The Bulls started off the year on a good foot as they took down the Milwaukee Bucks 105-95 on their home floor in the preseason opener.
It was a noticeably different game without Tom Thibodeau. For one, the Bulls sideline didn’t have an angry coach pacing up and down the court waiving his hands as he screamed “stay up” to his players. Fred Hoiberg stayed cool, calm, and collective on the sideline in his debut. Secondly, floor spacing was the biggest difference in the game. The Bulls stepped away from their stagnant offense and spaced the floor with good ball movement.
The offense was led by Jimmy Butler in the first half as he shot 6-11 for 16 points. Butler continued his stellar performance in the second half as he finished with 23 points and six assists in 25 minutes. Nikola Mirotic was another major key as he dropped in 18 points of his own. The story of the second half was all Doug McDermott. After starting off slow, McDermott quickly caught fire from behind the arc as he drained in five three-pointers.
“Even on our two-a-days, he’d still come in a 3rd time. It’s unbelievable how much energy he has; he’s just so dedicated. Jimmy, he wants to assume that role, like Kevin Garnett, Michael Jordan, pulling everyone with him with leadership. He does things you just can’t teach, those fadeaways, shooting one leg runners; he’s got so many things in his arsenal.” – Fred Hoiberg on Jimmy Butler
“It’s one of those deals where he’s not going to pull you out if you have a bad shot; he lets you play your game.” – Doug McDermott on Fred Hoiberg
You go out there that first time you’re usually a little intimidated, a little scared. There was none of that with Bobby”- Hoiberg on Bobby Portis
“If they’re open, yeah. And they’re good looks”. – Fred Hoiberg when asked about 39 attempted threes.
“You need a guy that’s going hard every night and is going to back up what he’s talking about. I definitely think it’s going to be me” – Jimmy Butler
The Bulls were not shy about executing Fred Hoiberg’s offense at all. In fact, the Bulls launched 39 three-pointers on 33% shooting. Hoiberg encouraged his team to shoot the open shot, even if they’re not going in. The new culture in Chicago is very mellow and happy. Smiles on the faces of players that sat in Tom Thibodeau’s doghouse for years kept the Bulls rolling in the second half.
While Doug McDermott was doing his best Stephen Curry impression, Nikola Mirotic tried to do his best Dirk Nowitzki impression as well. The second year Euro-star did practically everything on the floor. From bringing the ball up the court to hitting tough fade-away jumpers, Mirotic showed glimpses of a possible breakout season this year.
Jimmy Butler continued where he left off last season. As Doug McDermott called Butler the best player in training camp hands down, it showed on the court against the Bucks in the preseason opener. Butler’s ability to score wasn’t the story of the night, though he did plenty of that, but it was his ability to facilitate for his teammates. Butler made the headlines this off-season as he submitted his request to play the point guard position. His six assists in 25 minutes helped his case big time.
There were a lot of positive areas for the Bulls in their victory over the Bucks. Bobby Portis struggled from the field but still finished the night with 8 points and 14 angry rebounds. Every rebound he grabbed gave you a flashback of Kevin Garnett screaming to the crowd. Jordan Crawford came in midway into the fourth quarter to play just six minutes. However, that’s a lot of time for a high volume scorer like Crawford. Just seconds after checking into the game, Crawford launched a deep three-pointer to bank it in. He finished off the night with six points in six minutes.
The Bulls will get ready to face off the Nuggets in Denver on Thursday night. Fred Hoiberg hinted before the Bucks game that he’ll experiment McDermott at the starting small-forward position against the Nuggets.
