Chicago Bulls: 3 players that benefited most from Boylen as HC

2) Chicago Bulls that benefited under Boylen: Robin Lopez

The weird patterns of the efficiency of various big men that Boylen coached during his two years with the Bulls does present some interesting takeaways. It seems that anytime he coaches up a younger big man that is trying to extend their range and become a modern four or five in the NBA, Boylen’s scheme does hold them back to a certain degree.

But when he coaches up a traditional low-post big man like that of veteran center Robin Lopez, the results can actually turn out pretty good. RoLo was actually more efficient and putting up better per game stats during his run under Boylen during the 2018-19 campaign than he did in the current season with the Milwaukee Bucks.

There were progressions for RoLo as a modern big man in the NBA during the 2019-20 season, but his box plus/minus rating, player efficiency rating, and win shares per 48 minutes, all fell significantly from where they were at last year. He played in 74 games during the 2018-19 regular season (starting in 36 of them).

In those 74 games played, Lopez averaged 9.5 points per game, 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks. He shot 56.8 percent from the field and 74.2 percent from the free-throw line. Lopez was especially good down the stretch during the 2018-19 campaign for the Bulls. He registered 14.4 points per game, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, a 61.5 true shooting percentage, and 122 offensive rating/119 defensive rating, after the All-Star Break in 2018-19.