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Short-Handed Bulls Continue Splendid Ball Movement, Find Success

By Cody Westerlund--

CHICAGO (CBS) – Bulls wing Doug McDermott reeled the numbers off the top of his head without missing a beat – 32, 30 and 26.

Those are the assist totals for the Bulls in their past three games, all victories, including a 109-104 win against the Wizards on Wednesday night at the United Center in which point guard Derrick Rose sat out with right hamstring tendonitis. That McDermott recited the statistics with such ease goes to show it's a harping point for Fred Hoiberg, who has seen his offense flounder to a bottom-five efficiency rating in his rookie NBA coaching season.

So what's the deal with the Bulls' improved ball movement?

"We've just kept it a lot more simple on offense," McDermott said. "He's not even calling plays. We're flowing into stuff, flowing into sets that get our shooters out to the corner quicker and get our big men involved."

Unintentionally and innocently, McDermott has become a spiller of secrets regarding Hoiberg's play-calling. It was McDermott who earlier in the year first revealed that some of former coach Tom Thibodeau's actions had been implemented by Hoiberg in an effort to provide some familiarity for a struggling offense.

So it's worth noting what McDermott responded with when asked if this offense we're seeing lately is Hoiberg's vision.

"I feel like it is," said McDermott, who was one of seven Bulls in double figures Wednesday. "You can tell he's excited with the way things are going.

"Unselfish. Everyone's really benefiting from it, so it's good to see."

The looming subplot – there's always a subplot with the Bulls, isn't there? – is that this splendid ball movement (the 32 assists against the Raptors last Friday were a season-high) has come with All-Star wing Jimmy Butler sidelined since Feb. 5 with a left knee strain. It was Butler who earlier in the season didn't fully embrace Hoiberg's new system, according to reports. And it's Butler who the Bulls often run isolation sets for – and understandably so, as he's one of the NBA's most efficient scorers in such situations.

In some ways, it's the absence of Butler that's helped spur the Bulls' reliance on their teammates. Averaging about 22 assist per game for the season, the Bulls have averaged 29.3 in the past three games.

"It's one less guy we can rely on to get the ball and have him get a shot," said forward Mike Dunleavy, who had 14 points in a season-high 28 minutes Wednesday. "I think there's just a sense of, 'We got to move the ball in order to get a good shot.' That's kind of where we're at."

Adding another wrinkle to this topic is that as Butler's been sidelined, Rose – a late scratch Wednesday as the Bulls took a "cautious" approach with a soft-tissue injury – has submitted his best month since March 2012. He's averaging 21.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists this February, while shooting nearly 44 percent.

After beating the Lakers on Sunday, Hoiberg shot down the theory that the Bulls' ball movement had a direct correlation to Butler's absence. Still, achieving optimal offensive efficiency with everyone healthy has largely eluded the Bulls this season, and it's a puzzle that Hoiberg yearns to solve.

"A big thing right now is we've had such good movement," Hoiberg said. "The ball's swinging side to side, we're making a lot quicker decisions than we were making earlier in the year, and that benefits everybody. It's not always going to be the same person every night. Our guys have to understand that, that if you play the right way it's going to give you the best opportunity to win. So that's the thing. When we get all our bodies back, we're all looking forward to that. We just have to keep the movement out there and keep the pace going where it is."

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.

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