NEWSLETTER
The Bulls have been attempting to revitalize their organization this offseason, and with new faces like Coby White, Daniel Gafford, Thaddeus Young, Tomas Satoransky, and Luke Kornet added in the last two weeks, alone, they’ve gotten off to a really great start. Of course, the personnel changes are not limited to players on the court.
Back at the end of May/beginning of June, for example, we learned that the Bulls had added former Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Chris Fleming and former Houston Rockets assistant coach Roy Rogers (whose parents were clearly fans of Westerns). And today, the Bulls made those deals officially-official with a press release at NBA.com.
You can check out the full release for more on each coach’s history and specialities, but I do want to share some of Head Coach Jim Boylen’s thoughts right away:
“The addition of these two highly regarded coaches will bring new experiences to the culture we’re building here. I value the fact that they have come from recent playoff teams and have proven track records of strong player development, as well as creative basketball minds on both ends of the floor. They communicate well with players, have coached and developed All Stars from around the league, and come from programs that we believe have done it the right way.”
As we’ve discussed previously, these two coaches compliment each other well – Rogers is a defensive specialist who’s supposed to relate well to big men, while Fleming is known for his creative offensive schemes – and it’s easy to see how excited the Bulls organization is to have both guys officially on board.
Per team policy, we won’t be able to see the terms of either agreement. But in any case, Fleming and Rogers will join Nate Loenser, Dean Cooper, and Shawn Respert on the bench, along with Karen Stack … who’s been elevated to the level of full-time assistant coach!
Previously, Stack served as coach Randy Brown’s associate coach in the Summer League, as one of not nearly enough women in similar roles around the league. But that’s all changing, because she’s joining the full staff on the bench during regular season games this year – a well-earned, well-deserved promotion. You can read more about Stack and the Bulls decision to give her a shot in the Summer League last year right here at the Chicago Tribune.
Time and again, the Bulls have strived to become a more modern and versatile team on the court, and now they’re backing that up with their coaching staff decisions off the court, as well. Good moves. Good vibes. Keep ’em coming.
