Ah, out of the mouth of babes.
A mouth that DeMar DeRozan would have appreciated staying shut a bit longer, or at least until the details continue working itself out.
It was last week that 21-year-old Bulls forward Patrick Williams divulged a new-look offense for the Bulls this season, which focused on positionless basketball and opening the floor. Williams didn’t offer up much more than that, but as far as DeRozan was concerned, that was enough.
That became apparent after the Monday practice, as the Bulls were preparing for their first preseason game.
“First of all, you can’t expect too much … he’s still a teenager,” DeRozan joked of Williams, and the fact that the third-year player may have pulled back the curtain a bit early. “But yeah, just putting more wrinkles in the offense so we don’t become so predictable and [relying] on ‘hero basketball’ so much.”
DeRozan was well-versed in “hero ball.”
He played it most of the 2021-22 campaign for the Bulls, as Zach LaVine was working through a left knee issue, Nikola Vucevic was working through shooting woes, and Williams, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso were working through significant injuries.
But the league isn’t dumb. Every hero has his kryptonite.
By Game 5 of the first-round playoff loss to Milwaukee, DeRozan was being served his.
“It was very clear what Milwaukee was doing,” coach Billy Donovan said. “It was like, ‘We’re going to have someone else beat us. DeMar is not going to do what he did in Game 2 [when he scored 41].’ ”
Even before the Bucks were handcuffing the Bulls’ duo, however, DeRozan and LaVine saw a blueprint throughout most of the second half hell-bent on erasing all the good feelings from earlier in the season.
That’s why over the summer Donovan felt a change to the offense was needed, set to debut against New Orleans on Tuesday night.
What Donovan did clear up from Williams’ assertion, though, was the idea of it being a “new offense.” It’s some of the same offense, but with some tweaks.
“We’re trying to create a little more randomness to help some of the guys,” Donovan said. “So how do you get a little more randomness so they’re not just keying on DeMar, not just keying in on Zach? We’ve got to not only make it easier for them, but have these other guys play to their strengths.
“There’s more reads, more randomness coming down, and that’s going to take this group some time. It can’t be paint by numbers, like A to B to C.”
So while the exhibition game against the Pelicans will be step 1, getting this offense to where it’s tougher to defend will be a process. One that DeRozan hopes could lead to some impressive results.
“Get guys in different places, get guys involved, and get easier shots for the next person,” DeRozan said. “Not just rely on me and Zach so much of playing a bunch of isolation basketball. There’s definitely more wrinkles in there, and just getting comfortable with that for sure.
“The better you balance that, the better a team we become. It’s just a matter of understanding how to balance that. That’s on us. We’ve definitely been locked in and understanding of how we can help that.”
Now, if certain players could just stay mum on that.
At least for a while longer.
