. We’ve watched a lot of film together and shared ideas. Does that add extra pressure? No. I feel a lot of pressure, and any coach that sits in this chair on media day is feeling the same way. So you go out there and you try putting your guys in the right positions, and I’m confident we’ll do that.”