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Know Your New Orleans Pelicans Opponent: Chicago Bulls Q&A

By Matt Cianfrone

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As we head towards the start of the 2015-16 season, New Orleans Pelicans fans are mostly concerned with the way the Pelicans are adjusting to a new system. While that is the most important question for the Pelicans right now, there are also 29 other teams in the NBA with questions and the answers to some will directly impact the Pelicans. With that in mind we decided to go around the league and do Q&A sessions with a blogger for each team in the league. Today we continue a look at a division that seems already decided, though the Central Division, should still provide plenty of fun games and highlights. Joining us for today’s Q&A is Rich Kraetsch, a writer at Hardwood Paroxysm and the host of the Over and Back Podcast on the Hardwood Paroxysm Basketball Network and who roots for the Chicago Bulls.

1. Fred Hoiberg was a popular name thrown around by Pelicans fans this summer when they were looking for a head coach. How excited are you for him in Chicago?

Rich: I can’t speak for all Bulls fans but my biggest intrigue with Hoiberg coming to Chicago was a change of pace, a different type of leader, a new voice in a locker room that seemed stagnant. We had the authoritative, practice hard, play stout defense, type guy in Tom Thibodeau and frankly, despite regular season success, it hadn’t translated in the playoffs. Of course, running into LeBron James on a yearly basis will hurt but it felt like there was time for a change, the locker room seem to embrace it as well.

One of my biggest complaints last year was the progression of our younger players, Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic in particular. It felt like lost seasons for both men and given what the Bulls gave up to get both, it was supremely disappointing to end the season and still not know what you had from them. So as Bulls fan, one who is more entertained by fluid, fast-moving offense and the potential for fluid lineup structure than ICEing picks, help-and-recover defense and Kirk Hinrich, I’m very excited to see what Hoiberg brings to the table.

2. Both the Pelicans and Bulls have questions surrounding point guards who have been injured a lot lately. What do you expect from Derrick Rose this season? 

Rich: It sucks to say, but I really don’t know. I was hoping this preseason would be a great time to see how he adjusted to a new offense, adjusted to an evolving team with another ball-handling star in Jimmy Butler but alas, we won’t get any insights until the real games tip-off. My guess is we get the Rose we saw many times in last year’s playoffs, a guy who can still take guys off the dribble, still cut and slice a defense well. I see him shooting his handful of threes per game and making 25-30% of them, sometimes too often falling in love with that shot. Certainly not an MVP candidate ever again but a PG/SG hybrid still capable of putting 20 points on you. 

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3. Better stretch-four, Ryan Anderson or Nikola Mirotic? 

Rich: I wish I could say Mirotic, but as I mentioned in the question about Hoiberg, it’s just not there yet. We didn’t see enough of him last year to know exactly what we have. I think in due time he comes a Ryan Anderson+ player, capable of scrapping down low and getting to the rim more often than Anderson, but not right now. Right now he still needs a lot of work on the speed of the game, how he reacts when the ball is in his hands and unfortunately as we saw in the playoffs, needs to be more consistent with the three-pointer (shot 31.6% regular season, 23.3% in the playoffs). The shot is there for him, he just needs to confident to take said shot and make it at a more regular clip.

4. Does Steezus (Jordan Crawford) make the Bulls?

Rich: While I would rather have him on the roster as a backup PG/SG than the nearly $3M that’ll be paid to Kirk Hinrich… it’s just not going to happen. There’s almost no chance he makes the Bulls roster. The Bulls more than anything are looking for smart/solid play out of their backup guards, guys who can come in, keep turnovers down and feed bench scorers like McDermott and Mirotic — that doesn’t sound like my guy Steezus. I will give you this: there is absolutely zero chance he makes it two days under Thibodeau. Don’t completely sleep on Hoiberg seeing something out of the guy. I’m still guessing he’s not a Bull by November.

5. What are the expectations for the Bulls this season? What would you consider a successful season? 

Rich: Expectations are a little weird right now. Bulls fans think this is a really good team, a team capable of making some noise and getting to the top of the conference… but then LeBron shows up and it’s all over. It’s been the same song and dance, the same story for so many years now that Bulls kinda get it. The days of being happy leading the East in wins or getting one of the top two seeds in the conference are kinda over. Fans want that next step, I think. The only thing that would be a successful season would be defeated LeBron and representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Anything else is the same old story we’ve been read since 2011.

Next: We Kicked Off Central Division Q&As with the Pistons On Sunday

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