Bulls Likely To Retain Jim Boylen Due To Financial Concerns

[RealGM Wiretap]

There is growing momentum that the Chicago Bulls will retain Jim Boylen as head coach for the 20-21 season due to financial concerns from the Reinsdorfs, sources tell Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley had previously begun to reach out through back channels to potential candidates such as Ime Udoka and Adrian Griffin.

The Bulls are valued at $3.2 billion and Boylen is owed just $1.6 million as one of the NBA's lowest paid head coaches.

Via Joe Cowley/Chicago Sun-Times

[Plutonashfan]

Must suck to be a Bulls fan.

[Lockdown504090]

tyronn lue could do better

[robert76]

Must suck to be a Bulls fan.

It does.

[Future Coach]

Must suck to be a Bulls fan.

As a Bulls fan, I feel qualified to speak on this. And the correct response is that it is relative.

Compared to the 90's, or even the more recent Rose/Noah/Deng Bulls, of course it sucks.

Compared to the Tim Floyd coached Bulls, we're doing alright.

It's all relative.


But Bulls fans have known for a good, long while that the Reinsdorfs (and the rest of the ownership group) are not trying to spend any extra $ when they don't have to.

So no one should really expect that Boylen should be fired right now. Don't get me wrong, he shouldn't be coaching the Bulls next season. But the NBA has not officially ruled out a return this season for terrible teams like the Bulls (and Warriors, Knicks, Cavs, Hornets, etc), and until that happens there is no chance Boylen would be fired. If Boylen were to be fired, and the Bulls came back for 5-8 games (or whatever), they would have to increase someone else's pay to have them to be head coach for those games. And knowing the Bulls ownership, they aren't paying anyone else extra + Boylen's salary for those games. That's ridiculous to expect, new front office or not.


Now once the NBA officially tells teams like the Bulls that not enough people want to watch them play a handful of games to make it remotely worthwhile, Boylen should be let go. Of course, it's a legit concern that ownership will try to trot him out for 20+ games next season & then fire him, as hiring an "interim head coach" is always cheaper than a real head coach (Boylen being a recent example), and then they can put off the hiring 1 more year. And next season already has excuses built in - such as a shortened time period to draft and sign players, and a shortened training camp - so putting off any real investments until the following off season is entirely a possibility. Any practical person who is considering elements besides the quality of basketball played would be considering this.


But Boylen should be fired once the NBA fully shuts down the Bulls' season. If he is not fired, the quality of basketball will continue to suffer, and in turn the Bulls draft, FA signing period, and training camp will be a series of wasted opportunities. So no decisions will get made once the NBA officially ends the Bulls' season, and as a Bulls fan it won't really "suck to be a Bulls fan" unless the Bulls decide to follow through with keeping Boylen for the start of next season.

[airjordanair]

He’s the right coach for the job... if we are wanting to be literary bound..

How and why he doesnt get Lauri more touches is beyond me.. Dunn gets more time than nearly any player .. or at least it seems he does. The rotations are a mess. The tempo is weird. Just everything about his style stinks... predicting another below average season and the good players wanting out.

[donaldtrump_00]

I agree his tempo seems a bit off, and the rotations are weird because there always hurt. I'm not saying he's a good coach but he does some good things. He's very inexperienced for a head coach. He has a lot to learn. But if half your starters are injured how do you expect to win.

I'd love to see markkanen healthy and balling like he did that first game of the season. Who knows who coming back next season. It's possible Kris Dunn could be elsewhere. Valentine is already gone. Shaq Harrison could be gone. Thaddeus Young could be traded.

All we could have is a rookie from the draft who could completely change our opinion on the team. There's definitely talent in the draft. Jim boylen can't destroy a team by himself. It takes to both the players and coaches to suck for that to happen. I doubt any of our top players are going anywhere. Just being cry babies.

Lavine, markkanen, Porter, Coby, Wendell is a winning team if there making jumps to there games if boylen can't get them to win if healthy then yes he needs to go. They still need a spark plug player off the bench. But as far as Boylen goes he's honestly only coming back due to Hoiberg getting paid still but overall the bulls need more talent off the bench. We get to many of these high character guys that don't have a take over mentality. We only have lavine and Coby now who have that mind set. They killed Kris Dunn scorers mentality. Lauri is more a versatile big with many weapons but still needs to demand the ball. So boylen doesn't have anything to do with that