Goodbye November... Hello Winter!
Well, I sure am happy to turn the calendar over to December! For the fourth season in a row, the Bulls suffered through a rough November, going 3-10, and giving them a combined .300 winning percentage since 2004 in the month. The good news, the Bulls are 125-84 over the same stretch, from December on.
The coach in me really can't believe that the Bulls keep finding themselves in this position. I'm sure the players feel the same way... no team hopes to get off to a bad start. My first year as a coach we lost our first three and then went on to make the playoffs. Look at the 1991 team... they lost their first 3 and went on to win a championship. It happens... and here's some reasons why November is often a tough month.
I compare it to a baseball team coming out of spring training... it takes a while for some players to get in sync. Some hitters are notoriously slow starters, and some pitchers don't start hitting their stride till the weather heats up a bit. I think the Bulls don't get in sync till after the "circus trip" and they play a nice stretch of games at home, and play more games a week. I think any player in any sport would rather play games...getting in a routine usually helps confidence, etc.
This Bulls' team has confidence that they can come back from a poor start because they've done it, and that's half the battle. Look for the shots to start dropping and the team to play better basketball on both ends.