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.”
Ah yes, the old “the coach lost the locker room” song and dance.
The smell of GarPax covering their tracks is overwhelming.
This
Not saying I have any love for the guy but they didn’t do much to bring in help for the team. Would have preferred to can him in the summer and give the new coach more time, and a fresh slate. For now might as well keep him and let the tank continue.
I understand that some people are gonna defend Hoiberg, and I’m sure they do make some decent points, because he was never really given a good roster.
With that said, anyone that knows anything about basketball and proper leadership and management (which are two different things) will tell you the guy isn’t good and was in WAAAAY over his head.
He has no foresight, no strategy, often looks lost and confused, isn’t vocal, looks like he barely cares, doesn’t hold anyone accountable, and has no skill set to inspire or drive his players. He’s a complete dud.
Again, I know that Gar/Pax are terrible, but so is Fred. It was a lose/lose. He should’ve never been hired. He’s probably okay for a 8th grade JV team, but not the NBA.
I appreciate that Hoiberg might not be a good coach – it’s hard to know at this point – but this story reeks of damage control.
Also, no offense, but you can’t tell how a coach is doing watching them during game time. The best coaches are great at letting the assistants coach the walkthru, prepare the game plan and scouting reports, and facilitating player development. Hoiberg had a great reputation on account of his success in the NCAA, and his resume suggests he’d be a decent NBA coach.
Evaluating Hoiberg’s body language and post game comments while he was coaching a bunch of misfit toys assembled by the worst front office in basketball (well, maybe except Phoenix)? Doesn’t make sense to me.
From Schanowski: Hoiberg’s pace-n-space “led to LaVine being worn out physically and mentally from the strain of trying to carry the scoring load.”
Boylan will facilitate through the bigs.
Markannon starts, Parker to dominate second units.
Boylan gets the HC job starting when injured players are returning. IMO, the statement is, we’re not just tanking the year away with Hoiberg.