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Central Notes: Boylen, Smith, Bucks, Pacers

December 9th, 2018 at 3:12pm CST by JD Shaw

New Bulls coach Jim Boylen is trying to rebuild the struggling team on the fly, explaining his thoughts this past week on where the club stands. Boylen was promoted to head coach two weeks ago when the team suddenly fired Fred Hoiberg.

“My focus is that we’re not where we need to be to compete, and so obviously we want to win but I want us to be at a level where we get the full force of what we do,” Boylen said, according to Mark Strotman of NBC Sports. “I don’t think our conditioning allows us to do that.

“We’re on the first floor, We’re on ‘A.’ I’d like us to get to ‘D’ and ‘E.’ Maybe in two weeks we’ll see. We can’t get to ‘D’ and ‘E’ if we’re not in shape.”

These comments from Boylen came before his team lost 133-77 against the Celtics on Saturday, giving Boston its largest margin of victory in franchise history. Boylen ripped his team’s effort after the game, clearly trying to motivate his young squad and change their mindsets. The team held a lengthy meeting on Sunday to discuss their play.

Boylen, a veteran assistant with several NBA teams, has the opportunity to prove to management that he deserves to coach past this season. The Bulls are currently 6-21 and have lost eight of their last 10 games.

Here are some other notes from the Central Division:

Pistons guard Ish Smith is said to be drawing interest on the trade market, according to Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Smith is expected to miss roughly three to six weeks with a right adductor muscle tear. Before getting injured, Smith was averaging 9.2 points and three assists per contest.
Steve Aschburner of NBA.com stresses the importance of retaining Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton in free agency for the Bucks, with both talents playing key roles on the team around Giannis Antetokounmpo this season. “It is our mission statement,” Bucks GM Jon Horst said, explaining the importance of building around Antetokounmpo. “What Giannis means to our team, our franchise, our city, our state kind of goes beyond words. We have to make the most of the opportunity to find and build things that fit with him.” Milwaukee is 16-8 on the season and holds the No. 2 spot out East, sporting an impressive 12-3 record at home.
The Pacers have found strength in numbers this season, using a collective approach to overcome the loss of All-Star Victor Oladipo, writes Mark Montieth of NBA.com. Oladipo has missed the team’s last 10 games to injury, but the Pacers are 6-4 this season without him. Last season, Indiana held a 0-7 record in games Oladipo missed.

Bulls Notes: Record Loss, Hoiberg, Dunn, Arcidiacono

December 9th, 2018 at 9:07am CST by Arthur Hill

New Bulls coach Jim Boylen didn’t hold back his criticism after Saturday’s 56-point loss to the Celtics, the worst defeat in franchise history, relays Malika Andrews of ESPN.

“I think your play is embarrassing,” said Boylen, who pulled his five starters for the night three minutes into the third quarter. “… I worked for [Spurs head coach] Gregg Popovich. He subbed five guys a ton of times. Nobody says a word to him about it. He felt that was best for the team. I felt that was best for the team where we were at. I wanted to give the other guys a chance to see if they could right the ship a little bit. If I don’t like the five guys out there, if I don’t like the combination, I’m going to look at a new combination. Take them all out, let them sit there and think about it.”

There was plenty to think about, and none of it was good. Chicago fell behind 17-0 and went more than six minutes of the first quarter without scoring. The deficit was 32 points when Boylen decided to pull Ryan Arcidiacono, Zach LaVine, Justin Holiday, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter, who combined for 27 points on the night, the lowest total for a Bulls starting lineup in 11 years. Fans booed loudly throughout the game as the team fell to 6-21.

“We don’t have that internal toughness yet to play at this level consistently,” Boylen said afterward.

There’s more this morning from Chicago:

Bulls management claims that former coach Fred Hoiberg was dismissed because he lost his influence with his players, but the real reason was a deteriorating relationship with GM Gar Forman, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Bobby Portis was the latest player to come to Hoiberg’s defense Saturday. “He’s a players’ coach, lets guys go out there and do what they do, get better,” Portis said. “Me, personally, he helped me develop my game a lot, so I credit a lot of things toward him. To say that he lost the respect of the locker room, I don’t think that’s a good way to put it.’’
Portis and Kris Dunn are both close to returning from knee injuries, although neither played Saturday. Dunn’s return will mark a critical time in his career, as he becomes eligible for a rookie contract extension at the end of the season, Cowley notes in a separate story. Dunn has been effective since coming to Chicago last year, but it’s not clear if the front office is fully invested in him as the point guard of the future. Cowley states that the team had a private workout with Trae Young before the draft and considered taking Collin Sexton with the seventh pick before opting for Carter.
Arcidiacono’s high-energy game has made him an effective fill-in during Dunn’s absence, writes Sam Smith of NBA.com.

Kris Dunn, Bobby Portis Set To Return Soon?

December 8th, 2018 at 2:35pm CST by clarkcrum

On Thursday afternoon, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic reported that both Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis were on the verge of returning to the Bulls lineup soon and that head coach Jim Boylen intimated the team was contemplating playing the pair as early as last night’s win over the Thunder.

Of course, last night came and went with neither Dunn nor Portis taking the floor, and per Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, neither player is a sure bet to play against the Celtics tonight either.

“They had a good day and that’s about all I’ve got,” Boylen said yesterday in regard to tonight’s game. “We have to wait until they respond (Saturday) morning. They have their check-in and we go from there. (But) they got through (Friday) and did well.”

Last we heard about two weeks ago, both Dunn and Portis were able to work out for the first time, which was the most either had done since being injured, but neither player was ready for any type of contact, per former coach Fred Hoiberg.

Dunn, 24, sprained his right MCL against the Mavericks in the third game of the season (his first) on October 22 and has not played since. Meanwhile, Portis, 23, suffered the same injury two nights later. Likewise, he has been out of the lineup since the injury.

Per Boylen, both Portis and Dunn will have their minutes restricted whenever they return.

Examining Boylen's Early Approach To New Job

December 6th, 2018 at 10:21am CST by Luke Adams

Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic takes an interesting, detailed look at how Jim Boylen has dove head-first into his new job as the Bulls‘ head coach this week, meeting individually with all his players after taking the reins from Fred Hoiberg.

Bulls Notes: Hoiberg, Boylen, LaVine, R. Brown

December 5th, 2018 at 10:06am CST by Luke Adams

Within an article on Fred Hoiberg‘s dismissal, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic passes along several interesting tidbits, reporting that multiple league sources said Hoiberg had lost the team, with Bulls players no longer believing in his system.

Those players were also “increasingly emboldened” to challenge the head coach’s authority, according to Mayberry, who cites specific instances where Jabari Parker and Antonio Blakeney undermined Hoiberg and weren’t reprimanded. Zach LaVine was also essentially given “carte blanche” by Hoiberg to get away with whatever he wanted, writes Mayberry.

One source told Mayberry that Jim Boylen had essentially been the Bulls’ de facto coach in the early part of this season, though a team source disputed that idea, explaining that Hoiberg “coached his desired portions and delegated other aspects to Boylen.” Still, that team source acknowledged that Boylen was “always the bad cop,” with Mayberry suggesting that the players respected and responded more to Boylen’s personality.

Here’s more out of Chicago:

While Boylen initially said that he expected the rest of the Bulls’ assistants to remain on the staff, the team announced in a press release on Tuesday that assistant coach Randy Brown had resigned. According to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (Twitter links), Boylen confirmed that Brown stepped down after being asked to take on a different role — Brown would have moved behind the bench and would have had fewer in-game duties, though his out-of-game responsibilities would have increased.
Boylen spoke this week about his goal to “build [the Bulls’] culture in a positive way” and explained why he believes he’s the right man for the club’s head coaching job, as Mark Strotman of NBC Sports Chicago details. Meanwhile, Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago explored how the Bulls’ offense and rotations figured to change under Boylen.
In a pair of pieces for ESPN.com, Malika Andrews weighed in on why Hoiberg failed to have success in Chicago, and relayed some comments from Bulls players on the club’s coaching change. According to Andrews, Zach LaVine said on Tuesday that he sent a text message to Hoiberg thanking him for the hard work he put in with the Bulls. “At the end of the day, Fred is a great dude and you respect that,” LaVine said. “You know he did a good job here. He was under some circumstances that he can’t control.”

Bulls Notes: Hoiberg, Boylen, Markkanen, Parker

December 3rd, 2018 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls‘ decision to fire Fred Hoiberg wasn’t based on his win-loss record as the team’s head coach, executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson said today to reporters, including K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Instead, Paxson explained, it was more about Hoiberg’s struggles to get his identity across to his team (Twitter link via Johnson).

“We were in a similar situation last year at this time. Poor record,” Paxson said (Twitter link via Johnson). “But the entire energy about this group was different then. What we’re lacking is an energy and spirit. It’s not as simple as saying we would’ve got that with healthy players.”

