Boylan's Practices are Enjoyable

[bullzman23]

Everyone's kind of happier out there," Deng said. "He's really done a good job of just bringing us together, understanding that if we're going to win, we need all of us."

"I think guys are real enthusiastic for some reason," added rookie Joakim Noah. "I don't know why, but that's just the way it is."

As far as what's different about the actual practices, Noah suggested the Bulls are spending more time reviewing game video and working on individual skills.

"We watch a lot more film on the things we could have done better," he said. "We didn't do that a lot before. Instead of just running up and down the whole time (in practice), there's more emphasis on exactly what we're doing."
Deng felt the practices have been more pleasant because Boylan is asking the Bulls to play at a faster tempo.

"We run a lot more," he said. "When we practice, everyone tends to get shots up and it kind of makes the game fun for everybody."

Chris Duhon, on the other hand, mentioned the length of the workouts as a significant difference between Boylan and former coach Scott Skiles.

"Practice is not as long as it used to be," Duhon said. "We pretty much get in, we get our work done and we get out. Things are, I wouldn't say smoother, but guys are more relaxed knowing that we're not going to be grinding it out for 2½-3 hours."

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=108766&src=150

No wonder no one ever made huge development strides under Skiles...

[Morten Jensen]

I think this raises the improvement in practice against improvement in games issue. If you grind it out for 2½ - 3 hours while not fully knowing what you're doing, that's going to bring some problems to young players, and they will take those problems with them to the hardwood. Rookies and youngsters have a need of knowing their role. That seems to be impossible when practicing the way Skiles apparently did.

[suckfish]

One of the reasons that I liked the idea of firing Skiles without having a long term replacement was for these very reasons.

I think it's fair to say Skiles is an old school hard ass coach, I'm not completely against that style of coaching because with the right players it can be very effective. However with a young group of players it can be a disaster, particularly over a long period of time.

One of the benefits of having an interim is too lighten things up, the players seem to be performing better under the cooler laid back approach that Boylan appears to be coaching with. As long as it doesn't get too laid back it's great, it's fairly obvious that Ben Gordon is performing better under this approach, not just from his statistics but from the way that he is playing. The freedom on offense with his one goal focusing on scoring and the dunks! I hadn't seen Gordon dunk in the NBA since his very early days, suddenly he is attacking the basket stronger and we have already seen various dunk attempts. How about that attempt against Charlotte? He got rejected but he went up damn strong, he doesn't seem afraid to try anything as of late.

Note: This isn't a knock on Skiles, I just think it's fairly obvious that Boylan has had a positive impact on the team, it could have been any old coach as long as the team got a fresh start from Scooter.

[Rerisen]

The feel good stuff continues. And that's not a bad thing. Much better than hearing everyone hates practice. Even so, I think we are just now going to see the team coming out of the honeymoon phase of being more happy about Skiles being gone than anything else.

The rap on the Bulls historically was under talented team that had to out hustle other teams to win. And even players like Deng seemed to buy into that from recent comments. For all the grueling nature of Skiles practices, they got that to happen for 3 years. Now the question becomes can the Bulls still be as good a team as say last year, if Boylan is leading them with a more laid back and easy going approach? Can you get 110% that way? Or is there some unique ingredient he can bring beyond just playing harder? Perhaps playing 'smarter' as indicated by the more frequent film study and emphasis on specific player weaknesses.

We shall see. A Bulls team playing to their maximum capability should not have a tough time with the New York Knicks, and should honestly blow them out by no less than 10 or 15.

[Mr. Tibbs]

i think there's good and bad to both types of practice. I've played for the coaches that make u practice for 3 and a half hours with tons of running and u leave practice wanting to shoot urself. however when you're younger i think you need that. The older you get you pretty much keep your body in shape and practice needs to be a bit more than just a running drill.

For this team the drilling phase passed them up. in 04-05 i think this kinda coach wouldn't have ever led us to a playoff birth.

