LAS VEGAS — Tiago Splitter’s intent coming in: Coach the first few Summer League games so the Bulls’ young players get a sense of team culture and what’s going to be asked of them under a new regime.
As Monday’s embarrassing 80-63 loss showed, it sounded good on paper.
Hired last month for the job Billy Donovan stepped down from in April, Splitter coached his second Summer League game Monday after a few days of running practices and film sessions and answering some of the most burning questions about the Bulls (0-2).
The hottest one seems to be about the style of play he’ll implement on offense. Having won an NBA title with the Spurs 12 years ago, and having taken the Trail Blazers into the playoffs unexpectedly as their interim coach last season, he insisted that he wanted a share-the-ball mindset.
On the other hand, he’s quickly established himself as “a player’s coach,” in the words of rookie Caleb Wilson. So when he saw Wilson heat up from the outside in the Bulls’ first game Friday, Splitter pushed his usual philosophy to the side for a few quarters and let Wilson cook. The No. 4 overall selection from last month’s draft scored 35 points, including seven three-pointers, in a narrow loss to the Grizzlies.
It likely won’t be the norm for Splitter and it wasn’t against the undermanned Jazz, who without Darryn Peterson, but it shows his willingness to step away from the standard when it works.
“We don’t want the ball to stick,” Splitter said. “Sometimes it will when a player like Caleb is feeling good about himself, but that’s not how we want to play. We know if he’s hot or another guy is, it’s part of the game. We’re not naïve.
“I don’t like iso ball. I like the ball moving side to side. [Wilson] got to a moment there where he’s feeling good, hit three threes in a row, and [there’s] nothing you can do — just watch it. [But] once it calmed down, I told the guys, ‘Listen, we’ve got to move the ball side to side.’ That’s how I want them to play. And make quick decisions, don’t hold the ball. [Isolation] is not how we’re going to play.”
Wilson had 19 points in his follow-up game.
“I just couldn’t get it going,” Wilson said of his latest showing. “I don’t know what was wrong. That’s on me.”
The next question for Splitter concerned the disappointing performances by No. 15 overall pick Dailyn Swain, who finished with seven points and four rebounds in 22 minutes of action against the Grizzlies and followed that up with an 0-for-9, four-point game against Utah.
Then there’s Noa Essengue, the Bulls’ first-round pick last year, and the growing concerns around him being able to stay upright. There remains serious concern about the Frenchman’s apparent lack of physicality, which Splitter discussed without pulling punches.
Asked if Essengue’s season-ending shoulder surgery in December may be the reason he’s looking tentative now, Splitter responded, “I don’t know if it’s because the injury. He’s got to maybe bring a little more force in everything he does. That’s something we’re working on.”
What if that’s just not in his nature? What if Essengue just is what he is? After all, in the loss to the Jazz he was benched to begin the second half.
“Just wanted more from him,” Splitter said of Essengue’s benching. “A couple turnovers, too many turnovers, and just wanted a little more ball-handling.”