Bulls fire coach Jim Boylen after missing playoffs again
Months after the world was reminded of the best run in Chicago Bulls history, the franchise closed a chapter on one of its worst.
The Chicago Bulls fired coach Jim Boylen on Friday as the new front office begins its remake of a team that missed the playoffs for the fourth time in five years — a tough stretch for a franchise whose dominance in the 1990s was chronicled in the ESPN documentary “The Last Dance.”
The
Bulls finished 22-43 this season and were one of the eight teams that
didn’t qualify for the NBA’s restart at Walt Disney World, where the
playoffs begin next week.
The move was hardly a surprise. Only Tim Floyd (.205) had a lower winning percentage than Boylen (.317) in franchise history.
“This
was a very difficult decision, but it is time for our franchise to take
that next step as we move in a new direction and era of Chicago Bulls
basketball,” said rturas Karnisovas, the team’s new executive vice
president of basketball operations. “Jim is a great human being that
cares deeply about this organization and the game of basketball.”
A
longtime NBA assistant, Boylen got his first head coaching job in the
league in December 2018 when the Bulls fired Fred Hoiberg after a 5-19
start. Boylen led the Bulls to a 17-41 record the rest of the way and a
22-43 mark in this pandemic-interrupted season after getting a contract
extension.
The Bulls were 11th in the Eastern Conference before play was stopped in March because of the coronavirus.
After
the season, Chicago hired Karnisovas as it became clear deeper changes
were needed. The man he replaced, John Paxson, had said in February 2019
the Bulls “absolutely” planned to retain Boylen. He said at the time
that Boylen was “doing the right things” and “promoting the right
message to our players.”
The Bulls made good on that promise, and they entered this season with strong hopes.
“We
think we can compete,” Paxson said before the season. “And when you
compete at a high level, you have the ability to be a playoff-caliber
team. We set that as a goal.”
Paxson’s optimism came with caution. He said he expected Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Otto Porter to “step up.”
LaVine
averaged 25.5 points but wasn’t an All-Star. Markkanen, a 7-footer from
Finland, missed 15 games with a pelvic injury and his scoring and
rebounding numbers dropped. Porter missed 51 games with a variety of
left foot injuries. The Bulls finished 27th out of 30 teams in scoring.
In a grim reminder of how far the Bulls had fallen, Chicago hosted the All-Star game, yet no Bulls were on the rosters.
Karnisovas
was hired out of Denver’s front office in April, with Paxson moving to
an advisory role after nearly two decades leading the basketball
operation. General manager Gar Forman was fired, and the Bulls hired
Philadelphia 76ers executive Marc Eversley — Chicago’s first Black GM —
to replace him.
Karnisovas wanted to meet face to face with Boylen
and observe practices and games before announcing a decision. The
chance to watch him up close was dashed when the Bulls were left out of
the Florida bubble. And now, the search kicks into higher gear.
Toronto
lead assistant Adrian Griffin played with Karnisovas at Seton Hall in
the early 1990s. He also had two stints playing with the Bulls and
worked as an assistant on former coach Tom Thibodeau’s staff from
2010-15.
Kenny Atkinson led the Brooklyn Nets to a playoff appearance in 2019. But he was fired this past March with a 118-190 record over four seasons.
AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman and AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report.