Feb. 10--Every sports team has had a distinct personality.
The Bulls, for instance, are a quiet group.
So in times of need, such as 12 losses in the last 17 games that have caused them to plummet to seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings, the Bulls lack a player who will stand up in the locker room and challenge teammates.
Teams can win without a player who isn't afraid to spell it out, but having one likely would come in handy for the reeling Bulls right now.
"Sometimes it's useful that a guy gets on somebody else to make him react or do better and not take it personally," veteran Pau Gasol said. "We don't have that type of personality on the team here in that way. You can approach a guy and say, 'Let's do this better, let's pick it up, let's figure it out,' ... (but) you don't have to say, 'What the (heck)? Wake the (heck) up.' Some guys are comfortable using that type of language but I'm not."
Neither, apparently, are the other leaders on the Bulls. Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson, among others, who mostly decline to vocally demand more from one other.
"It's just a quiet team in general," Rose said. "We talk to each other but as far as everybody keeping things to themselves after the game, we'll lose and a lot of guys feel bad for themselves. It's like, 'Man, get on with the game, we lost, put it behind us. Just learn from our mistake.'"
Added Hinrich: "We do have a quiet group. But every group on every team I've ever been on has different personalities. Everybody is trying to do the right thing. We just have to make sure we realize what the right things are."
By all accounts, there haven't been any team meetings during this rough stretch, which has stemmed from a slew of injuries but certainly has not been limited to that. Instead, it has been a lot of acceptance of losses and on to the next game. No one has been willing to act the part of agitator and stir things up to help snap them out of their malaise.
"We had a guy in Kevin Garnett in Minnesota who was that guy," said coach Fred Hoiberg, who played for the Timberwolves from 2003-05. "Guys liked him and respected him and he could say whatever he wanted.
It's kind of by committee with this group. It is by nature a quiet group but it's a good group of guys that cares and wants to do the right thing."
Hoiberg keeps things on an even keel. The first-year coach is more subdued than his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau. Hoiberg's style involves more cajoling and encouraging than challenging.
"Fred is a great coach," Gibson said. "He has a lot of mental toughness. Even though he may seem quiet, he's always in here giving us good talks, always giving us praise. He's always trying to keep us encouraged.