Associate head coach Jim Boylen will take over for Hoiberg, and he won’t just get the interim title. Paxson said today that the organization believes Boylen will be able to “affect change,” adding that the longtime assistant will be given the opportunity to remain in the role next season and possibly beyond (Twitter links via Johnson). For his part, Boylen told reporters that he believes he’s “a more passionate in-game coach” than Hoiberg (Twitter link via Johnson).

Here’s more on the Bulls:

The eventual firing of Hoiberg was inevitable after his relationship with Jimmy Butler deteriorated, in the view of Mark Strotman of NBC Sports Chicago. Meanwhile, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News and ESPN’s Zach Lowe both make the case that the Bulls’ management group didn’t put Hoiberg in a position to succeed.
Lowe also observes that Hoiberg is not a “forceful personality,” which may have contributed to his inability to succeed in Chicago: “I have come to believe after talking to lots of sources over lots of years now,” Lowe writes, “that (Hoiberg’s) tepid nature played some role in his inability to imprint any foundational belief upon any of his four Chicago teams.”
In a separate article for The Sporting News, Deveney identifies eight potential candidates to become the Bulls’ next long-term head coach, starting with Boylen.
Boylen’s first move as the Bulls’ head coach will be to insert Lauri Markkanen into the starting lineup, shifting Jabari Parker back to the bench, per The Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link).
The rest of the Bulls’ assistants will be retained, and the team will also add G League coach Dean Cooper to its coaching staff, according to Boylen (Twitter link via Johnson).
As we detailed in an earlier story, Paxson said today that GM Gar Forman is “absolutely safe” in his current role.

Paxson: Bulls GM Gar Forman Is ‘Absolutely Safe’

December 3rd, 2018 at 3:07pm CST by Luke Adams

While the Bulls fired head coach Fred Hoiberg today, they don’t expect to part ways with general manager Gar Forman anytime soon, according to executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson.

As K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune relays, Paxson issued a strong defense of Forman today, telling reporters that the GM is “absolutely safe” in his current role, a stance that sources confirmed privately to Johnson. Paxson also dismissed the idea that Hoiberg’s initial hiring was all on Forman.

“First of all, the belief that Gar solely made that decision was wrong and always has been,” Paxson said. “Those are reports. We can’t battle everything. I was 100% on board with hiring Fred. Jerry (Reinsdorf) and Michael (Reinsdorf) were 100% on board with hiring Fred. I work with Gar every day. I understand his internal value to this organization.”

Paxson technically sits above Forman in Chicago’s basketball operations hierarchy, but the general manager has a significant voice in roster moves and coaching hires, with Paxson indicating today that the two executives work in tandem and “make decisions together.” Those coaching and personnel decisions have been hit-and-miss for the Bulls in recent years, and Forman has also faced criticism for not speaking more to reporters, which Paxson addressed this afternoon with Forman unavailable for comment.

“I’m the person who will stand up in front and talk about why we do certain things. That’s just the way it is,” Paxson said. “It’s not that he’s not talking because he doesn’t want to. It’s because I choose to speak for this organization. And I feel passionately about his role with us.

“We’ve made some great decisions in terms of young personnel the last couple years,” Paxson continued. “And as we have the opportunity to make more decisions, he’ll be front and center. We’ll work in tandem and we hope to do the right thing.”

Bulls Fire Fred Hoiberg

December 3rd, 2018 at 8:54am CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls have fired head coach Fred Hoiberg, the team announced today in a press release. Associate head coach Jim Boylen will assume head coaching duties in Chicago, according to the club.

“Decisions like this one are never easy to make, however I felt this was the right choice for our organization at this time,” executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson said in a statement. “After a thorough evaluation, I elected to make this move with the overall development of our team in mind. As a team, I believe it is imperative that we make unfaltering strides in the right direction and build the right habits to help put our players in the best position to evolve not only now, but into the future.”

Hoiberg, who coached at Iowa State before joining the Bulls, was hired by Chicago during the 2015 offseason, which made him the league’s 12th-longest-tenured head coach up until today. He was in the fourth year of a five-year, $25MM contract, so the Bulls will be on the hook for the remaining money on his deal.

Hoiberg led the Bulls to a 42-40 record during his first year in 2015/16, but failed to get above .500 again in subsequent seasons. In total, his record with Chicago was 115-155 (.426), including 5-19 this season. The Bulls made the postseason once, but didn’t win a playoff series, during Hoiberg’s tenure.

A report over the weekend had suggested that Hoiberg’s job may be in jeopardy, though it sounded like the Bulls would take a longer look at his performance now that some of the club’s injured players have started getting back on the court — Lauri Markkanen made his season debut over the weekend, while Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis are close to returning. A source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times that Hoiberg was “caught off guard” by his dismissal, believing he’d have the opportunity to coach a fully healthy team.

