Fred Hoiberg's Biggest Weakness Makes Bulls Front Office Look Stupid

The #TNTBulls streak lives on. Hooray! Did you get that out of your system? Good. It's just another meaningless win in a string of inexplicably lucky outcomes for an undeniably mediocre NBA team. The Splash Brothers became the Brick Brothers and the Warriors were playing their first game after losing superstar Kevin Durant and his 27.7 usage percentage to a knee injury. A team that usually scores a league-leading 117.5 points per game managed just 87, and don't you dare give the Bulls defense all the credit for that. Dwell on this win too long and you'll lose sight of what actually matters with these Bulls. Meanwhile, numerous players on Fred Hoiberg's roster continue to express a similarly frustrating thought: nobody on this team knows what role their coach expects them to play on a nightly basis. That stems from poor communication. Did you miss the joke? It's okay if you did, it's subtle.

Communication Is Key

When the Bulls front office trio of chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, GM Gar Forman and VP John Paxson unceremoniously fired Tom Thibodeau in the spring of 2015, they cited a lack of clear and open communication. They somehow blamed Thibs for the poor communication within every element of the organization, from players' lockers up to Reinsdorf's owner's box. How was that all on Thibs, exactly? I still haven't figured that one out, but that's the story they chose to tell. In case your memory is foggy, here's a sampling of those thoughts from Reinsdorf, Forman and Paxson on their decision to fire Thibs.

"There must be free and open interdepartmental discussion and consideration of everyone's ideas and opinions. These internal discussions must not be considered an invasion of turf, and must remain private. Teams that consistently perform at the highest levels are able to come together and be unified across the organization-staff, players, coaches, management and ownership. When everyone is on the same page, trust develops and teams can grow and succeed together. Unfortunately, there has been a departure from this culture." - Jerry Reinsdorf

Reinsdorf's key words? Open interdepartmental discussion. The owner pointed a heavy finger of blame at the coach for a departure from the culture that supposedly defined the Bulls for decades. At least that's how Jerry saw it. His general manager echoed those sentiments, as Gar cited a need for "a culture of communication that builds a trust throughout this organization." Now, here's Paxson.

“Relationships are difficult. But there has to be a situation with open dialogue, where there are no barriers. You should be able to ask any question, push the envelope. That’s what relationships should be about. Obviously there was a breakdown.” - John Paxson

Trust. Dialogue. Relationships. Was this a front office explaining a firing or a session of couples counseling? Either way, the Bulls' front office trio made a point of hammering home their main idea: the team suffered from a breakdown in communication, and that was Thibodeau's fault. Enter Fred...

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Enter Fred

Forman then hand-picked his Iowa State pal Fred Hoiberg to be Thibodeau's replacement. When Gar and Hoiberg sat side by side at the new coach's introductory press conference, here's the first thing Gar said about Fred:

"In Fred, we feel strongly that we've got a guy with a skill package of a winning coach, a guy who is a natural leader and a great, great communicator." - Gar Forman

A natural leader and a great, great communicator. Wow, two greats, Gar? Does Fred speak ten languages or something? Oh, that's not what Forman was talking about. He was referring to that rare and desirable human skill of being able to communicate with other humans. You know, that thing that Thibs couldn't do, thus explaining all of the Bulls' collective failures? Yeah, that communication. All hail "The Mayor", the savior of dialogue in Chicago! That was nearly two years ago now.

Tongue-Tied

In those two years, have Bulls fans seen examples of that great, great communicator Forman so excitedly introduced to us? Just a few months into the job, star player and self-anointed leader in the locker room Jimmy Butler told the media he thought Hoiberg needed to "coach a lot harder." That sounds like a player who doesn't believe his coach is communicating his instructions properly. Then came the benching of Joakim Noah. Fred told the media it was Joakim's idea to come off the bench, but the proud veteran quickly negated that falsehood. Here was the real leader in the locker room and the head coach telling directly conflicting stories to the media. Great, great communication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mSd5t2n3ck Fast forward to this season, and we're seeing more of the same.

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Who's Playing When & Where

Hoiberg is constantly changing his rotation, and very few of his players seem to know where they stand. You can grant Fred a partial pass on the inconsistent rotation in the wake of the Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott trade. Those were two key guys in any and all forms of Fred's rotation. But the inconsistencies and confusion existed before that trade happened.

Rajon Rondo

First, there was the benching of $14 million free agent addition Rajon Rondo, one of the "three alphas" trying to lead a new and young roster. Did Hoiberg give him a clear and timely explanation for his demotion? In Rondo's words, "Negative." Shortly after his demotion, Rondo had a meeting with Forman and Paxson to clear the air. But the front office duo also failed to communicate any clarity to the veteran point guard. Again, in Rondo's words, "It really wasn't a clear-cut message."

