sco wrote:RastaBull wrote:sco wrote: Also, despite the Kingpin jokes, I do think he deserves a little credit for lighting a fire under Zach.
There is something interesting between Zach and Jim. Zach is the best player/highlight "star" on this team (whether you think he is objectively best player or not, that's his role in locker room and media). This is twice now that he has come to media with criticism of the coach. I think Jim is handling it a little different that most coaches. He doesn't hold it against Zach when Zach speaks his mind these few times.
Zach seems to respect that relationship afterwards. Last year he seemed to grow to work really well with him (at least what's presented to public). Jim and the FO have been atrocious at times and Lavine could say a hell of a lot more, but as much other people played up his comments as something that should have been in house, I think Lavine was pretty professional in what he said and probably more reserved than many would have been.
I'm probably just searching for silver linings, but I'm not completely casting off Boylen for everything. In game is more than frustrating, but maybe he's not lost the team.
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I think Kingpin is a mediocre coach AND I think Zach is a good, but not great player, so I think a lot of this debate reminds me of debates I had about girls still our college frat parties at 3am. So caveat aside, I don't think there are strong feelings either way and much of this is media doing quote hunting. The team has underperformed so far and I'm sure both guys are feeling outside pressure. The reality is that if there is blame attribution, it should be heaped on Otto being out and Lauri playing like poop before you get to Kingpin or Zach.
Honestly, I liked that Kingpin benched Zach after his terrible defense, BUT should have downplayed it to the press. I think Zach is generally taking much better shots than he did before Kingpin took over. That said, I didn't like many of Zach's hero shots last night - they were desperation chucks, but we were desperate and they fell. What I am baffled about is why so many of Zach's shots at the rim are missing (he was great at that last season).
This is a good take and all true. There was nothing wrong with the benching, but the singling out of a player in the media was bad. It's just something you don't do as a coach. Keep that between the team and the staff. You are right, last night was a lot of chucking and hero ball despite what some believe. It was a fluke win. 99/100 times the Bulls lose that game finishing it like that. But it was something positive to try to build on at least. We have a soft spot in the schedule for the next week, so maybe we can win a few in a row. Being on the road can be good for team bonding also.
I still think Boylen has lost this team and it's most likely irreconcilable. His comments in the pressers are unforgivable. Even though that little clip was short, it isn't "fake news". The players went out of their way to avoid Jimbo during the celebration, even pulling each other away from his direction. During last night's game guys were again looking the other way when Boylen was talking to them. Even Zach just flat out walked away from him at one point and Boylen was not done talking.
Bottom line is that 6-11 is better than 5-12 and it is only 5 games below .500. It is not unreasonable to believe that this team can still turn things around. If they do, I think it will be more in spite of their coach than because of any respect for him or wanting to run through walls for him. I doubt any of the players on this team feel that way.