Instead, Paxson and the rest of the club’s management and ownership groups acted decisively, making Hoiberg the second head coach to be dismissed since the start of the 2018/19 regular season — former Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue was the first.

Given his previous success at the NCAA level, Hoiberg looks like a strong candidate to return to the college ranks if no favorable NBA opportunities emerge right away. However, for now, his preference is to continue coaching at the NBA level, reports K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter) that Boylen – not to be confused with former Bulls coach Jim Boylan – has been named the permanent coach, with no interim title. According to Johnson (Twitter link), Boylen is well regarded within the organization and has a chance to keep the job for the long term. The veteran assistant had stints with the Spurs, Pacers, Bucks, Warriors, Rockets, and multiple colleges before joining the Bulls in 2015.

As Wojnarowski notes (via Twitter), Boylen remains under contract through the 2019/20 season at just under $1MM annually. It’s not immediately clear whether the Bulls will ask him to coach under that deal or negotiate a longer-term extension, but either way, they’ll give him every chance to succeed, per Woj (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Central Notes: Markkanen, Burks, Pachulia, Bulls

December 2nd, 2018 at 2:45pm CST by JD Shaw

Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen made his season debut on Saturday against the Rockets, seeing 25 minutes of action off the bench for the first time since suffering an elbow sprain in September.

Markkanen, 21, is a key cog in the Bulls’ young core, and the team was 5-18 without him this season. He struggled shooting the ball on Saturday and finished 4-14 from the field, a clear sign of rust from the extended time on the sidelines.

“I felt good,” Markkanen said after the game, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. “I had no problems with my elbow, so that’s a positive. Missed some easy shots, but I think I played decent defense. I just gotta get my legs back.”

Aside from his shooting, Markkanen grabbed four rebounds, recorded a steal, one block and two fouls against the Rockets. It’s unclear how long he’ll come off the bench, with the likes of Jabari Parker and Wendell Carter Jr. starting ahead of him in the frontcourt.

“We will be careful with his minutes,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We’ll have constant communication while he’s on the floor to see if he needs a break to get his wind. But he’s done a great job of preparing himself for this moment with all the work he has done.

“Everybody is excited to have him back. He has a great skill set. He can do a lot on the floor. He demands a lot of attention to hopefully open up some driving lanes for some of our playmakers. He’ll have the ball in his hands some as well in facilitating.”

There’s more from the Central division today:

New Cavaliers guard Alec Burks played his first game with the team on Friday, scoring 15 points in 26 minutes off the bench. He followed this performance with a 13-point game on Saturday against the Raptors, proving his worth since being part of a Jazz-Cavs trade from last week. “Opportunity is everything in this league,” Burks said, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “I feel like I have a great one here. Just trying to take advantage of it and help my new team win.”
Zaza Pachulia has provided a settling effect on the Pistons behind Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond this season, Ansar Khan of Mass Live writes. Pachulia, a former NBA champion, has averaged 4.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in 12.7 minutes per game.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times believes the Bulls should follow the Cavaliers’ lead and explore trading players, explaining his thoughts in a new piece. Players such as Justin Holiday, Jabari Parker and Robin Lopez could register interest on the trade market.

Fred Hoiberg’s Job In Jeopardy?

December 2nd, 2018 at 10:20am CST by Arthur Hill

Now that the Bulls are getting healthy, management will take a critical look at coach Fred Hoiberg’s performance, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

Chicago is off to a 5-19 start, 14th in the Eastern Conference, but much of that record has been compiled with a depleted roster. Lauri Markkanen made his season debut last night after recovering from a sprained right elbow. Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis, both sidelined with knee injuries, are making progress and are expected back soon.

That will kick off a crucial portion of the schedule for Hoiberg, who isn’t guaranteed to keep his job for the rest of the season, Cowley states. The front office will consider wins and losses in its evaluation, but most important will be the development of the team’s young core of players.

This is the fourth year in Chicago for Hoiberg, who has compiled a 115-155 record so far with just one playoff appearance. His five-year, $25MM contract is guaranteed, so he will be paid in full even if he gets dismissed early. However, Cowley notes that the organization owed Tom Thibodeau $9MM when he was fired, so money won’t be a concern.

The final decision will be up to owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who will gather input from GM Gar Forman, VP of basketball operations John Paxson and COO Michael Reinsdorf. Unless the team improves quickly with a healthy roster, Cowley isn’t optimistic about Hoiberg’s chances.