Chicago Bulls forward Jabari Parker made sure that he wasn't throwing head coach Fred Hoiberg and his staff under the bus in his comments following their atrocious 135-106 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night.
The former no. 2 pick of the 2014 draft pointed out that the Bulls did not have any schemes ready to counter the adjustments made by the Hornets in their second match-up in this young season. The Hornets changed up their game plan and the Bulls did not have an answer for it.
Jabari Parker said Hornets made offensive adjustment from Wednesday to Friday: "Instead of setting a single-side pick-and-roll, they set a double-drag. And we couldn’t guard it. We didn’t have a scheme for it. That kind of buried us. It was unplanned. They kept running it too."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 27, 2018
Parker was asked whether the comments were a jab at the coaching staff. He wasn't having any of that.
Asked if not having scheme to guard double-drag is coaching issue, Parker said: "Nah, don’t set me up like that. We didn’t expect it. That’s all. But along with that, we need better energy. I could’ve controlled that too."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 27, 2018
The Bulls picked up their first win of the season against the Hornets on Wednesday night, 112-110. However, the succumbed to the same team two nights later in embarrassing fashion, losing by 29 points.
Article Continues BelowParker echoed the same thoughts that coach Hoiberg did following Chicago's ugly loss on Friday. While Hoiberg did acknowledge that he's still experimenting with lineups, that should not be an excuse for the team not to put in the effort on defense.
The defensive woes continue for the young Bulls. They are currently ranked 29th in defensive rating at 121.4 and are allowing 121 points per game, which is the 4th worst in the league. It certainly doesn't help that the Bulls will be missing defensive guard Kris Dunn for the next 4 to 6 weeks due to an MCL sprain.
While the losses like this may be frustrating for players like Parker and Zach Lavine, they should use this opportunity to learn from these experiences and get better defensively as the season progresses. They will get a chance to redeem themselves tonight when they visit Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks.