It appears Bulls coach Jim Boylen doesn’t have to worry about job security despite a disappointing 9-18 start. Executive vice president John Paxson expressed full confidence in his coach today in separate interviews with several media outlets.
“We’re committed to Jim. There’s no quick fix to this,” Paxson told K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “We’re not thinking of making any changes. Jim is a grinder. He’s going to keep grinding. One thing I respect immensely about him is he’s willing to listen to ideas. The thing he and I do is talk basketball. When I see things, he listens to what I have to say. Not that I’m making the decisions and I don’t tell him to play, but we talk basketball. And he’s open. He’s going to continue to grow and get better.”
Boylen has compiled a 26-59 record since taking over for Fred Hoiberg last December. His early days as head coach were met with a near mutiny by some of his players, who weren’t fond of the tough-guy tactics he brought to the role. Since then, there have been ups and downs in his relationship with the team, including public comments last month from Zach LaVine questioning whether Boylen is showing enough trust in him.
“There’s always some conflict,” Paxson said. “It can be teammate to teammate or coaches to players. That’s inevitable in this business. I don’t expect this group to fracture. I’d be disappointed if they did. All the guys in that locker room expressed to us their character and that’s not where they want to go or would ever go. I believe when they tell me that. I know that when things are bad or you’re not winning as much as you should, people want to point fingers. I’m not doing that internally. And we can’t do that internally. Once you do that, you’re in trouble.”
Paxson said at Media Day that he expected the Bulls to challenge for the playoffs. However, the team has stumbled out of the gate and is currently in 11th place, although just three games out of the eighth spot. There have been grumblings about Boylen’s new offense, which places a larger emphasis on 3-point shooting, and about his tendency to use more players than other coaches do, resulting in decreased minutes for LaVine and Lauri Markkanen.
Paxson still believes the Bulls can reach the postseason and told Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times that he accepts the blame for the rocky start.
“I’ll say this again, I thought — and we all did — we would have a better record than we do right now,” Paxson said. “I do believe we have talent. It’s young and not a lot of experience, but I do believe we have talent. So we’ve underperformed in that area, but there’s no quick fix in this right now. That’s the view I have to take.’’
He added that he’s not worried about his own job, even though many Bulls fans have been pleading for a front office shakeup for several years.
“I never worry about that,’’ he said. “I communicate with Jerry and Michael [Reinsdorf], and they know where my head is at, my heart is at and what I’m trying to do. Look, that’s a ‘what if’, and I’m not working on a ‘what-if.’’’
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
hes the major change we need to make
Full vote of confidence means he’s got about three or four weeks maximum.
*before they fire his a$$
Ha
Hahahahahaha ha!
Paxson: ‘Actually, we PREFER to lose, it builds character. Jim, Jerry, Gar, Michael, and me, we all have lots of hard earned character.’
GarPax are a disgrace only comparable to the Knicks front office.
Reinsdorf’s loyalty to inept, clueless front office clowns have rendered both the Bulls and the White Sox irrelevant jokes. No excuse for pro teams in major markets to operate like this. I guess it could be worse, we could be Knick fans.
That had a lot of red flags but it is an exec talking. I have to wonder, why do this now… This fits with the unfortunate “vote of confidence” legacy that is followed by an eventual firing.
Lauri needs to learn the system, Lauri needs to play with more confidence. Paxson believes in exchanging ideas, Paxson does not do what-ifs. Boylen changed the system, now we have to wait.
Nothing sounds good when you’re losing. The Bulls have rebuilt twice he says, but I don’t think they have the personnel to do it like they did.
Such an embarrassment
Other than cashing their own checks…
What does the front office have as a plan?
Chicago just beat the Clippers so they’re doing something right.
Yeah they beat the Clippers tonight because KL wasn’t playing otherwise they would have got beat.. and probably bad..
Regular season games mean nothing. No matter what Rockets fans tell you.
Chicago if they want to be good need to package themselves a team which looks good for AD.
He’s said he’s willing to join them and wants to play for his home team. Right now they have 3 bigs in Thad Young, Carter Jr and Markeneen which makes if not ideal for AD plus the fact they are losing.
Maybe trade Otto Porter and Kris Dunn for John Wall.
John Wall is a former Kentucky player, as was Davis and I think Wall and Davis would be a good combo. If you can’t bring in Davis atleast you’ve got yourself an all star PG which has been an issue area of the bulls for a while.
Wizards get out of that terrible contract and give Beal some better pieces to win some games this year.
Then to plug the 3 spot swap Cam Felicio and Denzel Valentine for Kidd-Gilchrist. MKG again former Kentucky player, is a good defender and plug that position.
Then they could hire John Calipari to replace Boylen, and move the team to a stadium in downstate Illinois!
Seriously, Anthony Davis is NOT coming to Chicago. You must be gobbling some edibles.
“Nope. Still don’t plan on contending.”
Just Sorry A Guy Hits 1 Open Three And He gets The Keys to A Whole Organization|There will be no changes long as The Bulls SellOut
LOL, took me a minute
Merry Christmas Chicago.
No changes planned.
And that is why this franchise is in a death spiral.
Dumb and dumber. Lol. These two dopes couldn’t run a lemonade stand, successfully.
Wow this team is bad.