Here’s why the Chicago Bulls aren’t firing head coach Jim Boylen
By Mike Luciano
The Chicago Bulls will likely retain Jim Boylen even though he’s in over his head as the head coach.
If The Last Dance made anything abundantly clear, it’s the fact that Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is so cheap he was willing to let Jerry Krause break up a team headlined by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Reinsdorf’s miserly ways are once again going to negatively affect the Bulls’ future, as he might not get rid of head coach Jim Boylen.
Rather than getting rid of Boylen and wiping the slate clean before the 2020 season starts, the Bulls will likely retain him, according to Jim Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times because Reinsdorf is concerned about how the lack of attendance revenue will affect their finances. With a franchise valued at $3.2 billion, the fifth-highest number in the NBA, it’s hard to believe that firing Boylen will be too expensive for Chicago to overcome financially.
Jim Boylen has struggled as head coach of the Bulls.
One thing that Boylen needs to be given credit for is the fact that he more than earned a shot at a head coaching gig. After spending 11 years with the Houston Rockets as an assistant, two of which ended in championships, Boylen bounced around the NBA before returning to college as an assistant with Tom Izzo’s Michigan State.
After a poor 69-60 record as the head coach of Utah, Boylen returned to the NBA in 2011, going from Indiana to San Antonio before Chicago named him assistant head coach in 2015. Since getting the permanent HC job in 2018, Boylen has gone 39-84, a winning percentage of just under 32 percent. Despite a promising young core headlined by Zach LaVine, Wendell Carter, Lauri Markkanen, and Coby White, Chicago ranked 27th in points per game and 14th in points allowed despite Boylen’s alleged expertise in that area.
There are plenty of terrific assistants out there, but Reinsdorf seems more than happy with winning 26 games and missing the playoffs under Boylen’s leadership.
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While the Bulls hiring Arturas Karnisovas as GM could help usher in a new era of dominant Chicago basketball, this team will get nowhere with Boylen as the head coach. If Reinsdorf is once again more concerned about his bank account than the Bulls’ win-loss record, Chicago will remain in the basement of the Eastern Conference.