Bulls interim head coach Jim Boylan had the "interim" label removed from his title on Thursday. Sadly for him, he also had the "head coach" label removed, as well. GM John Paxson informed Boylan and his assistants of the decision this morning. It wasn't hard to see this coming, and not just because the Bulls posted a 24-32 record while under his charge. He was terribly inconsistent with his handling of players, and given the number of incidents involving the likes of Chris Duhon, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Andres Nocioni, it was obvious that he had lost whatever credibility he may have had in the locker room.
There's no shortage of candidates whom the Bulls may pursue, and the first guy likely to get called is Rick Carlisle, the Central Division nomad who's already had semi-successful stops in Detroit and Indianapolis. He may not be the guy to win you a title, but he has experience whipping a team into postseason shape.
But no matter who takes the job, expect a mandate from the top down to give playing time to the team's young players: for a team that was going nowhere, there are still too many questions surrounding the potential of Thomas and Noah that likely could have been answered with more playing time.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-17-2008 @ 6:21PM
frank said...
To the Chicago organization shame on you, stiff Boylan ! What is the chance that you gave this guy ? To work with a bunch of young players and rookies and a bunch of changes to boot;Any coach will need a lot more time then 3 months to put it together ;
I hope Boylan gets another job in the NBA and shows Chicago what they lost,disloyal deceiving, traitors.
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 7:08PM
frank said...
Compare Boylan with thomas in NY ?
Reply
4-20-2008 @ 2:32AM
JL said...
As someone who watched every single game Boylan coached, he blew the chance he was given. He did nothing. He handled the players inconsistently, he completely lacked creativity on offense, he had no control over his players off the court. He was a mess. The only decision Pax could have made was to fire him based on his performance this season. If he wanted to take the "interim" title off and earn the job, he should have done something to impress the fans and his boss. He didn't do that. Instead, he failed to fully develop some of the young talent (most glaring is the ignoring of Tyrus Thomas during mose of Boylan's tenure until the end of the season, unless Thomas was absolutely needed due to injuries or foul trouble). He failed to adjust to problems that became evident, like the fact that the league has caught on to how the team uses Ben Gordon and once Ben gets isolated and trapped by defenders that are larger than him, he was being taken out of his game. Boylan failed to come up with new offensive plans to shake up the team's plan of attack and utilize Gordon in new ways to throw other teams for a loop and give them something new to contend with when facing Gordon instead of coming into the game knowing exactly how to take Gordon out of the equation on the bulk of the Bulls' plays. (He can't throw that little giant killer shot of his up from the three point line, after all.) He did things like putting Gordon and Hughes in together which turned into a mess of two shooting guards with nobody running the offense. When a good, decent team player like Chris Duhon starts spouting off to the media, I think there's a problem with the coach. I don't think he was the right coach for this team at this time. Would he be a good fit for another team in a different situation? Maybe. But not this team and not now. Pax made the right choice. No question.
Reply
4-19-2008 @ 9:13AM
frank said...
It took LA after Shaq about 4 years to put it together thru Mitch by bringing Pau Gasol;
It took a lot more years for Boston and so on and so on....
But you give Boylan less then 4 months ?NOT I disagree .
Reply