but what I just wrote, buried in the middle of the Deng thread, seems just as applicable, and perhaps moreso, in this one.

I recognize the need to get everyone on board, but from what I can tell of the Bulls offense, it’s not VDN that needs to be re-thinking everything (as his "feel some things through ourselves" response to Deng seems to concede). As best I can tell, the offense he’s running seeks to
1. Put the ball in Rose’s hands
2. Have everyone else start at the corners but then move continuously.

On the rare occasions we’ve played that way (really only Milwaukee) we’ve played pretty well.

What I do see is some push back from the players. I see Deng playing how he wants to play. I see Gordon playing how he wants to play. I see Hinrich playing how he wants to play. In short, I see reluctance from these guys to accept their roles and execute the offense. It’s like the old guard that doesn’t want to change the way they’ve done things.

This is a crucial test for VDN. I suppose they need to be respectful of the players. Especially Deng because he should be able to succeed in this offense and because we’ve made a big commitment to him. But they absolutely, positively cannot start changing things in major ways to suit anyone else (I’m looking at you Ben and Kirk). If they refuse to execute the offense, if they refuse to accept the ball in Rose’s hands, if they’re not happy having to run around without the ball now that they’ve got big contracts (in the case of Kirk and Lou) then fuck them.

That’s the problem I see with this article and with the "progress" of the Bulls over the past four games. They started ot well and have a fine plan. But the guys that have been here aren’t buying in and there’s the temptation to try and accomodate them. Take the ball out of Rose’s hands and let the vets do there thing. They’ll even win a couple more games and not ruffle as many feathers. We can all see it starting to happen. The coaches need to see it and figure out how to nip it in the bud, and quickly, before it forms habits and expectations about how things are going to be.