NEWSLETTER
In my opinion, Jim Boylen is as good as gone.
In Jim Boylen’s opinion, he’s got absolutely nothing to worry about.
The Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley went on 670 The Score Tuesday morning and said the Bulls head coach would be “BLINDSIDED” if the organization decided to get rid of him as part of the broader organizational overhaul. Don’t believe me because that’s utterly ridiculous?
Check this out:
Jim Boylen, the people I’ve talked to around him, they all feel his confidence he’s coming back is sky high. I know he’s talked to Arturas more than several times, I don’t know how many times he’s talked to Marc or if there is any kind of pre-existing relationship there. So he’s definitely pleading his case and Michael Reinsdorf still embraces him and embraces his what he brings, so I don’t think this is as clear cut as ‘oh the new front office, automatic a new coach.’ I think there will be a new coach, but I don’t think it’s as clear-cut as everyone’s thought initially … So that’s going to be interesting because it will be a blindside on Jim Boylen.
If Cowley is right and Boylen is completely caught off guard when Karnisovas fires him, someone should send him back to elementary school to learn about context clues.
After all, his 39-84 record is probably reason enough to show him the door. But he’s also become one of the most hated sports figures in Chicago with his bizarre postgame commentary, annoying late-game timeouts, and overall bad coaching. And is if that weren’t enough, under Boylen’s stewardship, we’ve also seen significant and highly disappointing regression from Lauri Markkanen, as well as a style of play that simply doesn’t fit this roster. Everything is covered in puke, but I guess Boylen’s wearing rose-colored glasses.
Mostly, I just don’t understand why people keep having this conversation. I believe Cowley when he says it may not be as “clear-cut” as some first thought, but even he still concedes that Boylen is most likely going to be fired. Michael Reinsdorf may still have his back – and I’m sure some of the assistant coaches do too – but this is Karnisovas and Marc Eversley’s team now. And say what you will about the Reinsdorf impact, but they’ve normally kept their hands out of basketball decisions. If these two new front office leaders are the right guys for the job like many of us believe, Boylen will not be on the bench at the start of the 2020-21 season.
Michael: I’d like to point out that Cowley’s phrasing here is important. In each iteration of this narrative, there seems to be a dependence on Boylen’s confidence (or other sources’ knowledge of Boylen’s confidence) to return. That is distinctly different than sources independently expressing confidence that he will return. Boylen’s confidence is certainly worth reporting and sharing, but it can also be (1) self serving or even (2) misplaced. All I’m saying is that just because Boylen is confident he’ll be back doesn’t mean he’ll be back. Period.
And frankly, like Eli, I just don’t see how this front office could justify his revival. Let’s even be cynical for a second and generously assume Karnisovas and Eversley think Boylen might be the right guy for the job. Would the value of not substituting Boylen out for someone of equal talent really be worth the immediate blowback? And isn’t there some inherent value in a clean slate anyway? I won’t pretend to know more about Karnisovas and Eversley than I do, but I just can’t see them cashing in on some of that honeymoon phase love for Jim Boylen while also opting out of a clean slate for a franchise that desperately needs one as badly as any team out there. And that’s all assuming they think he is the right guy for the job, which I just don’t believe is true).
For more on this entire thread, I’ll guide you to a couple of our other recent posts:
• Why is the Jim Boylen Decision Taking So Long?
• If (When?) the Bulls Move on from Jim Boylen, They’ll Face Stiff Competition on the Coaching Market
