Yesterday’s official unveiling of the Jabari Parker signing was supposed to be an easy going day for Fred Hoiberg. The Bulls head coach was just supposed to be a bystander for Parker’s homecoming.
For the most part, he was. But when Parker went on and on about how unimportant defense is in a post-press conference interview, Hoiberg was forced to address the comments.
Fred Hoiberg joins the show now. Hear his reaction to Jabari Parker’s comments about defense, made earlier today on @Bernstein_McK now: https://t.co/t7x173VxNa pic.twitter.com/4YosAtEL0C
— McNeil & Parkins (@McNeil_Parkins) July 18, 2018
Dan McNeil played Jabari’s comments for Hoiberg, which led to this response:
“We Need To get Better Across The Board And A Big Part Of That Is Defensively……
We’re Going To Have TO Have Buy In From Everybody On That End.”
When pressed further on Parker specifically, Hoiberg made sure not to single him out and reiterated the organization’s faith in him, a mature and classy move.
“Listen, We’re Going to Work At it, and work at it a lot but it’s going to be team wide.
(parker) is a big, strong, athletic guy and we do feel that he can guard multiple positions, and we’re going to work hard on it.”
The Hoiberg and John Paxson interviews this week were reassuring in the sense that the Bulls have a set structural plan in place to improve the defensive production in the coming years.
A major part of that plan involves Hoiberg being able to convince guys like Jabari and Zach LaVine to buy into the system, and his job may depend on it.
At the time of Hoiberg’s hiring, it felt as if there were three main reasons the Bulls brought him on board:
- Less stubborn than Tom Thibedeau
- Capable of implementing a modern day, free-flowing offensive system
- Can use his experience as a college coach to develop younger players physically and mentally
He passed the first step just by existing, as there might not be another human being alive as stubborn as Thibs. Last season, once the ball-dominant, egotistical Jimmy Butler was shipped out of town, Hoiberg’s reputation as a bright offensive mind finally started to prove true.
The final arbitrary obstacle for Hoiberg to conquer is player development. Drafting Wendell Carter Jr., retaining LaVine and signing Parker has left the Bulls with a starting lineup of five former lottery picks under 25. Hoiberg finally has the toys to play with, that’s not an excuse anymore.
While I don’t think it’s fair to set a certain win total expectation for this 2018-19 group, there need to be signs of improvement, on both ends of the floor.
Hoiberg seems to understand that. That understanding could eventually save his job.
