Early Saturday afternoon, NBA.com posted an entry in their "One Team, One Stat" series, revealing that perhaps last season, the Bulls had started to buy into Fred Hoiberg's system.
NBA.com's John Schumann stated that the Bulls were the best team in the league in terms of player movement:
The Bulls led the league in player movement, averaging 11.6 miles traveled (from five offensive players) per 24 minutes of possession, according to Second Spectrum tracking.
Schumann's story also shows that Chicago was one of three teams ranked in the top five in both player movement and ball movement, a trend that will need to carry over if the Bulls plan to fix a struggling offense.
The Bulls have yet to show the consistent shooting touch needed to make defenses fear them on the perimeter, and therefore decent driving lanes were scarce.
Continued movement and screening is the best way for Hoiberg to try to create those lanes that would not be there otherwise. We have seen these actions have success through two preseason games, and we will likely see much more of these play types with Hoiberg looking to prevent his offense from becoming stagnant.
Dunn and Markkanen were both well above average (74th and 64th percentile respectively) in scoring efficiency off of cuts. And for Dunn, even if his jump shot doesn't progress further, these cuts could make up for lost efficiency. Cutting accounted for 1.6 percent of Dunn's offense. Compare his numbers to that of a much bigger, but also, much more shooting-challenged point guard:
NBA
Percentage of offense from cuts: Points per possession on cuts:
Kris Dunn 1.6 % 1.36
Ben Simmons 9.0 % 1.48
But Dunn is not the only player who will benefit from fully buying in. With a commitment to off-ball movement, the Bulls will also make up for their lack of established playmakers on the roster. Jabari Parker and Zach LaVine have big-time scoring potential, but the "my turn, your turn" nature of their late in the shot-clock possessions could derail whatever cohesiveness the squad develops.
If the entire roster commits hard to Hoiberg's preferred style of play, their offensive rating could creep into the top 15, all but sealing a long-term commitment to Hoiberg as the head coach. But if plays constantly breakdown into chaos, Hoiberg will be sitting on one of the hottest seats in the NBA.