Boylan should get to show head-coaching ability
On Friday in Boston, while coach Scott Skiles was on his way to a postgame media briefing, he stopped and gave Celtics general manager Danny Ainge a long hug.
Ainge was the head coach in Phoenix who stepped aside and gave Skiles his first opportunity in 1999. Now Skiles has basically done the same for lead assistant Jim Boylan. Skiles was dismissed by the Bulls on Monday.
Unless Boylan and general manager John Paxson have a nasty clash in basketball philosophy when they meet today, Boylan will be chosen to lead the Bulls for the rest of the season. Boylan is expected to stay behind while assistant Pete Myers handles the team in San Antonio.
There are several reasons why the Bulls are not planning a coaching search now. The most obvious is the team still owes Skiles nearly $7 million in salary and it would be expensive to bring in a big-name replacement.
Another reason is Paxson was never expecting to dismiss Skiles this season and hasn't spent much time compiling a list of candidates.
The third is Boylan should be ready to step into a head coaching role. He has 15 years of NBA coaching experience and interviewed for the Pacers opening last summer.
Asked Monday who he expects to take over as coach, guard Ben Gordon replied, "You have to say Jim. He ran practice today. When coach (Skiles) was sick during the year, we all knew that Jim would coach us. Right now, it just seems like it would be coach Boylan."
Boylan was the only assistant brought in by Skiles. Myers, Ron Adams, and Mike Wilhelm were all holdovers from Bill Cartwright's staff.
Even though Boylan was Skiles' confidant, he is popular with the players and figures to get the opportunity to prove that he deserves to keep the job full-time.
"I don't see this as something magical is going to happen where all of the sudden everything goes right," Paxson said. "There are a lot of reasons that we're in the position we're in at 9-16 and playing poorly. Our guys are going to have to get back to playing together and playing hard and playing with commitment."
Boylan has had a variety of coaching mentors. He played for Al McGuire at Marquette and was a starting guard on the 1977 NCAA championship team.
He's also worked with Jud Heahtcote at Michigan State, Lenny Wilkens and Mike Fratello in Cleveland, Brian Hill in Vancouver and Terry Stotts in Atlanta. Boylan's most recent head coaching job was at the University of New Hampshire from 1989-92.
If the Bulls keep sinking into the lottery, a coaching search would most likely be launched in the summer and contain obvious names like Mike Krzyzewski, Jeff Van Gundy, Doug Collins and Terry Porter.
Asked directly if he would ever take over as head coach, Paxson replied, "That will never happen."
Long wait for Myers: Coincidentally, the last time Pete Myers led the Bulls as a temporary coach was also in San Antonio. He filled in for two games in November, 2003 between the time Bill Cartwright was fired and Scott Skiles was hired. The Myers-led Bulls lost to Dallas 124-98 and the Spurs 109-98.
Bull horns: The Dec. 26 road game has been a holiday tradition for the Bulls. This is the fifth straight year the Bulls have traveled on Christmas evening and they are 1-7 on Dec. 26 since 1995. ... San Antonio shooting guard Manu Ginobili is not expected to play tonight because of a sprained ligament in his left index finger.