He Gone

He Gone

Yesterday, the Bulls decided they’d had enough of coach Fred Hoiberg, firing him in this his fourth season with the team.  John Paxson, vice president of basketball operations, explained that the decision was based on “what we were seeing internally and the vibe and the [lack of] energy that was” showing.  Paxson also said “we just felt that we’re not playing the style [of game] with the force that we want our group to play with.”  By those standards, Hoiberg could’ve been fired any time after the midway point of his first season at the helm.

College coaches (Hoiberg was hired away from Iowa State) are notorious control freaks; Hoiberg was anything but.  His laid-back style seemed better suited for a veteran team, not the mishmash that was the Bulls in 2015.  And when they went all in on a rebuild, he was an even worse choice.  Jimmy Butler questioned his coaching credentials three years ago, and rookie Wendell Carter Jr. did basically the same thing a few weeks ago.  What Paxson and general manager Gar Forman saw in Hoiberg in the first place will go down as one of Chicago’s bigger sports’ mysteries.

Paxson refuses to admit that rebuilds embrace two contradictions, losing and effort.  Style, force, vibe—they’re all nice, especially if you want to fill seats, but losing will inevitably chase them away  .  The secret to a rebuild is a mix of great drafts and pickups, be they trades, big free agents and/or million-to-one shots who come through.  Each year the rebuild drags on, the harder it gets to find success.

And one other thing—coaches/managers who start rebuilds shouldn’t expect to finish them.  Ask Bo Porter, Rick Renteria and Fred Hoiberg.