Chicago Bulls: Dan Craig picking up steam as HC candidate

A possibly big time head coaching candidate for the Chicago Bulls to replace Jim Boylen could be Miami Heat assistant Dan Craig.

One of the latest head coaching candidates that could be picking up steam with the Chicago Bulls search is Miami Heat long-time staffer/assistant coach Dan Craig. The Bulls are looking all over the place it seems to find a quality list of candidates to get their next head coaching hire right.

Former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas replaced John Paxson as the lead voice in the front office in Chicago. And then Karnisovas hired former Philadelphia 76ers senior vice president of player personnel Marc Eversley to replace Gar Forman as the Bulls next general manager.

The official title for Karnisovas within the Bulls organization will be executive vice president of basketball operations.

But the main point to the Karnisovas and Eversley hirings were to find a better path for this rebuild heading into its fourth year. One of the biggest looming tasks for the new look front office regime this offseason will be getting the next head coaching hire right.

Karnisovas and Eversley are looking to replace now former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen, who they parted ways with officially back on Aug. 14. Boylen finished up his two-year coaching run with the Bulls with a record of 39-84. During the 2019-20 season, the Bulls finished up with a record of 22-43.

But Craig is one head coaching candidate that brought a good amount of intrigue both to the Bulls fan base, and apparently to the front office too. According to a piece featuring NBC Sports’ Tony Gill and Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic this weekend, the latter of the two thinks that Craig could be a really good candidate for the team moving forward.

Here’s more on what Mayberry had to say on the idea of Craig as a coaching candidate for Chicago.

"I think he checks those boxes in the sense of being a good relationship guy being, a bright mind in terms of understanding the game and also having hard working mentality. You can just tell in his background, the way he had to fight for everything going to the league, what his personality is about, I think he would bring that as a coach."

Craig is a long-time assistant on staff with the Heat. He started out his run with the Heat organization back in 2003-04, as a video inter. Craig worked his way up through the organization in the last 17 years, to get up to one of the main assistant roles on staff with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra.

Moreover, Craig was also the head coach of the G-League Sioux Falls Skyforce, where he won Coach of the Year honors in 2015-16. His last role that held before joining the Heat coaching staff as an assistant was as their director of player development (during the 2014-15 season).

In his time with the Heat, Craig saw three NBA Championships won, and a few players win MVP. He’s one of the younger candidates that the Bulls are apparently considering in their coaching search, and one of the less proven.