“Tuning Out” the Easy Media Answers
Can anybody explain to me exactly what “tuning out” means?It started back in November with that troublemaker Chris Broussard:
“He’ll get the most out of mediocre talent and have his teams overachieve for a few years (this is his fifth in Chicago), but after awhile, players get sick of him and tune him out. According to various players around the league I’ve talked to, that’s what’s happening in Chicago.”
- Chris Broussard, ESPN.com 11/27
I guess Chicago writers take a day or two to read breaking news on the internet, as it did not reach the Second City for 48 hours. Not to be accused of expanding on reports in their re-reporting, writers referred to the nebulous “tuning out” as if it should be obvious what the phrase implies.
“Broussard wrote that his unnamed sources said the Bulls players have tuned out Skiles through this 3-10 season.”
- Brian Hanley, Chicago Sun-Times 11/29
“The theory is Skiles pushes his players hard and it works for a while, but they eventually begin to tune him out. Now some critics have concluded that could be an explanation for the Bulls’ 3-10 start this season.”
- Mike McGraw, Daily Herald, 11/29
“So a report quotes sources saying the Bulls have tuned out Scott Skiles, and the coach said it’s bogus. … Still, when teams lose, some guys do tune out the coach, but I have no idea that’s happened now.”
- Roman Modrowski, Chicago Sun-Times, 11/29
“Rarely do teams tune out their coach by refusing to make shots, which, of course, has been the Bulls’ main flaw.”
- Sam Smith, Chicago Tribune, 11/30
Obviously the words were brought up again following the Christmas Eve news, but interestingly, it placed the fault on the players…
“I’m not going to try and hide the fact that I’m a big Skiles fan, and if the Bulls’ are starting to tune out Skiles, it says a lot more about these players than it does about Skiles.”
- Erick Ward, Bull Riding on MVN.com, 12/24
Rick Morrissey even had the particular audacity (as only a self-righteous gladiator for truth would) to use the phrase in back-to-back sentences.
“Now he’s free of players who apparently tuned him out. And why wouldn’t they tune him out? Such a talented, overachieving bunch of players …”
- Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune, 12/24
Despite its repeated use across the sports writing world, I am still at a loss to explain exactly what is meant when people use this phrase.
Do the writers mean to imply that not a single word Skiles said was heard by the team? He would say “What up?” to Luol Deng over morning coffee, and Luol would leave the room?
Or, maybe it means they only ignored his coaching advice. When Skiles drew up a play designed to have Gordon run through a couple of screens for an open shot, would Ben refuse the pass?
Perhaps it is only certain things the players tune out. When Skiles tells them to make jump shots, for instance - it must be his fault, then, that Hinrich is one of the NBA’s worst-shooting starters.
The scholar in me turned to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary, for non-scholars) for help.
d. The adjustment of a transmitter or receiver to a particular signal frequency or wavelength; variation of the resonant frequency of an oscillatory circuit. Also tuning in, the action of adjusting a radio set to a desired frequency; the selection (of a frequency) by this process; also transf.; tuning out, the cutting out (of a radio transmission) by tuning.
So the Bulls were cutting out the radio transmissions Scott Skiles was sending?
Of course … How foolish of me not to understand earlier.
* * *
Scott Skiles did not get fired because the team “tuned him out.”
It is a cheap way to try to explain away what has happened to the Bulls this year without saying anything. What really happened? Who knows.
As others have suggested, there are a million things that came together and led to this going down: Paxson’s roster moves, including passing on Garnett over the summer … Changes in the starting lineup not being made … Kirk Hinrich not living up to his contract and captain status … Luol Deng failing to grow as a star worth passing on Kobe Bryant for … Every Bulls player going ice, ice cold at the same time.
Sam Smith even wrote that Skiles gave up on the players.
All of this analysis is great. But the problem is, it is impossible to prove or disprove any of it - it’s like faith.
