National Basketball Association

Lineup Construction Key for Chicago Bulls Success This Season

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg needs to improve his lineup construction strategy this season.

Lineup compatibility apparently wasn’t a major criterion when Chicago Bulls general manager Gar Forman laid out his plan this summer for how he would formulate the 2016-17 roster. This leaves second-year head coach Fred Hoiberg with a predicament.

It’s going to be Hoiberg’s job to figure out how all these incompatible parts will fit together. He must maximize the talent on this roster, despite concerns that players won’t work well together and that he doesn’t have the right personnel to run his pace-and-space offensive system.

Fluid roster construction is the key to making it work. Hoiberg can’t afford to get rigid with his lineups. He must experiment with different player combinations until he builds successful lineups. Likewise, he can’t afford to get complacent with a successful lineup. He must constantly adjust based on game circumstance and matchups.

Things such as refraining from playing the “Three Alphas” together too frequently, making sure there are good shooters in every lineup, and not playing too many bad defenders together at once are lineup construction issues Hoiberg needs to be particularly cognizant of next season.

With that, here’s a few tips for Hoiberg heading into this season, starting with his three main pieces.

Jul 29, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Dwayne Wade (right) and Bulls general manager Gar Forman pose for a photo after addressing the media after a press conference at Advocate Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

The less Alphas on the court, the better

Staggering the minutes of Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade is practical for many reasons.

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First, staggering minutes allows each player to be “the man” when they are in the lineup, which helps keep egos in check and avoids hurt feelings. According to data from Nylon Calculus, Wade and Rondo finished in the top 20 in the NBA in true usage percentage last season.

Butler continues to demand more and more of the ball handling and scoring responsibility as he continues to progress each season. He even stated in an August 2015 interview with Bulls.com reporter Sam Smith that he believes he is a point guard.

The “Three Alphas” should get plenty of opportunities on offense if Hoiberg refrains from playing all three at once too often.

Second, staggering minutes ensures that there is always at least one playmaker on the court. In theory, this helps to avoid the scoring droughts that have plagued the Bulls offense over the years.

Finally, playing Butler, Rondo and Wade together could make for an extremely inefficient offense. All three players have shot below 33 percent on three-point attempts during their careers. This could seriously compromise floor spacing, as opposing defenses choose to stack the lane, go under screens and use other methods to force the Bulls into taking outside jumpers.

That is why Fred Hoiberg needs to…

Apr 13, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Doug McDermott (3) reacts during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Mix and matching his shooting

Fred Hoiberg needs shooters in every lineup to maximize the effectiveness of his pace-and-space offense. The ability of three-point shooters to open up the floor and allow the “Three Alphas” to get to areas on the floor they feel comfortable operating in is important for the overall success of the Bulls offense.

Nikola Mirotic should start at power forward so the Bulls can get some semblance of three-point shooting into their starting lineup. Intermixing guys like Doug McDermott, Mirotic and Isaiah Canaan into lineups will allow the Bulls to open up driving lanes and scoring opportunities for other players.

All lineups should feature at least one good shooter. Expect Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott to see an expanded role next season as a result.

High three-point shooting percentages translated into wins last season.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, the Chicago Bulls shot 40.4 percent from 3-point range in wins and only 33.8 percent in losses last season. Correlation certainly doesn’t denote causation, but that seems like too big of a discrepancy to not have some statistical value.

The Bulls could live and die by the three-point shot this season, just like they did last year.

Apr 13, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg reacts to a play against the Philadelphia 76ers during the fist quarter at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Don’t put terrible defensive units out there all season long

Last year, Hoiberg developed a bad habit of pairing terrible defenders together in the same lineup and watching as the defense imploded as a result.

The Athletic’s Stephen Noh wrote about this trend last season:

If this were one bad lineup decision in the season, it would not be such a big deal. But on a regular basis, I’m left scratching my head wondering what in god’s name Hoiberg is doing. He has an awful tendency to pair his worst defenders together for long stretches, and that doesn’t make sense on any level.

A fix comes down to avoiding constructing lineups with multiple poor defenders and always neutralizing poor defenders with good defenders that play a similar position (good defender at shooting guard with a poor defender at point guard).

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This won’t be an easy task for Hoiberg because the Bulls don’t project as a great defensive team. An overall, team-wide commitment to putting in effort defensively could help alleviate some of the issues on this side of the ball.

Otherwise, Hoiberg needs to figure out the right combinations on defense or it could turn ugly really quickly.

Apr 13, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg during the first quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

It’s not going to be easy for Fred Hoiberg

Lineup construction was something Hoiberg struggled with last season. However, it is a skill he will need to figure out quickly. Clever lineup construction is a good way to combat a roster full of players that don’t seem to fit together, at least on paper.

Hoiberg’s lineups should feature players who complement each other’s strengths and offset each others weaknesses. He needs to learn that sometimes the best player talent-wise isn’t the best fit in a particular lineup or in a certain circumstance.

There are usually between 12-15 players on an NBA roster. This leaves dozens of combinations for potential lineups. Hoiberg needs to experiment with these combinations until he finds a few that work really well.

Solid lineup construction could make the difference in the Chicago Bulls 2016-17 season.