The Cleveland Cavaliers mutually parted ways with John Beilein today. Hopefully the Chicago Bulls can make the same move soon with their head coach.
Two bad teams in the Eastern Conference already got rid of their head coaches this season. And can anyone really blame David Fizdale or John Beilein for failing to get on the right side of the win column often with the dumpster fires that are the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers this season? The same cannot be said for the Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen, though.
According to a report from Shams Charania and Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, Beilein and the Cavaliers agreed to part ways on Feb. 18. Given the discussions that Beilein could be stepping down that surfaced entering the All-Star Break, this news isn’t all that shocking. The interim head coach for the Cavaliers will be JB Bickerstaff.
Moreover, the Knicks parted ways with Fizdale earlier this season after a rough start. But Fizdale found much more success in his previous stint as an NBA head coach, with the Memphis Grizzlies, than he did with the dysfunctional Knicks.
The Knicks are still doing better with interim head coach Mike Miller than they ever did with Fizdale at the helm.
For a good while at the outset of the 2019-20 regular season, Boylen actually had some good chances to get the Bulls in a playoff position in the East. But he was never able to capitalize on what was a rather healthy and upgraded roster for the first half of the regular season. The Bulls were almost as bad as they were two years ago, the first of the rebuild, for the first half of the season.
The third year of the rebuild is not going as planned for the Bulls as they took a bad 19-36 record into an NBA All-Star Weekend that they were hosting in Chicago at the United Center. The Bulls were also nothing but a true embarrassment under such a bright national spotlight through the course of All-Star Weekend.
Boylen’s constant antics were a big reason why there was such an embarrassing spotlight placed on the Bulls during All-Star Weekend. From the player holdouts last season all the way up to his “Field of Dreams” comments and practice punch clock this season, Boylen just isn’t the material that makes up a quality NBA head coach.
With the recent rumors (confirmed by ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski last weekend) surrounding the potential shakeups in the Bulls front office, could the coaching staff have a change on the way too?
The Bulls need something to give this summer, and seeing Boylen out the door would be a welcome sight for so many that make up this fan base. He’s just not doing enough to show he can handle this role, and the Bulls need to save face while they still can before the fruitful 2021 free agent cycle.
Beilein finished with a record of 14-40 in his less than one season with the Cavaliers as an NBA head coach. But Beilein at least proved in the past that he is a quality basketball coach, during his tenure with the Michigan Wolverines. Boylen didn’t even prove he could handle that job, as he didn’t find much of any success during his tenure with the Utah Utes.