The basketball gods finally smiled down on the Chicago Bulls. After weeks of growing fear the team might actually keep Jim Boylen as their head coach, VP Arturas Karnisovas finally revealed his true intentions by firing him. Thus ends one of the wackiest and most depressing runs for a Bulls coach in team history.
When searching for reasons why he’s gone, most will point to the ugly losing record of 39-84. Not to mention his rather dubious game management and inability to craft effective schemes on offense. One would think this is enough to convince the team he had to go. Yet apparently there were other issues involved that helped sway ownership that it was the right call.
According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, two factors played a big role in his downfall. One was his icy relationship with several players. The most prominent being Zach Lavine and Lauri Markkanen. Both haven’t been shy about showing their displeasure with him in previous months. The other? It seems Boylen had some…issues…behind closed doors.
Nothing about Jim Boylen ever came across as genuine
The truth is Boylen’s reputation preceded him. The details of this disaster mirror exactly what happened to him when he was the head coach at Utah. Things started out fine but soon his personality and coaching style began to rub players the wrong way. Several started transferring out of the program just to get away from him and soon the team began losing. A lot.
The Bulls thought they were getting an old school coach who could finally fix their defensive woes and instill some discipline in a young team. Instead they got a buffoon who liked power and didn’t mind using it. The fact he felt he had a good relationship with Karnisovas pretty much shows how little he knows about reading people.
Now he can go be a problem for somebody else.