Bulls' Thibodeau, Gibson disagree on root of defensive issues

It's strange to be discussing issues on the defensive end for the Chicago Bulls.

Defense has long been the calling card of the Bulls under head coach Tom Thibodeau, who is one of the most well-respected defensive minds in basketball and has several great defensive players at his disposal. More than a month into the season, the Bulls are having some unfamiliar issues on that end of the floor.

It's not that the defense has been bad, as they still rank ninth in team defense. But they ranked second a year ago and fifth, first and first in the seasons before that. Even remote struggles are foreign to this core, even if inconsistent rotations due to myriad minor injuries have made chemistry a bit of a challenge.

"Just the effort and having trust in one another," backup power forward Taj Gibson, one of the team's best interior defenders, said Wednesday.

The word trust may just refer to the team working in new players like Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and the returning Derrick Rose, as the rest of the core is largely the same. Alternatively, the word trust might be complete hogwash. That's what Thibodeau thinks, anyway.

"That's garbage," Thibodeau said. "That's garbage. Trust is work. That's how you build trust. You gotta know what you're doing. You have to be tied together. You have to work at it. It's a cop-out. Where you get trust is from work."

Obviously, then, Thibodeau believes there's an effort issue. Made aware of his coach's thoughts, Gibson didn't back down from his earlier assessment, pointing out that Joakim Noah voiced a similar sentiment.

"That's (Thibodeau's) opinion," Gibson said. "That was just me and Jo's opinion. We're on the court. It's just new guys, that's all it is."

Whatever the actual root cause, this is still a top-10 defense with a top-one upside on that end of the floor. The Bulls are 13-8 despite the injuries and occasional defensive lapses, and there remains ample time to iron out the wrinkles.