I think it differs with people though..from my experience i prefer the hard long practices. Not because they're any fun but because i know i need to be pushed as hard as i can go to feel like i'm getting something out of practice. The easier my coaches got..i usually played worse under them.

[Cliff Levingston]

The longer and harder the practice is as well, it'll lead to heavier/sore legs. Maybe we'll have a little more bounce to our step for the rest of the season as a result.

[Ralphb07]

I think practicing for 3 hrs and having really long hard practices should be when training camp is. Its also good for young players to make them earn everything.

But when you have vets,I think it's more important to have light but good practice and study and film. What's a 3 hr practice if you dont learn anything.

This is the reason why people shouldnt jump when Tyrus doesnt play. I think right now Boylan is doing more teaching and preparing him so when he does he is effective. The two yrs Tyrus has been here I never heard once Skiles say Thomas needs to be active baseline to baseline and thats where his game is.

During the season there's need to be light practice but get things done and do a lot of game film, showing players what they did wrong and how to correct it.

Make training camp very gruling and difficult and in season light practice and a lot of film

[TeamMan]

There were always questions in the back of my mind about Skiles, and this article answers a lot of them.

However, before Skiles came there was also a lot of questions about the conditioning of the players, and I hope that those questions don't return.

What's good to hear is that the team is doing more running, because I believe it fits the Bulls skill set.

Grind-it-out, half court basketball, is good when you've got (the long sought for) inside scorer that the Bulls don't have.

But when you've got a low-scoring, less-than-50% FT-shooter, at center, it makes sense to get him out and let him get a few chances to score by beating his man down court.

[TB#1]

So no more running suicides until you drop or kneeling on the out of bounds line with your hands behind your back for team infractions?" No more atomic situp hazing?

They call this professional?

If they take away the spanking machine on players' birthdays, I'm REALLY going to be upset.

[kulaz3000]

Just practises are more player-friendly, doesn't mean it will result in better basketball. So far so good as the players seem looser and obviously playing with a little more bounce, but long term im wondering how the results of this will be like.

I definitly seems like the players are relishing the different methods of Boylan which is also a positive. He is obviously a contrast to Skiles, which many fans though he would not be. Those his ideals on the court may be the same, but his approach seems entirely different, and that could have been the thing we most lacked.

Time will tell..

[Bull Shak]

No more running for 30 minutes because Wallace didn't tape his ankles!

[kyrv]

Just practises are more player-friendly, doesn't mean it will result in better basketball. So far so good as the players seem looser and obviously playing with a little more bounce, but long term im wondering how the results of this will be like.

I definitly seems like the players are relishing the different methods of Boylan which is also a positive. He is obviously a contrast to Skiles, which many fans though he would not be. Those his ideals on the court may be the same, but his approach seems entirely different, and that could have been the thing we most lacked.

Time will tell..

I will say, Boylan has the 'easy job'. When Skiles came in the team was not in NBA shape and he had to play the bad guy. Now that the team are professionals, Boylan gets to play 'good cop'.

[Gregnice33]

The longer and harder the practice is as well, it'll lead to heavier/sore legs. Maybe we'll have a little more bounce to our step for the rest of the season as a result.

Could that be contributed to our poor shooting when Skiles was coaching?

[Cliff Levingston]

Could that [have] contributed to our poor shooting when Skiles was coaching?

Of course.

[Gregnice33]

-= original quote snipped =-


Of course.

Although I will say that fans and announcers alike underestimate the kind of shape these are guys are in. Like assuming guys will be tired after a back to back. I agree it will happen when you have to travel but when both games at home I don't think it should be a big deal, unless the first game is a double OT or a very strenuous game where the players get big minutes. When I'm in shape (and I'm no professional athlete) I can play everyday for 2 to 3 hours, with my game not being affected.

The same goes for shooting and short lay offs (i.e., the "rust" theory). I just shot around for the first time in about year and I didn't miss a beat.

Maybe I'm just superhuman