I am in no position to explain the failure of virtually every player on the Bulls roster to perform. It was more than them just not improving, as young teams are expected to do. Many literally regressed, playing much worse than they consistently have earlier in their careers.
The only hard evidence that fans - and reporters - really have are the games themselves, and the stats afterwards. The difference between this evidence and the nebulous “tuning out” is that statistical arguments can be supported by facts available to all. As opposed to what Bulls players talk about privately amongst themselves - or apparently amongst Chris Broussard’s secret sources - and would never reveal to a reporter (at least not on the record).
Looking over the games, the Bulls have mostly played below their abilities, and earned every bit of their 9-16 record. The last two blowout losses against the Celtics and Rockets were particularly low points.
Statistically, the most telling number is 41.27 - their team field goal percentage. Did I mention it was last in the league?
Based on those facts I would say - Yes, the Bulls needed to do something.
Would I say that the team had “tuned out” Skiles, and that he needed to go? No.
Inevitably over the course of an NBA season there will be times where players will ignore what their coaches preach to them. You think Michael Jordan or Dennis Rodman listened to every wisp of wisdom from the Zen Master? No, they did not.
Especially in the worst of times, players will tend to heed their own council and try to play their way out of the mess.
But just because players do not ALWAYS listen to their coach - even when they ignore him for long stretches - it doesn’t mean they have “tuned him out.” If players are really talented, eventually that will shine through. And, all of a sudden, whether they listen to their coach or not, the team will improve.
You see, this was simply not the right move for this team. Ultimately, Skiles cannot be blamed for a bunch of guys - multi-millionaire, grown men - not wanting to show up and play.
No new coach will come in and get Ben Gordon to play defense. No one will make Hinrich stop wasting possessions and missing shots. A fresh face will not make Ben Wallace any younger or cause Tyrus Thomas to mature overnight. Most importantly, no old man can make Luol Deng become a leader and earn his teammates’ respect.
All of those things are the responsibility of the individual players. Championship players play to the maximum of their abilities every time they step on the floor. Heck, even your average, professional players do that.
Nothing the Bulls have done this season has been professional.
And you know what? Skiles should be included in that mess. He probably should have made lineup changes, or handled Tyrus Thomas better, or a million other things.
The point remains, though - what has happened on the floor this season is not his fault.
The team is flawed. They have been, despite their success over the past few seasons. A small backcourt with no inside scoring is a bad model in any basketball textbook.
Despite all that, Scott Skiles figured out a way to make it work with what he had. They were struggling this year, but that was nothing new for this group. They figured it out in the past, turned things around, and were stronger because of it.
They had faith in each other in past years when things started poorly, and were rewarded once they hit their groove. They trusted each other and played better. Respect is built when teammates stick together through the lowest of times - it is shattered when a leader gets stabbed in the back in the middle of a mild storm that the ship’s owner does not have the stomach to endure.
Now, that trust will never come back. Paxson chose to put the blame squarely on Skiles, removing accountability from the players and himself. Instead of grinding with the only coach they have ever known together - and eventually realizing it’s really quite easy to make the playoffs in the East - Paxson panicked and lost the trust.
I hope this galvanizes the team and makes everything better. I doubt it will.
It would be one thing if Paxson was ready to hire a Larry Brown or Phil Jackson type immediately, but that won’t happen. No one with a better resume will come in to coach this team.
Rick Carlisle? Terry Porter? Mike Fratello? None of those guys have proven they can do any better than Skiles. Naming one of them coach would be a neutral, lateral move at best.
No individual on earth knows this current team better than Skiles, and no one had a better chance to fix what is broken than him. This is not a championship-caliber team, regardless of expectations coming into the season. They are a low-level playoff team, with a lot of young assets.
A new coach will not change that.
But the Bulls are about five steps away from being a title-contending club, and Skiles could have brought them closer. He should not have been fired. It was the wrong move at the wrong time for this team and franchise.
Tags: Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls, Kirk Hinrich, Scott Skiles, tuning out