MCW

Michael Carter-Williams assumed the starting point guard role in place of Rondo, until he lost it to Jerian Grant. Now that Carter-Williams is ready to make his return from a knee injury, he's "a little confused" about where he'll fit into Hoiberg's rotation.

“It’s tough. I’m not going to lie. Some days you just wish Coach would come out and say, ‘Listen, you’ve got to do this. This person has to do this.’ Some days I’m thankful that the spot is still open so that I can compete for it and get it." - Michael Carter-Williams

Poor MCW is trying to stay positive, but his optimism about the point guard spot remaining open points to a coach who can't make up his mind. It's not Fred's fault that his front office gave him five point guards to shuffle, but he could be handling it better. That's true for the rotations he's using and the lack of communication to his players about their respective roles.

Bobby Portis

Just ask Bobby Portis, who's been thrust into a starting role at power forward in Gibson's absence. The Bulls sent their second year player (a "steal" in the 2015 draft, according to GarPax) down to their D-League affiliate Windy City Bulls midseason. He's happy to be getting his chance now, but he recently admitted he didn't understand his demotion either.

"No, I didn't really know what I could do to get minutes... I didn't understand why I had to go down." - Bobby Portis

Here's what Hoiberg had to say about his dialogue with Bobby this season:

"I've tried to communicate with him and let him know the things that he needed to continue to do, which is work, which Bobby always does." - Fred Hoiberg

Just so we're clear: Hoiberg told Bobby he needed to continue to "work", but Bobby was working, but he wasn't working hard enough to play? Yeah, that's not clear at all. Fred also mentioned the logjam of bigs on his roster as reason for Portis being shunned, but was the logjam of bigs really worse than the musical chairs situation in the backcourt? No way. That's a failure in communication. You know, just like the ones Fred had with Butler, Noah, Rondo and Carter-Williams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2f-MZ2HRHQ

All that considered, Hoiberg's boss continues (as recently as this morning) to insist he's the right guy to make these tough rotation decisions and communicate those decisions to the players.

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You'll Have To Ask Him

After all, communication is supposed to be Hoiberg's strong suit. Right? Isn't that what Forman said on Day 1? Speaking of Gar, he was asked during an interview on 670 The Score's Spiegel & Parkins show earlier today about that gap in communication between Fred and Bobby. Here's what he had to say:

"You'd have to ask Bobby. From my seat, I think the communication has been consistent, and been good...A guy like Bobby, it's tough when you're in and out of the rotation. What we try to preach is you've got to continue to work and prepare. When the opportunity comes you've got to take advantage of it." - Gar Forman

Gar passes the buck to his young player and reinforces his opinion that his hand-picked coach is a good communicator. Wait, just "good"? What happened to "great, great"? Is Gar backpedaling? He doesn't really answer the question about a communication gap. Instead, he reiterates the same vague instructions that Hoiberg gave to Bobby. What part of "you'd have to ask him" suggests great communication? I'd laugh if it weren't so maddeningly stupid. In recent interviews with Bulls TV's Chuck Swirsky and 670 The Score, Gar failed to clearly communicate his "plans" for this team moving forward. His coach can't clearly communicate his instructions or plans for the rotation to his players. But I'm sure Jerry Reinsdorf - who doesn't communicate anything to anybody anymore - is fine with all of this despite his scorching dismissal of Thibodeau now sounding completely ridiculous.

Sifting Through The B.S.

But that's the crux of this mess. When Jerry and his front office cronies fired Thibs two years ago, the "lack of trust and communication" narrative was their way of blaming a coach who didn't like bending to their rules. Thibs wanted control as the head coach, and he didn't want to include his bosses in every decision he made. He could be rough around the edges, sure. Cranky? Absolutely. But Thibodeau is a damn good basketball coach who could handle tough decisions and didn't care if those tough decisions hurt people's feelings. In Fred, the Bulls hired the anti-Thibs. He's soft and cuddly, like a puppet. And the front office guys knew they wouldn't have any "communication" issues with this one. Translation: Fred will do what we want him to do, and he won't rub anybody the wrong way. Who cares if he doesn't have coaching experience at the NBA level? We can even forgive his complete ineptitude of defensive strategies and his players' woeful offensive execution after timeouts. He's a great communicator!  Cool, guys. Did you think you were actually tricking anyone into believing that nonsense? Countless times, Hoiberg is proving himself to be a spineless coach and a poor communicator. A man totally unprepared to take on the responsibilities that come with managing an NBA rotation or a locker room filled with egos. If you try to be that guy who doesn't offend anybody, you offend everybody when they eventually see you for the coward that you are. "Great, great communicator"? Give me a break. Hoiberg is a great communicator in the same way the Bulls had a great win over the Warriors on Thursday: neither sentiment is based in any kind of reality. But that shouldn't surprise you. If there's one thing this Bulls front office is great at, it's concocting their own version of reality.