Bulls have lost the last remaining Tom Thibodeau feature

At the start of the season, there was a feeling of the possibility of a perfect storm for the Bulls. With Fred Hoiberg’s new focus on offense, mixed with the team’s natural defensive tendencies remaining from Tom Thibodeau, the Bulls had a chance to be dominant.

As anyone watching the team knows, that never happened.

The Bulls started the season as offensively inept as ever. Fortunately, they were able to win games they same way they have the last few years, with defense. But with each passing week, their defense worsened. The Bulls allowed more than four points-per-game more in January than they did in November. Unfortunately, February is getting even uglier.

The pressure to play stingy defense on every possession that was a necessity under Thibodeau has slowly faded into oblivion. It was only made worse with the loss of Joakim Noah, leaving Pau Gasol on the floor for key defensive possessions.

Heading into Wednesday night’s game against Atlanta, the Bulls are at risk of actually falling out of the playoff picture. The team currently sits at the seven seed, only a game and a half ahead of Charlotte in the ninth spot.