In case you’ve missed it, the Bulls have made significant changes within the front office. It all started with hiring Arturas Karnisovas as the new VP of basketball operations, which was then followed by the hiring of Marc Eversley as general manager. This has been something the Bulls have needed to do for quite some time and with the season coming to a halt due to the pandemic, the Bulls saw their opportunity.
All Bulls fans had a fire before next season list. Most only included three names, Gar Forman, John Paxson, and Jim Boylen. Two of them are gone or no longer in their roles, however one remains and doesn’t believe he will be going anywhere.
This is the opposite of what Bulls fans were hoping to see at this stage. Boylen became public enemy #1 pretty quickly in Chicago. It started with some questionable post-game media sessions and was then followed up with all-around terrible coaching. Also, how can we forget the late-game timeouts?
It’s more than just the problems mentioned above, Boylen hasn’t shown that he is a competent coach in this league. We saw a substantial regression in Markkanen’s play, Boylen kept Coby White coming off the bench for far too long, and his overall lineup decisions seemed like he was unaware of what was happening on the floor. GarPax supported Boylen and that support may trickle to the Reinsdorf’s. Karnisovas has had discussions with Boylen and one would assume that new GM Marc Eversley will do the same.
Is Boylen’s confidence warranted or false confidence?
Let’s look at the full quote from Joe Cowley on 670 The Score.
Jim Boylen, the people I’ve talked to around him, they all feel his confidence he’s coming back is sky high. I know he’s talked to Arturas more than several times, I don’t know how many times he’s talked to Marc or if there is any kind of pre-existing relationship there. So he’s definitely pleading his case and Michael Reinsdorf still embraces him and embraces his what he brings, so I don’t think this is as clear cut as ‘oh the new front office, automatic a new coach.’ I think there will be a new coach, but I don’t think it’s as clear-cut as everyone’s thought initially … So that’s going to be interesting because it will be a blindside on Jim Boylen.
It’s important to note that he’s saying Boylen’s confidence is sky high about returning. This is all confidence coming from Jim Boylen and not coming from outside sources. Boylen feels like he has this job locked up into next season but that is just his opinion. Obviously, he knows more than any of us do so his confidence does hold some weight. But we also must remember that Boylen believed he did a good job coaching and mentoring players this season. There’s quite a bit of bias there and let’s hope for our sake that this is all false confidence.
What’s next?
No one is sure what to believe when it comes to the head coaching position for this team next season. Who knows we may even see some NBA games played this season? However, with everything up in the air currently, one would expect Eversley to meet or continue meeting with Boylen to assess his coaching abilities. If Karnisovas and Eversley are the right people to run the Bulls franchise, then this could be a critical decision moving forward. The excitement around the team is high right now and a new head coach could reenergize this franchise for seasons to come.
