Jimmy Butler is upset Fred Hoiberg sat him to start 4th in Bulls loss

The Chicago Bulls’ offseason swap of successful head coach Tom Thibodeau for Fred Hoiberg had many fans optimistic for the simple reason that the new guy would be less likely to burn his best players out well before the playoffs. Thibodeau’s many regular season wins often came at the price of riding guys like Joakim Noah very hard, which led to several postseason eliminations in which the Bulls looked flat-out exhausted. Hoiberg was supposed to open up the offense and make sure players were in shape to thrive when the games matter most.

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The transition has been somewhat messy, and the Bulls presumably felt the pressure to win Wednesday at the Boston Celtics after having lost two in a row and three of five. With the teams tied 75-75 heading into the fourth quarter, star guard Jimmy Butler took a rest and saw the hosts begin a 12-2 run that ended up as they key stretch in a 105-100 Celtics win.

Butler, who set a new career-high with 36 points, did not praise his early fourth-quarter rest after the game. In fact, he said that Hoiberg rejected a request not to sit. From Nick Friedell of ESPN.com:

“I told Fred not to take me out at the beginning of the fourth,” Butler said. “I wanted to play because that’s when we give up those leads, at the beginning of the fourth. Nothing against my teammates, but I think if I’m out there and I get their energy going the right way, now take me out and let me rest. But the energy’s going, the energy’s flowing. I think I got to start playing at the beginning of the fourth quarter.” […]

“[He said] I need a rest,” Butler said. “I’m like, ‘Man, I can handle an extra 45 seconds to a minute. Just let me get the energy going, get a stop here or there, and get us going in the right direction to start the fourth.'” […]

“They got off to a 12-2 start on us,” Hoiberg said of the fourth quarter, before Butler’s comments. “You got to come out with greater urgency. I thought our effort was really good most of the night. [We] had too many turnovers in that first half. They scored 25 points on our 18 turnovers. But they came out and threw the first punch in the fourth quarter and got us on our heels a little bit and then got back into it. But that was it — the start of the fourth.” […]

“That’s what I was back there talking to him about,” Butler said. “It’s a learning curve for him just like it is for me. I understand what he’s trying to do, I’m not mad at him for that, but we got to win games if we want to find ourselves in the postseason.” […]

“I don’t give a damn about a career high,” Butler said. “I want a win.”

It’s important to clarify exactly what happened to start the fourth, because Butler didn’t sit for the full 12-2 run. A David Lee lay-up at the 9:15 mark gave the Celtics an 8-2 start, after which the Bulls called a timeout to slow the momentum and get Butler and Pau Gasol back in the game. The Bulls then allowed the Celtics to score the next four points until Butler made a jumper with 6:07 remaining to make it 87-79. In other words, Butler sat while the Celtics built a substantial lead but needed more than three minutes to make a direct impact on the game.

It’s therefore maybe not 100-percent worth it to suss out who was right in this disagreement, because Hoiberg didn’t let Butler languish on the bench while the Bulls lost the game. (Perhaps those two-plus minutes of rest were even responsible for the 17 points Butler scored over the final 6:07 to help him to his new career-best.) Butler discussed the issue with Hoiberg and seems to understand the coach’s perspective. It’s likely that he’s frustrated with losing much more than he is with the first-year coach.

Nevertheless, this minor incident does follow a trend of top players of the Thibodeau era not being on the same page as Hoiberg. Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose have disagreed with their coach over whose idea it was for him to come off the bench and the potentially lengthy persistence of double vision, respectively, which are only partially related to the issues that Butler and Hoiberg encountered on Wednesday. However, all three seem a little perplexed by his decisions, and Butler in particular seems not to have grown accustomed to the way Hoiberg hews to substitution patterns in the face of a mounting deficit.

The takeaway here is not that the Bulls are about to mutiny, but that analysts’ projections of Hoiberg’s strengths did not take into account the potential hassles associated with getting players to buy into his habits. Thibodeau is a strong personality with a clearly defined coaching style, and the trio mentioned above thrived under his tutelage. (Plus, Butler had known no other coach.) Many of the Bulls still hold the instinct to fight for the win no matter what. They may not see the value of Hoiberg’s long view when they have no sense of where it’s likely to lead.

The good news for Chicago is that they still have plenty of time to working things out. While Wednesday’s loss brings them to 11-8 and eight in the East, they sit just two games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the conference lead. They could win three in a row and the standings would make them look like a major success. The frustration is real, but it could be short-lived.

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