I lived in Chicago for the entire 2010-11 NBA season, the year the Mavericks won the championship and the year Derrick Rose won the MVP. That season was peak Rose. History might also make that team the peak-Thibodeau Bulls, but that depends on how this year’s Bulls team does.
This year’s Bulls team has been great at times, lousy at other, uneven throughout. The 2010-11 team was locked in and improving as the team moved through the season. Rose was a physical, athletic force and the main motor. The other young Bulls had energy to spare: Noah, Taj, Asik, Brewer, Watson. The veterans could all keep up: Korver, Deng, Boozer, Thomas, Bogans. Noah and Boozer were the only two who lost big chunks of the season to injury (see the Basketball Reference page). In comparison the 2014-15 team is lower energy and higher injury.
You could see the Thibodeau operating principles on display every game in 2010-11. The team improved because it always worked hard. And the team stayed healthy because it always worked hard. All the work kept fitness levels high and players strong. At the end of the season, I remember, the Bulls lost because they were not as fit or as strong as LeBron James, but no team was. Miami put James on Rose and it forced Chicago to run plays through Noah who lacked sufficient playmaking skills even though you could see he was going to get the someday. The Heat just happened to win the bet that he could not develop those playmaking skills in time to win the series. For that Thibodeau team every day was another chance to get better but those players just ran out of days.
The 2014-15 Bulls do not have the same kind of always-working, always-improving dynamic. You can see elements of it in the rise of Jimmy Butler, in the comeback of Derrick Rose, the way that Gasol-Mirotic fit in with the Rose-Butler-Noah-Taj core. But the non-stop super-size motors in Rose-Noah-Taj did not get a youth infusion this season from Mirotic-McDermott-Snell. Mirotic started strong but hit a wall in recent weeks. McDermott never got going before getting hurt. Snell could be ready to break out, but until he does you don’t know.
The “better every day” is such a simple, useful habit that it becomes difficult to realize that it is not the best prescription for every training situation. I was a big believer in “better every day” and rest when necessary, but after a few years of injuries I went looking for an alternative. The answer came in the news stream that followed Meb Keflezighi’s New York City Marathon victory. He uses a 9-day, hard-easy-easy training cycle. Now I do too.
The 9-day extended micro-cycle is not as simple as doing as much as I can every time I work out. It takes restraint to pull back when I feel good but it easy enough to draw a line at what I did on last hard day, and maker sure I don’t cross it. There is also something comfortable about taking consecutive days off and not falling out of cycle, just saying they are (extremely) easy days. As I ramp up I expect the hard-easy-easy pattern to extend to a macro level, the hard 9-day period followed by two easier 9-days before it escalates again. I’m looking forward to training with a plan that is long-term sustainable.
The insight for teams like Chicago is that progressions are habits, but not always good ones. It is important to adapt but then the question “adapt to what?” looms and there is no obvious answer. The information is not readily available, but it is important and worthwhile to look for it.