Bulls will name Spurs' Boylen as top assistant coach
The Bulls are close to hiring Jim Boylen as the lead assistant on new coach Fred Hoiberg's staff.
Yahoo.com Sports reported the news Saturday, and it was confirmed by a team source.
Not to be confused with Jim Boylan, interim head coach of the Bulls during the 2007-08 season, this Jim Boylen is an 18-year NBA assistant coach. He'll bring the NBA bench experience Hoiberg was seeking.
Hoiberg spent the past five years as head coach at Iowa State, but has never coached in the NBA. He played in the league for 10 seasons and spent five years working in basketball operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Boylen is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who starred at the University of Maine and got his start in coaching from Jud Heathcote at Michigan State in 1987. The bulk of his NBA experience came under Rudy Tomjanovich with the Houston Rockets. Boylen worked for the Rockets from 1992-2003, a period that included two NBA championships in 1994 and '95.
Most recently, Boylen was an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs for the past two seasons. He's also had stints with Golden State, Milwaukee, Indiana, a second run at Michigan State and was head coach at the University of Utah from 2007-11.
The addition of Boylen doesn't necessarily mean current Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin is leaving. Griffin is reportedly under consideration for an assistant coaching job in Orlando on Scott Skiles' staff. Griffin worked with Skiles in Milwaukee before joining the Bulls. Griffin also played for Skiles with the Bulls.
Hoiberg may still be interested in keeping Griffin with the Bulls as Griffin deserves credit for helping Jimmy Butler develop into an all-star. And Griffin might prefer staying in Chicago, considering he just moved his family from Highland Park to the western suburbs when the Bulls relocated their practice facility downtown.
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