Markkanen’s return begins period of heightened scrutiny for Bulls and Hoiberg
Lauri Markkanen is back. Now what? There will be offensive sets with the versatile forward in the post. Plays will be designed to free him for 3-pointers. He will bring the ball up to initiate offense at times and be involved in plenty of screen-and-roll situations with Zach LaVine at others.
These all are good things for the Bulls.
But Markkanen’s return after missing the first 23 games with a right elbow injury also will feature a period of adjustment and changing roles, not to mention heightened expectations and increased scrutiny from management on coach Fred Hoiberg and his staff. That scrutiny will be further intensified when Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis return, which, barring a setback, will happen in the next few weeks.
Hoiberg’s future has been an open topic since the eve of training camp when management fielded questions on how the coach would be judged in order to make it to the final season of his five-year deal. The widespread injuries that have contributed to a six-game losing streak – and 10 losses in 11 games – have challenged management to hold true to its vow not to judge Hoiberg by the won-lost record.
But with the team headed to full strength save for Denzel Valentine and his seasonending left ankle surgery, management will be watching closely for more organised and efficient offense and better player development. If those don’t manifest themselves as the team gets whole, an in-season coaching change wouldn’t be a surprise.
Hoiberg and the players are optimistic for progress. But they also know work remains.
“We have some times where it doesn’t look right. And we have times where we look really good,” LaVine said.
“We’ll get some dudes back and really see what we’re about.”
Before Markkanen’s injury in late September, Hoiberg talked excitedly about utilising him and LaVine as two offensive talents in screen-and-roll situations. But Hoiberg also quickly shelved the experiment of playing Jabari Parker at small forward, a look the coach resuscitated in Markkanen’s first game back.
“I’m excited to get a bigger sample size with all the lineups and see which ones work the best,” Hoiberg said. “We had the three of them out there together for a short period of time. I think (Parker) and Lauri can play well together. And I think Lauri can play very well with Wendell. That’s the future of this franchise, those two guys on your frontline.”
A case in point for the adjustment period: After scoring a career-high 28 points on Friday, Carter had just six shots and scored eight points on Saturday.
Still, Markkanen, who likely will move into the starting lineup as early as Tuesday against the Pacers, sounded upbeat about what’s to come.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “We just need to get some run-in together. All I played was like two practices in training camp. I think me and Wendell complement each other really well. Him being the rim protector that he is, we can switch on defense. Offensively, he can pretty much do everything.”
Hoiberg doubled down on his commitment to playing Parker some at small forward. This will drop Justin Holiday’s minutes.
“He’s one of the more talented players on this roster,” Hoiberg said of Parker. “We have to get some lineups practising and used to each other.”
Parker has posted four double-doubles in his last seven games and scored at least 20 points in five of his last seven. He didn’t like being moved to the bench during preseason, a role he’ll have to embrace unless Hoiberg opts to start Parker over Holiday at small forward.