Compare and Contrast

Bulls’ head coach Fred Hoiberg is the Bears’ John Fox with better language skills.  Unlike Fox, Hoiberg can speak in concise, grammatical sentences.  So, he can—and does—say that his team stinks, why it stinks and what the players need to do to get better.  He just can’t follow through.

The Bulls are in the midst of a ten-game losing streak.  Three games during that streak they’ve coughed up leads of at least 17 points, like last night’s 98-96 choke job against the Pacers.  By choke, I mean they were outscored by 16 points in the fourth quarter.  In his postgame news conference, Hoiberg said his team “played really good, hard, unselfish basketball,” just not for the entire 48 minutes that comprise an NBA game.  That, my friends, is how you end up with a 3-20 record.

Hoiberg also said he was “proud of the effort guys came out with.  We’ll have a good film session, [and] try to figure out how to close out games.”  Here’s a clue, everyone—try playing defense.  A hallmark, if you can call it that, of Hoiberg’s two-plus seasons coaching the Bulls has been the middle-school defense.  Two or three defender chase after the ball like a bunch of sixth graders all the way to the hoop, only to look surprised when the ball ends up in the hands of an open player, and there’s always more than one.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me for going on to three seasons now, shame on me.

And Fred Hoiberg, Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf, John Paxson, Gar Forman….