Chicago Bulls: Firing Fred Hoiberg solves very little

On Monday, the Chicago Bulls fired head coach Fred Hoiberg. Even with a 5-19 record this season, was he really the problem?

It appears that the Chicago Bulls are now on the cusp of another new era, with another new head coach. After having time to process the breaking news, it shouldn’t be that surprising for Bulls fans.

By removing Fred Hoiberg as head coach, which the front office did Monday, John Paxson has now fired five head coaches during his tenure with the franchise. Yes, one front office executive has been responsible for firing five head coaches without much, if any, repercussions.

It’s quite unusual for a management team to be given as long of a leash as John Paxson and Gar Forman have been granted in Chicago. While GarPax has had some success together, most notably during the Derrick Rose era, their tenure has been marked by controversy for shoving then head coach Vinny Del Negro, injuries and, well, a lot of head coaching failures.

With this track record, it’s obvious that Fred Hoiberg, who definitely had his faults, wasn’t the real problem here.

Hoiberg never got a fair shot with the Bulls

Fred Hoiberg came to the Bulls under the assumption that he’d be able to instill his offense and bring a fresh voice to the team after the firing of Tom Thibodeau. Of course, we remember that Thibodeau clashed repeatedly with the front office over many issues.

As a young and exciting coach with an up-tempo offense, Hoiberg was expected to be the Anti-Thibs, someone without the gruff exterior, a better communicator and a coach who wouldn’t run his starters into the ground every night. The front office sold the fanbase on the former Iowa State coach being handed a title-contending roster. However, they never gave Hoiberg the chance to really implement his style with the right roster.

After his first season with the team, when they went 42-40, the Chicago Bulls added an aging Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo to the squad. So instead of giving Hoiberg shooters that he desperately needed, he was stuck with players who were quite nearly the opposite fits for Hoiball.

Neither was an especially good 3-point shooter and both needed the ball in their hands to be effective. Throw in Michael Carter-Williams, Jerian Grant and Paul Zipser and it’s even more apparent how hamstrung the head coach was in trying to coach his style of basketball.

While the Bulls struggled to a 41-41 record with the “Three Alphas” of Jimmy Butler, Wade and Rondo, they still nearly took down the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. With all the turmoil that season and the obvious misfits, it’s a wonder that that squad made it to the playoffs at all.

The rebuild hasn’t gone according to schedule, or at least it seems

With the team finally committing to a full rebuild, the thought was that management would finally hand their head coach the roster he needed to be successful. It’s a reasonable expectation considering that he was hired to implement an up-tempo offense and he had consistently been given the exact opposite type of roster.

They first acquired Zach LaVine, a decent shooter, and drafted Lauri Markkanen, an even better shooter, with the Butler trade. It was a good start for the franchise, but it’s known that most rebuilding projects take time.

After a 27-55 season, it was obvious that Paxson was suddenly impatient with losing, even as it was the very blueprint the organization had just committed to.

"“We did this year what we felt was in the long-term best interests of the Bulls,” Paxson said Thursday. “It’s not a situation that any of us want to ever be in again. It goes against everything as a competitive person that you believe in, but it’s the way the system is set up. To be very honest, we believe we’ve done it the right way.”-K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune April 12, 2018"

He was right; no true competitor likes to lose and establishing a winning culture is paramount to actually winning in the future. Still, there’s clearly a process that needs to take place when rebuilding and staying true to the process is the key to successful results.

Injuries doomed this season from the start

After a solid rookie season from Markkanen, improved play from Bobby Portis and the growth of Kris Dunn, there was reason for optimism following a tough season. After rookie Wendell Carter Jr.’s NBA Summer League debut, the excitement was nearly at a fever pitch. Fans were even predicting a playoff berth in the spring.

Then, the injuries started to hit the squad and Hoiberg never had a chance. First, it was Denzel Valentine, who will miss the rest of the season after ankle surgery. Markkanen was next, going down with a serious elbow injury. Portis limped off the court in the fourth game of the season with a knee sprain and hasn’t played since, and Dunn played one single game.

Combining these injuries and GarPax’s strange fixation with curtailing Hoiberg’s efforts to build a modern NBA offense, the team has had little chance of success this season. Forcing Jabari Parker on Hoiberg was another example of either not having a legitimate understanding of the type of player he needed, or simply not caring.

It seems as if GarPax saw Parker, a Chicago native, as a way to excite the fanbase without needing to commit long-term regardless of whether Parker would be a fit with the team. Regardless, while Parker is starting to play better, he was never what the franchise needed and with a healthy roster, he was doomed to play out of position most of the season.

The biggest problem was never Hoiberg

If a front office has the opportunity to hire and fire five different head coaches, it becomes evident the problem doesn’t reside with the coach. Rarely do executives get the chance to be around long enough to oversee so many debacles.

To be fair, Fred Hoiberg was never a great fit for the organization, neither when he was hired nor at the time of his demise. He never seemed to garner the respect needed for success, nor did he appear to be the communicator that he was expected to be. The continued defensive lapses were hard to stomach and the effort level was poor.

A coach shouldn’t have to motivate effort, but continued lack of intensity for a team as young as the Bulls was concerning. It wasn’t until he benched Parker to begin this season that it appeared he had much control over the roster. It was an eye-opening decision, though the result failed to include many wins for the franchise.

With that being said, the Hoiberg shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame. He never had the right rosters and the youth movement was intended to build the future, not so much the present. The fact that John Paxson and Gar Forman still have decision-making power is proof that this franchise will continue to flounder.

Now that Jim Boylen has been installed as the head coach, it’s another example of the front office not having the accountability necessary for a strong and united future. Boylen might end up being a great head coach for the Chicago Bulls, but the issues surrounding him remain. With the leash short for coaches and long for executives, it’s unclear how his implementation really cures what ails this organization.