Last June, the Golden State Warriors did something no team in league history has ever done before. On the world’s biggest stage, down two games to one in the NBA Finals, they switched to what is known as a “small-ball” lineup, with no player taller than 6-foot 7-inches taking the floor to start the game. This was an extremely risky move, going up against Cleveland’s staggering two massive big men in Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov. This move, however, sent Golden State soaring to an easy three-game win streak and an NBA Championship. So just how did they do it?

Simply put: speed. Versatility. Ball movement. The ability for each and every one of the starting players on the floor for Golden State to stretch to the perimeter and knock down threes. Draymond Green, who played center for Golden State during the small-ball era of the Finals, is shooting over 50 percent from three point range over his last five games. The starters are quick, deadly accurate from the floor and can swing the ball almost effortlessly. This sort of “no position” system, where each and every player can hurt you from any spot on the floor was, in a sense, revolutionary. And it’s taking hold.

The Chicago Bulls appear to be trying to use this method this year, but with mixed results. The Bulls have been beyond streaky. They won six in a row and averaged nearly 106 points per game in early January, but followed that up by losing four of their next five. The reason for this, I believe, is centered around a search for team identity. They’re going from one of the best defensive coaches of all time to a guy who loves offense and has never coached a professional game before: Fred Hoiberg.

Although Tom Thibodeau’s defense-oriented system was groundbreaking for the Bulls and got them back on the big stage for the first time since the Jordan Era, it just wasn’t going to get them a championship. In today’s game, you need offense. And that’s exactly what the Bulls got in Hoiberg. Hoiberg is an offensive expert and led his Iowa State team to multiple exceptional NCAA tournament appearances. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they just don’t quite have the personnel to work within this system. The Bulls have never been known as a scoring team. Besides Jimmy Butler, Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol, they just don’t have any guys who specialize in scoring.

As sad as it may sound, it’s time for a rebuilding process for the hometown squad. They aren’t going to win a championship with the team they have now, and Gasol has already voiced desires to exercise his player-option in his contract and look elsewhere for next season. The Bulls should trade him before the deadline on February 18, and start to build a new team, a team that Butler would be more than capable of leading. If the Bulls start to redefine themselves using this small-ball style and emphasis on three-point shooting, great success should be in the future for them.

The three-point shot has become increasingly more valuable in the recent years of the league, with Golden State being the prime example. It’s as if a team has finally realized that you actually score more points if you shoot from beyond the arc, and spent years developing a team that was near perfect at doing just that. And it’s led them to a 41-4 record as of Jan. 26.

The league is changing. Small-ball is beginning to take over teams. You can’t win with massive 7-foot, 280-pound paint roamers anymore; you need the guy who can spread the floor by moving well, hitting shots and passing. The MVP of the league is no longer the big man, but the little point guard who shoots better than anyone in history: Stephen Curry.