Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan talked about needing to move the ball more, Zach LaVine’s return, and getting better on defense following Saturday’s 128-96 home loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
(via Jump View):
Donovan is asked about what he saw out of his bench unit vs. Cleveland:
“I was disappointed because that’s not been the group that’s been in training camp. The one thing that happened to that group, in my opinion, that had been uncharacteristic is I thought the ball stopped moving. We didn’t help each other. One of the things for us, we kinda need ball movement in each other. It’s not like we have guys where you can throw them the ball. Like Mitchell & LeVert are just breaking you down off the dribble. They don’t need screens, they can just go. And that’s not one of our strengths. We need each other. I thought that group in particular, we didn’t help each other well enough to create some advantages, kinda get the ball ahead of the defense. I thought we got stagnant and we kinda stood a little bit. We didn’t cut and move.
“That group has been really, really good doing that and that’s the part that’s been surprising and disappointing is that group’s done a really good job of that, and we did not play to that at all. That’s how we have to play. DeMar is really, really smart and savvy. He’s trying to generate offense for the team by driving and kicking. We had some great, great offensive possessions in that 3rd quarter in the way we played, I think even DeMar understands we have to play like that. But when we get stagnant and we’re not helping each other, I think sometimes when the ball gets to a player it looks like, ‘Well, this guy’s just holding it.’ Someone’s gotta help him! We gotta help each other a little bit more than we did.”
Donovan on Zach LaVine’s return from left knee injury management/improving defensively as a team:
“I thought he was really, really decisive and aggressive offensively. I thought he did a good job there. I think for our team, not just Zach, collectively as a team, we all have to be better defensively. And I would throw Zach in there with our team. Our team, Zach, everybody needs to be better defensively. Even with the communication, physicality, those kind of things. For him having time off, I thought he came in and played well.
“I took him out in the 3rd because I left him in too long in the 1st. I was hoping it would be a little more stoppage of play. It got way, way too far in the 1st for him coming out. Right when I saw him on his shorts, I think he was playing hard and trying to give the game everything he had. I just wanted to get him off just to kinda let him recover and not have to play fatigued. What happened was that group, when he came off, we started playing really well and he probably sat for longer than he normally does. I just wanted to go with that group because I thought that group gave us an opportunity to get back into the game.”
