Bulls sharpen their horns—and elbows

Sporting News, The, Jan 14, 2002 by Sean Deveney

Bill Cartwright has the right idea. After taking over in Chicago for Tim Floyd, he could see pretty clearly that the Bulls have an essential problem: They can't outscore anyone.

In basketball, in all sports and even in the Darwinian view of life itself, this is not good. The inability to outscore opponents is the kind of problem that dooms individuals, teams and species to utter failure.

Ron Mercer can score in spurts. Ron Artest is a good defender who would make a nice third option on most teams. Brad Miller can score off his rebounding. Take those three guys, add up the rest, and, if it is a good night in Chicago, the Bulls will reach the 84-point plateau, which is just about their average. Cartwright knows that, and he knows his attempt to re-install the triangle offense with the Bulls only is going to muddle things in the short term. Fie has three rookies, including two 19-year-olds, who get regular playing time. He would have an easier time teaching them trigonometry than the triangle.

"We're going to be a little confused on offense," Cartwright says. "I can live with that."

But Cartwright has the right idea when it comes to the Bulls' approach. If you can't score yourselves, at least make it difficult on your opponents.

Stretch the rules a little if you have to. That was the way Cartwright did it in his 15-year NBA career, during which he developed a reputation for having the league's sharpest elbows. Though he played defense elbows-first, Cartwright maintains any elbow he threw was--ahem--"accidental."

"I don't know about that," says Bulls center Brad Miller. "I have been working with him since last year. He has already docked me a few times in pregame warmups. So, I know how sharp his elbows are, just practicing with him, going one-on-one with him. He knows how to do it and get away with it. He has a little more of an insight as far as relaying that message to us, since he did that his whole career, whacking people with elbows."

This is what Cartwright has been trying to get across to his players. If you can't be good, at least be tough. At least let the other guy know you're there, preferably with an elbow to the torso. One of the Bulls' most embarrassing moments of the season (and when you are 6-25 there are plenty of candidates) came during an 80-79 loss to Atlanta, when in the Hawks' final possession Jason Terry was allowed to drive to the hoop untouched for a game-winning dunk. That kind of porous interior defense should never happen, but especially not on the game-deciding play. This is why Cartwright put strongman Charles Oakley back into the starting lineup, and it is why he stresses the long-term value of a well-placed elbow.

"Everything at the bucket, the main emphasis is that we want to put people down," Miller says. "Do it legally, but take the hard foul. Against Milwaukee (a Bulls win), we were fouling them hard early on, then in the fourth quarter, they kept missing easy layups because they were thinking, `Are we going to get drilled on this shot?'"

Mavericks coach Don Nelson says the hard fouls were the first thing he noticed about the Bulls under Cartwright. Dallas played the Bulls in the game before Cartwright was named head coach, then played them again a week later.

"We noticed the fouls on film," Nelson says. "I am not an advocate of hard fouls and stuff like that, but I think it's good when you take a team over, to make sure they don't give up easy layups. If he is going to foul you, he is going to foul you hard and knock you down. They need something, and Bill is bringing that to them. I am not going to complain about it. I would probably do the same thing in his shoes."

Hard fouls and rugged defense won't be fun to watch, but the style could keep the Bulls competitive and, more important, keep Cartwright employed. Cartwright will finish out this season as coach, then will sign a contract for three more years if both he and the team want to continue. There's no reason to think that, assuming things in Chicago stay on a positive keel, both sides won't agree to continue.

And really, Cartwright is as good of a coach as the Bulls are going to find for this job. He already has been working with the two franchise cornerstones, high school. draftees Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler. Plus, there is a dearth of available coaching candidates, and there should be a wealth of jobs open.

Chicago is not the most promising situation for potential coaches, no matter what general manager Jerry Krause would have you believe. The roster is in disarray. Sure, the team has salary-cap space which it could use to pursue free agents over the next two summers, but it had acres of salary-cap space the previous two summers, and the only results were Mercer, Eddie Robinson, a new team for Eddie Jones two years ago and a tarnished reputation in the Antonio Davis mess last summer. It does not matter whether the Bulls hire Jim Naismith or Jim Nabors--a coach can't do much without talented players.

Well, there is one thing a coach can do without talented players: Teach the ones he has to get those elbows flying.