As weird today has been, it’s also the most newsworthy the Bulls have been since the Jimmy Butler trade, leaving us with a boatload of information to unpack.
New head coach Jim Boylen has 58 games to prove he belongs with the Bulls for next season and beyond. Here’s a list of things that every Bulls fan should know about him.
1. BOYLEN HAS 32 YEARS OF COACHING EXPERIENCE
Boylen, 53, got into coaching immediately after graduating college in 1987, taking an assistant job at Michigan State that he held for five years. 21 of his 32 years of coaching have been at the NBA level.
2. HIS ONLY HEAD COACHING JOB WAS AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL
After a 13 year stint in the NBA, Boylen returned to Michigan State for two seasons before being hired as the head coach of Utah in 2007. In 4 years at the school, Boylen’s teams posted mediocre results. He was fired at the end of the 2011 season with a cumulative record of 69-60 and just one NCAA tournament appearance.
3. HE HAS 3 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS
The highlight of Boylen’s coaching career thus far was his first and longest NBA stint, which came with the Houston Rockets. He was hired before the 1992-1993 season and remained with Houston for 11 seasons, winning NBA titles in 1994 and 1995.
Boylen’s second NBA job after he was fired at Utah was as an assistant with the Spurs, a job he held for two seasons before joining Fred Hoiberg’s staff. His first season in San Antonio brought him his third ring, as the Spurs dismantled the Heat in LeBron’s final season in Miami.
4. HIS EXPERIENCE COACHING HOF TALENT COULD PAY DIVIDENDS
Over his coaching tenure, Boylen has coached Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Yao Ming, Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Rudy Tomjanovich, the head coach of the Rockets championship teams of the 90’s, told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune back in 2015 that Boylen’s communication skills earned him great respect from his players.
“We really believed in having a very player-friendly, player-supportive, nurturing environment.Jim is a guy who can take a player on the side and talk to him. He’s an easy person to talk to. You just feel this supportive ally in the trenches next to you. The players felt that way too. He’s going to teach you. He’s not going to BS you on the truth. He’s there to make you better.”
There were multiple instances over the last four seasons that raised questions about Hoiberg’s ability to connect with his best players, maybe Boylen can succeed where Hoiberg failed.
5. BOYLEN IS UNDER CONTRACT THROUGH 2020
While there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical about the Bulls level of confidence in Boylen, his contract could buy him some time.
Paxson: “We want Jim to be our head coach next season… Jim is going to be our coach. We think he had the intangibles to be a really good head coach.”
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) December 3, 2018
Maybe Paxson is telling the truth, or maybe his comments are just window dressing. At the end of the day, time will tell.
58 games, Jim. Let’s see what you got.
