Jim Boylen remains the coach of the Chicago Bulls. For now. Rumors have swirled around the league for a while that new VP of basketball operations in Chicago Arturas Karnisovas was going to let Boylen go and bring in his guy as coach, in part because several prominent young Bulls players are not Boylen fans.
When asked about his coach, Bulls rookie big man Daniel Gafford wasn’t going to trash Jim Boylen but didn’t exactly sing his praises either. Gafford was answering questions while streaming NBA 2K20 on Twitch and was asked what he thinks of his coach. His full answer, hat tip 670 The Score:
Not ripping the man, but not exactly having his back, either. Considering Gafford is a rookie, this is as much as anyone should expect him to say negatively about a coach.
Like every new head of basketball operations, Karnisovas will eventually want to get his own guy in as coach. That guy is not Boylen. However, it’s possible Boylen survives to coach next season in Chicago — I wouldn’t say likely, but possible — for a couple of reasons. First, the owner and former management like Boylen (but they have given Karnisovas the green light to make a change). Second, is the coronavirus impact on the league: A shortened offseason for a new coach to implement his system, plus with less revenue coming in owners are not inclined to pay multiple coaches.
The sense around the league is still that Boylen will be shown the door, but it hasn’t happened yet so everything is on the table. If the Bulls are going to make a change they will want to do so before any off-season camps/training sessions so the new coach can work with the Bulls core and start to put in a new system.