THE BULLS’ BERMUDA TRIANGLE : NBA Opponents Have Gotten Lost in Tex’s Technology

And now, here are a few examples of basic bulk theory.

Overload a computer, and you melt your gigabytes.

Overload your plate, and you’re either in the market for a new belt or a member of the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line.

Overload one side of the basketball court and, hey, you’re the Chicago Bulls, laying waste to the rest of the NBA with a scorched-floor offensive policy that dates back to, oh, the Jurassic period?

The Bulls’ offense looks like it’s pretty much the way to go, what with their 39-3 record and all. There’s a lot in its favor: It’s geometrical, it’s something that can be taught to athletes who went to college and it has Michael Jordan in it.

The Bulls actually call it the “sideline triangle offensive technology,” but it was known in a previous life as the “triple post.”

The rest of the league calls it trouble, basically because Jordan and Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman and Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr and a bunch of other guys can run it so well, you probably would be better off just to call it the “Bermuda Triangle” and get lost.

“It’s one heck of an offense, the way Chicago runs it,” said Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell. “You certainly can’t argue with their success, can you?”

Not exactly. Not with back-to-back-to-back NBA titles from 1991 to ’93. Chicago’s sideline triangle offense calls for three players on one side of the floor, a lot of passing, screens and cuts to the basket. The idea is to have interchangeable parts, where players can be used in each offensive role and stretch the defense by positioning on the court.

When the Bulls play the Lakers Friday night at the Forum, chances are that center Luc Longley will pass the ball a lot, Pippen will run around a lot without the ball and that Jordan will score a lot. Even if it doesn’t appear so, it’s all by design.

It is the closest thing to an offensive demolition derby since the Lakers’ “Showtime” fast-break destruction of teams in the 1980s. The person who invented the Bulls’ scheme does not wear a white smock, rob graveyards or pull levers in a laboratory in the middle of the night.

Actually, he is that kindly, white-haired gentleman sitting next to Bull Coach Phil Jackson on the Chicago bench.

That would be Fred (Tex) Winter, 73, who is famous enough to be included on the Basketball Hall of Fame ballot this year and anonymous enough that some people might think he’s that guy who sold popcorn on TV.

For the last 11 years with the Bulls, Winter has espoused the virtues of the triple post, something that he first started to pick up in 1947, when he played for Coach Sam Berry at USC. That same year, Winter became the first full-time assistant at Kansas State, where Coach Jack Gardner ran a team-oriented offense that looked a lot like the triple post.

Gardner didn’t call it that, though.

“We called it ‘center to the end, center to the weak side, center to the strong side’, “ said Gardner, 85, who also played for Berry at USC. “It worked for me. Tex learned enough to go ahead and keep using it. I’m glad he turned out so well.”

Winter’s sideline triangle offense pays homage to Berry and Gardner, but what the Bulls run is much more evolved than what either coach employed. It should be, since Winter has spent his 49-year coaching career refining it.

He even wrote a book about it: “The Triple Post Offense,” by Fred (Tex) Winter, published in 1961. It’s still in print, the author said.

“Yeah, it’s in print, but I’m the only one who has copies,” Winter said.

In fact, the sideline triangle can be copied, but it isn’t. Just guessing, but could that be because only the Bulls have Jordan and Pippen? And if it’s such a great offense, why don’t more teams use it?

“I don’t think they understand it,” Winter said. “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. Of course, you’ve got to have a skill level. And our guys are familiar with the offense. I don’t think there’s any question that this system has gotten us there, and to win.”

With Pippen and Jordan, the Bulls probably would win in any system, or shooting basketballs into peach baskets. Jerry West said it sure helps the Bulls to have a mega-star and a superstar.

“You have to have the right players for any system,” he said. “The thing that offense does, it gets everyone touching the ball. And defensively, you can’t just key on one player. It requires thinking, it requires passing, it requires movement.”

Before that, it also required the consent of Jordan. Jackson leaves the offense to Winter, who had the same responsibility under Doug Collins, Jordan’s third coach in his first three years with the Bulls.

“[Collins] had to sell Jordan,” Winter said. “It wasn’t easy. Let’s face it, we were asking Michael to make some individual sacrifices. You may note he’s still leading the league in scoring. I think Michael felt like, if we were going to win a championship, we had to involve his teammates more.

“Now, Michael is a very smart basketball player. He could sense and see how effective this could be for us. He’s getting his points a lot easier now. He’s not having to go in there and get all that contact. In the sideline triangle, maybe the outside jumper is there. Maybe the isolation move down to the basket. Maybe the post-up.”

