Two Harlem Globetrotters in full uniform wandered down a hallway Monday at the United Center, compelling a smart aleck to wonder if they were in town to play the Bulls, the supposed 2017-18 version of the Washington Generals.
But that cynicism is so last month.
Led by Niko Mirotic a few hours later, the Bulls strutted off the floor after their sixth straight victory, approaching legitimacy and essentially saying thanks but no tanks this season.
A funny thing happened to the Bulls on their way to the NBA basement. They responded to coaching. As importantly, their coach, Fred Hoiberg, emerged capable of persuading players to embrace everything but the suck.
Of all the significant signs this year — Mirotic and Bobby Portis achieving basketball detente, Lauri Markkanen flashing star potential, Kris Dunn becoming a 3-point threat — Hoiberg getting the most out of the Bulls often gets overlooked. And nothing has been more consistent for the first NBA team to follow up a 10-game losing streak with a six-game winning streak than its effort, usually the best evidence of coaching.
“The way you judge this team is effort and if they’re improving and getting better — and I think our guys have done that,” Hoiberg said before the Bulls’ 117-115 comeback victory over the 76ers.
To a man, the Bulls have. The recent surge started with the return of Mirotic, whose confidence keeps soaring and whose impact has been felt, surprisingly, at both ends.
“NI-KO! NI-KO!” they chanted — who would have guessed that Oct. 19? — after Mirotic’s three-point play gave the Bulls a late lead. Mirotic scored 22 points and has averaged 20 in six games back after missing the first 23 with a broken face, courtesy of Portis.
The way Hoiberg handled the Mirotic-Portis conflict, by letting grown men find the line between personal conflict and professional responsibility, increased respect for a coach who hasn’t exactly enjoyed a surplus in Chicago. Mirotic and Portis still can pass each other without saying a word, but as long as they pass each other the ball, they can coexist — at least until Jan. 15, when the Bulls still should take advantage of Mirotic’s rising trade value and deal him with the future in mind.
Hoiberg also deserves credit for helping Dunn straighten his shot and run the offense, which looks more like “Hoiball” than any time since the coach’s arrival. Markkanen has illustrated how NBA teams can draft a difference-maker without owning a top-five pick. Portis has played angry. Trade bait Robin Lopez continues to be the consummate pro. And good luck telling overachiever David Nwaba, signed off the scrap heap in July, that losing as many games as possible this season will benefit the Bulls.
That’s the perception, of course, supported by media and fans who believe bottoming out is the only way to climb back on top. It’s one way, but it’s a balancing act. History shows tanking guarantees nothing, so enjoy this mini- run that doesn’t figure to last.
Last season, the Suns finished with the league’s second-worst record and drafted fourth. In 2008, the Heat went a league-worst 15-67, but the Bulls, at 33-49 and with a 1.7 percent chance of winning the draft lottery, did just that and selected Derrick Rose — as the Heat had planned. Too many variables exist for anyone to view a Bulls winning streak in December as anything but a positive.
It seems wrong to rip Hoiberg for everything in his first two seasons and then complain when a younger, hungrier group of players starts to play how he wants. This was the idea when the Bulls made the draft-day trade that brought Markkanen, Dunn and Zach LaVine from the Timberwolves for Jimmy ... Jimmy ... hold on, his last name is here somewhere ... Jimmy Butler.
Realize that even after LaVine makes his Bulls debut next month, he will add excitement but won’t make this a playoff team. So stop worrying about the Bulls being too good for their own good. And start enjoying the fun before the futility returns this winter, because it likely will.
Nothing will surprise Hoiberg, who credits an hourlong phone conversation with 76ers coach Brett Brown with preparing him for the mental rigors of rebuilding. Brown carved out a solid reputation for staying focused on the 76ers’ long-range plan through 19-, 18-, 10- and 28-victory seasons. He told Hoiberg to coach hard, preach self-awareness, promote humility and use every intangible to build a foundation in the locker room.
Brown’s biggest takeaway for Hoiberg?
“Just trying to find a level of order where you’re not influenced too much by the current moment (and) your vision line is longer, to understand good days do add up,” Brown said. “Choosing a philosophical path and not blinking, not budging and not worrying about what the outside universe thinks. Stay strong. Stick to it. And understand, at the end of the day, relationships and development rule our world in a rebuild type of format.”
Not only are the Bulls getting along, but they’re making progress. Sometimes in the NBA, a team is more than its record says it is.
Twitter @DavidHaugh
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