Feb. 25--Fred Hoiberg started to smile as the question began, the one wondering about his perspective on Taj Gibson's claim that Hoiberg is coaching differently in practice. In Gibson's words, Hoiberg's even "cursing guys out."
"This wasn't the first time I yelled at them," Hoiberg said. "Let's get that straight here."
Given that he has bemoaned his team's lack of toughness at times, Hoiberg more seriously contemplated whether habits can be changed this deep into a season.
"I just look at the different ebbs and flows," he said. "If you look before Jan. 1, we were winning a lot of these battles. We were fourth in the league in defense and doing a lot of really good things on that end of the floor. It was winning games for us when our offense wasn't very good. We've slipped.
"Some of it has to do with some of the bodies we don't have. But guys have to give effort. In this league, if you don't make first contact, you're going to get hit."
Hoiberg never drew a technical as a player and is the only coach not to get one this season. This team has cited accountability issues at times. Despite that, Hoiberg said he has no issue with confrontation.
"We've had some pretty heated conversations over the course of the year," Hoiberg said. "If we need a little kick in the butt, you get on them and hopefully they respond. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't."
Backcourt bliss: Before sitting out Wednesday night's game with the Wizards with right hamstring soreness, Derrick Rose had been on a roll. That it has come mostly with Jimmy Butler sidelined raises questions whether it can continue whenever Butler returns from his left knee injury.
"Jimmy is obviously a great player and a guy who can flat out get you a basket," Hoiberg said. "We're going to need that. Jimmy to date has been our best clutch player. It's a balance, but when you're in the flow of the game, you have to keep that ball moving side-to-side. We'll run those (isolations) when we need to.
"Our guys have to understand that if you play the right way it's going to give you the best opportunity to win. So when we get all of our bodies back, and we're all looking forward to that, we just have to keep the movement out there, keep the pace going where it is, and hopefully everybody benefits off of that."
Minor move: The Bulls revealed their Development League team name as Windy City Bulls. The team begins play in Hoffman Estates in 2016-17.