On paper, Rodman seemed to be another matter. Rodman, who never met a tattoo or a rebound he didn’t like, didn’t appear to be the right fit in the offense, mostly because of his aversion to shooting the ball. But Winter said the Bulls discovered that Rodman coexists with the offense precisely because of his ability to rebound.

“He gives them a presence they didn’t have,” Newell said. “He’s like Deion Sanders. He can play power forward, small forward, point guard. He’s probably the most versatile defensive player the NBA has ever had. Maybe not the best, but the most versatile.”

Versatility, thy name is sideline triangle. It worked for Winter at Kansas State in 1951, when the Wildcats got all the way to the NCAA championship game before losing to Kentucky. It worked in 1957, when Kansas State defeated Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain to win the Big Eight title. It also worked at Washington, where Winter had a winning record.

But it didn’t work at Houston in 1971. Winter was the first coach of the NBA Rockets when they moved from San Diego to Houston, where the triple post ran headfirst into Elvin Hayes.

Hayes was a passing center like chicken fried steak is a light dessert. Former Rocket Mike Newlin, a rookie under Winter in 1971, knows why the triple post failed in Houston.

“Because Elvin Hayes was quintessentially the most selfish hog in the history of basketball,” Newlin said. “You had two opposites--Elvin Hayes and teamwork. Was the triple post doomed? Doomed gives it a beginning. It never was born.”

Because Newlin had played for Gardner at Utah, he was prepared for a Winter-like offense in Houston. He just wasn’t prepared for how it all shook out. It began on the wrong foot when Winter made Rocket players watch film after film of his offense at Washington, featuring center Steve Hawes.

“Let’s put it this way,” Newlin said. “It’s somewhat unusual to refer back to college to teach a pro team an offense. He lost us right there.”

As it turned out, Hawes later became a teammate of Newlin with the Rockets.

“There was no end to the grief when I got there,” Hawes said. “It was ‘Oh, you’re Hawes, are we sick of you!’ ”

Newlin said the problems with Hayes and the triple post eventually took a toll on Winter.

“He started out with five-syllable words and lyrical banter,” Newlin said. “Pretty soon, it was four-letter words and grunts.”

Hayes lives in Houston, where he owns three car dealerships. He said the triple post needed a passing center, something he was not.

“It was very difficult for me because I was a scorer,” Hayes said. “It’s very ironic. The first thing Gene Shue said to me was shoot the basketball. Dick Motta said shoot the basketball. K.C. Jones said shoot the basketball.

“One guy out of all the people I played for wanted me to pass,” Hayes said. “Now, I’m in the Hall of Fame. We have to say who was right and who was wrong. I think Tex Winter was wrong.”

Winter said Hayes tried to play the offense, but it was too hard to get him to change his habits.

“I didn’t mind Elvin too much except it was hard to get the team concept through to him because he wasn’t a feeder,” Winter said.

Soon, neither one was a Rocket. Hayes was traded to the Bullets and Winter resigned under siege a year later. From Houston, Winter went on to coach at Northwestern and at Long Beach State. The triple post went with him.

Winter retired from coaching in 1983 after five years at Long Beach, but Dale Brown lured him to Baton Rouge as an assistant coach and consultant at Louisiana State.

After two years, Winter retired again, but he listened when General Manager Jerry Krause of the Bulls called him in 1985 and asked him to pack up his triple post and come to Chicago as the offensive aide to Stan Albeck, who was replaced by Collins the next season.

When Jackson became head coach in 1989, Winter stayed on. He said the sideline triangle probably reminded Jackson of the team-oriented Knick teams for which Jackson played.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Winter said.

Come to think of it, that’s what is good about the Bulls’ offense. If you have the proper spacing, the right screen and the proper pass, chances are that shot is going to drop straight through the basket, so help them Michael.

“Tex is smart enough to go to Jordan all the time,” Gardner said. “And Jordan is good enough that when he gets it, boy, he’s trouble.”

For 11 years now, whenever the Bulls have had the basketball, there’s no trouble knowing what they are doing with the basketball. They have looked the same on offense, so you never have to wonder what season you are watching. It’s always Winter.

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How Offense Works

The triple post offense provides proper floor spacing 15-18 feet apart. It gives the player with the ball (usually the post, or center) an opportunity to pass to any of his teammates in a triangular setting.

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Bull Market

A look at how the Chicago Bulls rank in the NBA in several offensive categories.

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Category Avg Rank Points 106.7 First FG % 48.7 Fourth Assists 25.1 Third 3-point % 41.4 First Turnovers 15 Fifth Steals 8.9 Fifth

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