The Chicago Bulls are struggling to adjust after their longtime and fiery head coach Tom Thibodeau was replaced by college coach Fred Hoiberg. Now, one of their star players, Jimmy Butler, has called out their new coach after a loss to the New York Knicks.
As per espn.com, Butler feels Hoiberg has to be a little tougher with his players. "I believe in the guys in this locker room, yeah," Butler said. "But I also believe that we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times. I'm sorry, I know Fred's a laid-back guy, and I really respect him for that, but when guys aren't doing what they're supposed to do, you got to get on guys, myself included. You got to do what you're supposed to do when you're out there playing basketball."
"It's not even about being coached a certain way for five years," Butler continued. "It's making everybody do their job. We weren't doing what we were supposed to be doing, what we wrote up on that board before the game, and nobody spoke up about it. I did probably not enough times, but I think that he has to hold everybody accountable.
"From the No. 1 player all the way down to however many guys we got," Butler said. "You got to hold everybody accountable; everybody has to do their job. You win your matchup, you do your job, we win the game."
"It's always frustrating whenever you lose," Butler added. "If we would have won, we wouldn't be saying this, but since we lost the way that we did, I think that had something to do with it. ... No matter if we were a veteran or young team, you still got to do your job. But yeah, we have to lead since we are the vets. We got to lead by example and talk everything out out there. We got another one Monday."
Sources say that this sentiment of Butler comes from a fragmented relationship with star Derrick Rose. With Butler as the potentially new star player for the Bulls, experts believe that Butler would like the inefficient Rose to be traded.
According to ESPN insider Brian Windhorst, "The Derrick Rose breakup with the Bulls has begun. I don't know how long it's going to last. I don't know if it's going to be complete. But you can sort of see it. The team and the franchise have moved on to a little bit of a certain extent."
In addition to Butler's rumored demand, talks about the organization and Rose's declining relationship increased when Rose said he was already thinking about his free agency in 2017 as per cbssports.com.
