Chicago Bulls: Jim Boylen, Lakers Luke Walton facing similar hot seats
Two current NBA head coaches that are on pretty hot seats at the moment include Jim Boylen of the Bulls and Luke Walton of the Lakers.
The pressure that comes along with playing with the likes of LeBron James with a franchise as storied and historically successful as the Los Angeles Lakers can be extraordinary. Coaching that same groups for the Lakers can be equally difficult. That’s something that current, and potentially soon to be former, head coach Luke Walton knows all to well at the moment.
Luke Walton and Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen could have this issue in common right now. Boylen could be facing a situation with the Bulls where nothing could help him come back next season. After the firing of former Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg, Boylen was meant to get this locker room cleaned up and get a jump start on the rebuild.
However, the change in style under Boylen compared to Hoiberg might’ve been too drastic. Hoiberg more fits the bill of a successful college hoops head coach. His personality brought some hurdles that were hard to get over at the NBA level.
Luke Walton is in an interesting position because the Lakers missed the playoffs in the first place with one of the game’s biggest stars at the helm. This might be the biggest letdown of LeBron’s NBA career thus far.
While it is likely unfair to blame this season where the Lakers crashed and burned squarely on the shoulders of Luke Walton, he has to take some level of responsibility. Coaching LeBron has also proven to be one of the NBA’s most difficult jobs in recent years. Boylen also ran into a host of difficulties in quite a different situation this season in the Windy City.
Here’s a look into the similarities and backgrounds of why Luke Walton and Jim Boylen are in this hot seat situation in the first place, and what could happen for them this summer.