I celebrated a birthday yesterday, and I just want to say thanks to all the folks who sent me well wishes!
Oh, and thank you to the Bulls for not playing a game yesterday! Best present of all.
Jim Boylen can’t be the head coach next season, right? RIGHT!? SOMEONE TELL ME I’M RIGHT!? The more the front-office rumors loom, the less likely it feels that Boylen will be at the helm of the Chicago Bulls through 2020. I’m not banking on that train of thought – and perhaps it’s false optimism – but it’s hard to imagine a new hire keeps Boylen around. Indeed, one consistent point made across most of the reports we’ve seen is that whomever is hired will have complete control over who coaches this team moving forward. Frankly, it’s a pretty easy and obvious measure of autonomy, that any new leader should want to test – especially in this organization.
Now, if John Paxson and Gar Forman still hold a job somewhere within the organization (which seems to be expected), it’s tough to trust that a new GM/empowered person/whatever will be able to make that decision unilaterally, but the guys on Bernstein & McKnight describe well why this likely isn’t the case. The two talk about Boylen’s recent comments on his win-loss record and job security as the “beginning of the end,” which again, we can only hope.
And, hey, Boylen deserves plenty of blame for this season’s failures, but I think we all also know he isn’t the real or only problem leading facing this organization. The front office has allowed Boylen to operate under his flawed train of thought, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they’re embarrassed to turn back now (especially after giving him an extension). Bernstein & McKnight speculate that one small reason to hire someone new is to let them be the person to officially fire Boylen. Uh, someone should tell GarPax that no matter who fires Boylen, this is still their fault.
The Bulls continue to get national attention for all the wrong reasons, and Jalen Rose called for the dismissal of GarPax on the Jalen & Jacoby show yesterday. I’m with him, I never like to root for people losing their jobs, but those two guys had their chance. When you can’t successfully and sufficiently do your job, guess what happens? You’re let go. That’s life.
ESPN’s The Jump also chimed in on some Bulls action, talking about the noticeable frustration from Zach LaVine over the past several games. WARNING: David Fizdale’s support of Boylen’s late timeouts may provoke the urge to throw your phone, computer, or tablet across the room.
LaVine’s most recent episode came on Tuesday night when a clip of him saying “I have [expletive] 40 points” made its way around the internet. With his recent past, many immediately assumed he was yelling at Boylen (and you know what they say when you assume). However, LaVine finally commented yesterday on the matter and said he was trash-talking OKC’s Dennis Schroder.
LaVine continued: "I've got to do a better job. The cameras have been following me lately so people are going to make their own assumptions on what's going on between me and Jim or me and the team but our relationship is fine. I'm a competitive and fiery guy on the court."
YIKES. Marquee isn’t even broadcasted on Chicago’s biggest capable provider and it had the same ratings as the Bulls!? I guess that shows pretty darn well how many people in the city care about this team.
Crane Kenney tells The Score that the ratings for Cubs Spring Training debut on Saturday were on par with the Bulls game, despite not being on TV in half the homes in Chicago.
We'll call that an unintentionally appropriate point about the Bulls, eh @BN_Bulls?
Zach LaVine had plenty of praise for Coby White after his last three games, and the more the rookie can break out of his shell, the more we can start to wonder what a LaVine-White duo would look like down the road. Could the Bulls have a solid 1-2 punch on their hands?
Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.
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