Chicago Bulls: Gafford is not a fan of Jim Boylen

Sizable goals for the Chicago Bulls this offseason should include finding a more competent head coach and revamping this discombobulated roster.

The hottest storyline at this point in time for the Chicago Bulls revolves around the job status of head coach Jim Boylen. Finishing up the 2019-20 regular season with a record of 22-43 prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic-induced hiatus was not the ideal way for Boylen to round out his first full season as the established head coach. Coming into the season, Boylen was given a bit of leeway for his poor finish the previous campaign since he was just the interim head coach taking over for Fred Hoiberg.

It appears that not only the fans have turned against Boylen, but his players could be too. Rookie former Arkansas Razorbacks rim-running big man Daniel Gafford looks like he is one of the cases of a Bulls player starting to turn on Boylen a bit.

In a recent interview/Q&A on a live stream where he took questions on July 20, which also had the quotes posted in a piece by Cody Westerlund of 670 TheScore, Gafford opened up on his thoughts on Boylen and the Bulls entering the 2020 offseason. Here’s some of what he had to say on this matter.

"“I’m going to answer this question, but I’m not going to read it out,” Gafford said. “As a matter of fact, I will read it out. Do you like Jim Boylen? He aight. I don’t like him a lot, but he OK. Got some things he can work on, got some things he can get better at as a person and as a coach. I’m not going to hate on him. I’m not going to hate the man.”"

While Gafford didn’t outright torch Boylen publicly here, this was a pretty frank statement and likely describes how multiple Bulls players feel heading into the offseason. Boylen’s antics seemed to wear on everyone in the last 18 months or so since he took over as interim head coach last season.

Moreover, the reshaped Bulls executive personnel also seen like they’re taking a patient approach with the Boylen situation. Recently hired executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley don’t like like they currently have any publicly known concrete plans to replace Boylen this offseason. There is mounting pressure from a lot of sides to make a coaching change soon, though.

Gafford does have a valid point and presents just one of multiple sources that have to be growingly impatient with Boylen as head coach. While Gafford did have a solid rookie season, especially for a second round draft pick, there were faults in his usage at the outset of the 2019-20 campaign. And Boylen continued to often use other big men like Cristiano Felicio and Luke Kornet over Gafford in the frontcourt rotation. That was a bad move by any consideration.