The triangle offense, or at least the version the Bulls run, is taking its seemingly annual beating.
Several Bulls have complained about its restrictive nature. Even rookie Jay Williams has gotten into the act.
Who better to respond to the criticism than its creator?
“Give [Williams] the ball and let him do it all on his own and see where he gets,” said Lakers–and former Bulls–assistant Tex Winter, with his typical bluntness.
Winter, 80, is in his 56th consecutive season of coaching. He is credited with inventing the triangle or triple-post offense in the 1950s.
And, well, it’s his baby.
“It’s ridiculous for players to question as sound an offense as this is and as long as it has been successful,” Winter said. “They just have to learn how to execute within the framework of it.”
Leave it to the wily Winter, though, to cut to the heart of perhaps the greatest challenge of the triangle offense, a dynamic with which Bill Cartwright is dealing.
“If you can’t sell particularly your superstars on what you want done, then they can sabotage everything, through the press, through the locker room,” Winter said. “It’s up to him to sell a system of play.”
The Bulls entered Friday’s game averaging 93.9 points, 14th in the league. The last four seasons, the Bulls finished last in scoring and all averages were in the 80s.
Winter follows the Bulls closely.
“I noticed they’re putting in an awful lot of screens, but that’s part of the offense,” he said. “There’s nothing in the game that I’ve seen that you can’t incorporate into the philosophy of the triangle offense.
“What you do is try to incorporate what utilizes the individual talents that you have. You play to your strengths.”
Retirement comes up yearly with Winter, who said he has an option to return next season as a consultant. But he looked as lively as ever throwing bounce passes Friday.
“I love to coach,” he said. “I like the intrigue with these guys and it being a contest of wills and egos sometimes. I like the practices. I don’t like the games. They drive me nuts. I’m too much of a perfectionist.”
Home, sweet home
Tyson Chandler took teammates Eddy Curry, Lonny Baxter, Roger Mason Jr. and Dalibor Bagaric to dinner Thursday night at the house of his mother, Vernie Threadgill.
Chandler, who went to Dominguez High School in nearby Compton, enjoys playing in Los Angeles. And he received unexpected good news with a story saying Dominguez might rehire coach Russell Otis, who was fired in 2001 after being charged with and acquitted of sexually molesting a former player.
“The program has died off since he left,” Chandler said. “I watched a game last year when we were out here and it was a disgrace to our program.”
House call
Tom Amberry, a retired podiatrist and self-proclaimed free-throw doctor, visited the Bulls at shootaround. Amberry, who lives in the area, once made 2,750 consecutive free throws. The Bulls are shooting a league-worst 66.8 percent from the line.
