Scott Skiles Kicks Back and Lets His Team Figure it Out

Rather than stomping his feet and screaming from the sidelines, Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles has been using a more relaxing coaching strategy to get through to his players. At the Bulls recent exhibition game against the Mavericks, Skiles sat back and let his team figure out their mistakes at points when they looked disorganized or seemed to be struggling. This laid-back strategy is Skiles’ plan to help the team develop in the pre-season. When Luol Deng hung wide-open for post-up opportunities and none of his teammates seemed to notice, Skiles practiced his meditative strategy. Of the team’s slip-up he said, “In a more regular-season setting, I would take control of that and make sure that we knew. But all of that can’t fall to me at this stage of development as a team. The guys on the floor have to recognize that.”

2007-2008 marks Skiles’ fourth season coaching the Bulls, and his decision to stay out of their faces in the pre-season really seems to be beneficial to building the team. The key to having a successful basketball team is having a group of guys that work together and communicate on and off of the court. We’re all familiar with the “team” acronym – together everyone accomplishes more – there’s no doubt that this is true and Skiles taking a step back and letting his players figure it out right now will definitely be beneficial down the road. The Bulls failure to spot Deng in the shooting guard position could perhaps be a result of the absent Ben Gordon and Thabo Sefolosha, who are both out with minor injuries. If that’s the case then Skiles is giving the players a fair shot to get it right, and to be perfectly honest, it seems that they will.

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