Potentially the best player in the NBA today got two or three years experience with Jim Boylen as an assistant coach. And it had nothing to do with Boylen in the Windy City with the Chicago Bulls. It would be nice if Bulls fans could say, though, that superstar forward Kawhi Leonard chose to play here instead of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Last season with the Toronto Raptors, Kawhi proved that he is clearly one of the three or five best players in the game today by winning the NBA Finals MVP for the second time in his career. His first NBA Finals MVP came while Boylen was an assistant coach of his in 2014.
But it was the version of Kawhi under legendary head coach Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs that had Boylen coaching him up. The first two NBA All-Defensive Team honors for Kawhi came when Boylen was at the helm with the Spurs back in 2014 and 2015. Kawhi didn’t get his first All-NBA nod until Boylen joined the Bulls staff in 2016.
Popovich reportedly said that the Bulls are in “good hands” with Boylen at the helm as head coach back in December 2018. Apparently Boylen also had to apologize to Kawhi back in the day for forgetting to put him back on out on the floor in a 2014 game at a key point. Boylen clearly had varying opinions for his tenure with the Spurs and his impact on Kawhi.