CHICAGO _ Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Rajon Rondo's Instagram post blasting Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler for their comments questioning Bulls teammates' commitment after a late collapse against the Hawks the day before.
A team meeting in which management fined all three players and young players aired their grievances toward Wade and Butler followed the next day. The Bulls then played their best basketball down the stretch to make the playoffs and take a 2-0 series lead over the top-seeded Celtics before Rondo fractured his right thumb and the Celtics rallied to advance.
Coach Fred Hoiberg was asked Friday about the differences between coaching this season's team and last season's.
"Last year was a completely different team," Hoiberg said. "We had guys that were more comfortable in isolation situations, so we tried to get into that. When Rondo was playing great at the end, we really tried to get the ball up the floor with pace, and Niko (Mirotic) was knocking down shots and we were getting a lot accomplished early in the possession.
"With this group, we've got a lot of young players. We don't have a lot of isolation guys, so it's really been a system based more on ball movement and player movement. After that first month and a half, we've had a lot of success with it."
