Bad news could be on the horizon if Arturas Karnisovas does decide to keep Jim Boylen as the Chicago Bulls head coach moving forward.
From the top-down, it seemed like the ownership and management just couldn’t get it right for the Chicago Bulls over the course of the entirety of the three years of the rebuild. To date, vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman produced little to no success for the rebuild in three seasons, and didn’t give the franchise much direction or a true star to build around.
One of the biggest mistakes made by the GarPax regime with the Bulls was the three-year contract extension handed to then interim head coach Jim Boylen last offseason. Boylen is one of the least deserving head coaches to get a contract extension in recent memory in the NBA, but GarPax made the move anyway.
However, it looked like the Reinsdorfs finally made the necessary moves to shift the direction of the organization from the top-down. Paxson is likely to be reassigned roles to more of a senior advisor-type job and Forman is likely done in the Windy City for good.
The replacement to Paxson as the lead voice in the front office is former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas. Taking over as the Bulls next executive vice president of basketball operations, Karnisovas is looking to instill more confidence and direction in the rebuild.
A common consideration amid all the sweeping front office changes was that the Bulls could now find a more competent replacement for Boylen as the next head coach. Boylen became the biggest laughing stock of any NBA head coach in the season that is currently placed on pause (due to the novel coronavirus pandemic).
Word on a coaching decision? Just as quiet, but will stay that way until the NBA makes a decision on what to do with the season. Current coach Jim Boylen is staying in contact with his players and conducting business as usual. A source said his feeling is it's still his job.
— Joe Cowley (@JCowleyHoops) April 23, 2020
But any rumors of a looming coaching search for the Bulls seem to be quiet at the moment. A report dropped on the Twitter timeline of Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times showed that Boylen has a feeling the Bulls head coaching spot is “still his job”.
For the Bulls to not even conduct a full on coaching search during the impending offseason would be a bad move. It would also upset most of the fan base. While Boylen wasn’t the biggest problem during the GarPax tenure (a lot stemmed from the very top), he does have to go if this team is to find more success on the hardwood moving forward.
Prior to the COVID-19 induced NBA season hiatus, Boylen and the Bulls held a record of 22-43. That gives Boylen a record of 39-84 as the Bulls head coach since he was the interim taking over for the fired former head coach Fred Hoiberg in December 2018.