Chicago Bulls lean into a new tradition: Thor’s hammer award for defensive output. ‘You take on that challenge.’
Throughout this week’s stretch of home games, DeMar DeRozan’s locker was decorated with a new acquisition — a replica of Thor’s hammer emblazoned with a Chicago Bulls logo.
It’s a prized possession, one DeRozan had been eagerly awaiting a chance to brag about after a win against the Atlanta Hawks.
“I don’t know how they keep score or how they go about it with numbers, but I got the hammer,” DeRozan said. “That’s all I know. I’m Thor for the week.”
The hammer is a new tradition that reflects the Bulls coaching staff’s desire to award individual improvement on the defensive end of the court. It is awarded to a player after each five-game stretch of the season based on a variety of defensive statistics.
Assistant coaches John Bryant and Josh Longstaff came up with the idea during the offseason, presenting it to coach Billy Donovan and the players as a way to motivate defensive improvement throughout the season.
The key to the system is tracking and displaying defensive and hustle statistics at the practice facility every day, which keeps players aware of their output on the defensive end.
“We’re just trying to keep defensive charts on deflections, help (defense), all the things we’re trying to emphasize,” Donovan said. “Everybody gets a score after five games. It’s not so much the total scores, it’s who’s got the greatest percentage from five games to the next.”
For DeRozan, earning the hammer came after a particularly strong defensive stretch, the type that might be missed by a casual viewer more intrigued by the team’s recent offensive surge. DeRozan, who averages 1.1 steals and 0.8 blocks per game, is having a strong defensive season.
The selection of the player worthy of the hammer is determined by improvement, not outright performance. Donovan laughed while acknowledging that otherwise, defensive star Alex Caruso likely would hold the prize hostage for the entirety of the season.
“It’s one of those things where you’ve got to look at yourself in terms of the individual improvement you make because it’s the percentage of improvement you make in a five-game stretch,” Donovan said. “Guys have a chance to markedly improve over a period of five games.”
It’s a little goofy. The players know it. But the system also works.
“We all make fun of it with the hammer and everything, but I’ve been bragging about it ever since I got it,” DeRozan said.
Defense is a key for the Bulls, especially as their offense struggles to absorb the loss of key starters such as Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević.
The Bulls (15-19) — who defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 105-92 on Saturday at the United Center — have improved defensively throughout the season, raising their rating to 11th in the league in the last 10 games and second over the last five. They’ve moved to seventh in the league in steals, averaging 8.1 per game.
This is a familiar pattern. The Bulls started last season with a bottom-10 defensive rating and ended in the top five.
Individual defensive performances aren’t the only piece of limiting opposing teams’ scoring — the Bulls have learned that team defense in rotations and help situations outweighs the individual heroics of top defenders such as Caruso. But the emphasis for each player to raise expectations has been important in holding the team accountable after a slow defensive start.
“We see our numbers every day when we go into the practice gym,” DeRozan said. “You want to be better for yourself and for your teammates. You take on that challenge.”
