Jim Boylen is out as Chicago Bulls head coach. Bulls fans have been waiting for those words for some time now.
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Many expected Boylen to be ousted quickly once Artūras Karnišovas was brought in as the Bulls new Vice President of Basketball Operations. When that didn’t happen fans voiced their frustration.
Originally promoted because of his relationship with key players in the Bulls locker room, Boylen quickly lost that trust during his tenure, and Bulls players were vocal, especially Zach LaVine. Not only did Boylen not appear to connect with his players, but it was also obvious that he was not attentive to his players’ input.
Zach LaVine says his frustration over Jim Boylen’s late timeout use in games that are decided stems from #Bulls’ struggles.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) February 23, 2020
Of those late timeouts by Boylen, LaVine says, “That’s what he do. I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not the coach.” pic.twitter.com/oY3eiGlBTD
Jim Boylen explains why he called a timeout with #Bulls down 10 with 30 seconds left. Asked about Zach LaVine appearing to be irritated by late timeout use, Boylen says LaVine has never expressed to him that he’s agitated by late timeouts when games are out of hand. pic.twitter.com/ek5YN2urYL
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) February 23, 2020
During his time as the Bulls head coach, Boylen failed to reach 40 wins, 39 to be exact. The Bulls went 39-84 with Boylen at the helm and ranked near the bottom of the league in overall. This past season the Bull’s finished with the third-lowest team points per game and were a poor defensive team.
Many will cite Boylen’s lack of coaching awareness such as the questionable timeout mentioned earlier, but more concerning should be his failure to truly develop guys like Coby White and Lauri Markkanen.
Many felt that rookie White should’ve been given the opportunity earlier on based on his playmaking and scoring ability that he displayed. White finally found his role expand once Kris Dunn suffered an MCL tear in early February.
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Several names are already being thrown around as potential replacements. Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr. and soon-to-be-former Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson have been at the forefront of that speculation. Spurs assistant Becky Hammon and former Warriors coach Mark Jackson have also been mentioned.
Unseld Jr. boasts experience helping to develop a young Nuggets team that has seen strong showings as an outside contender in a tough Western Conference. Players like Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray top that list with Bol Bol and Michael Porter Jr. capturing headlines amidst the restart.
Atkinson showed his coaching prowess by increasing his team’s win total in each of his first three seasons. The Nets even saw a 14 game increase from the 2017 season (28 wins) to the 2018 season (42 wins). The Nets were eliminated in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.
Like Unseld Jr., Atkinson has also shown the ability to develop young players. D’Angelo Russell made his first all-star appearance under Atkinson. Jarrett Allen has developed into a promising rim protector. Spencer Dinwiddie has become a bonafide scorer as well. Not to mention the emergence of Caris LeVert and Joe Harris. It’s a shame that Atkinson was not given the chance to add a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving into that mix (minus Russell).
Many believe Hammon has a bright future as an NBA head coach. Learning at the hip of Gregg Popovich is an obvious reason why, although that relationship is why she is also seen as the heir-apparent once Popovich does decide to retire.
Jackson has not coached since 2014 when he was head coach of the Golden State Warriors. Jackson’s team went 121-109 over three seasons and made the playoffs twice. Steph Curry emerged into a perennial MVP candidate, Klay Thompson distinguished himself as one of the top three-and-D players, and Draymond Green became a nightly triple-double threat and defensive Swiss Army knife.
While no one has been pegged as a front-runner to take over the coaching reigns in Chicago, whoever lands the job will have their work cut out for them. Questions still remain about LaVine’s future with the team, as well as Markkanen.
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