If the Bulls lose one more game — say, Saturday night against the Cavaliers — they are out of the playoffs. One more Indiana win also means the Bulls are out. All of which means in practice the Bulls playoff dreams are dead.
With that, there will be a lot of changes coming to Chicago this summer. Certainly to the roster, where Pau Gasol is likely gone, Joakim Noah may be gone (although management wants to keep him), and Derrick Rose will be shopped.
And Fred Hoiberg could be changing his coaching style, although he phrased that in a very odd way meeting with the media before the game against the Cavaliers.
Hoiberg on his style: "Would I change it? Would I be more vocal, more direct? Maybe. We’ll evaluate that when we go into the offseason."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 9, 2016
Hoiberg: "We got off to pretty solid start. Then some things happened. Most of that comes from the 1 comment after the NY game by Jimmy."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 9, 2016
What exactly does he mean by “most of that?” Well, it’s a little more clear in the full quote.
Hoiberg was originally asked should he be tougher on the team and that’s what spawned this answer pic.twitter.com/TWOniFfCPK
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) April 10, 2016
If it’s one thing Fred Hoiberg is not going to do, it’s take a shot at anybody publicly. That’s not in his character, for better or worse
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) April 10, 2016
Hoiberg may have been around the NBA as a player and executive, and he may have coached a long time in college, but there is still a learning curve with being an NBA head coach. Steve Kerr is the exception, not the rule. Hoiberg should be better at his job next season compared to this one.
We’ll just see what players management gets him to work with.