When the Chicago Bulls parted ways with Tom Thibodeau and hired a first-time NBA head coach in Fred Hoiberg, there was little doubt he’d stock his staff with assistants who were experienced in coaching at the professional level.
But anytime you can grab someone who’s spent time with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, you’ve overachieved in this regard.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:San Antonio assistant Jim Boylen has accepted an associate head coaching job with the Chicago Bulls, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg had targeted Boylen to coordinate his defensive coverages and use his strong NBA bench experience to facilitate Hoiberg’s leap to the pro sidelines from Iowa State.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich wanted to keep Boylen on his staff, but ultimately understood the financial opportunity and promotion that the Bulls were offering, sources said.
Boylen was a member of Frank Vogel’s staff with the Pacers, before coming to the Spurs in 2013. He was second in the assistant ranks in San Antonio behind Ettore Messina last season.
Overall, this is a nice hire for the Bulls, and the move to add experience shouldn’t come as any surprise -- we saw Billy Donovan and the Thunder do the very same thing when they hired Monty Williams.