Parker's role reduced as Bulls, Boylen continue to make changes
The second week of Jim Boylen's head-coaching tenure featured a trip to Mexico City and another surprise.
ESPN reported that Jabari Parker would be leaving the Bulls' playing rotation. The Bulls are paying Parker $20 million this season after adding the South Side native as a free agent.
Parker did check in at his normal time, late in the first quarter, on Thursday against Orlando. But he played just four minutes, all in the first half, and did not score.
The Bulls lost to the Magic 97-91, giving up a 6-0 run in the final 30 seconds, at Arena Ciudad de Mexico. Lauri Markkanen's 3-pointer tied the score with 1:05 left. After the teams traded turnovers, the Bulls messed up a switch defensively and didn't guard Orlando center Nikola Vucevic, who buried an open jumper with 28.1 seconds left. Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 23 points, while Justin Holiday scored 18.
Rookie forward Chandler Hutchison skipped the game because of an illness, which might have been the reason Parker played. Boylen also had to be cognizant of Mexico City's altitude of 7,349 feet above sea level, considerably higher than any NBA city.
With Markkanen and Bobby Portis (15 points) back from injury, the Bulls face a quandary of what to do with Parker, since both of those players are power forwards, which is Parker's natural position. But the Bulls knew this when they pried Parker away from Milwaukee in July.
The original thinking was Parker would play small forward, but former coach Fred Hoiberg put an end to that experiment two games into preseason. The other option would be to play Parker at power forward with Portis or Markkanen at center. But Robin Lopez has been playing well lately as backup center, so there are no easy solutions.
When the Bulls arrived in Mexico, vice president of basketball operations John Paxson told reporters that he thinks it's been a good week for the team, despite all the negative publicity the Bulls have received in the past week or so.
There was the franchise-record 56-point loss to Boston on Saturday, followed by some Bulls bristling at the though of practicing on Sunday after a set of back-to-back games. Eventually, the team held a couple of meetings instead of practice. Paxson made it clear he expects players to buy into Boylen's way of doing things.
"I don't look at this as old school. I look at this as setting a standard of how you want to play every day," Paxson said. "I think great players, players that want to be part of a team, buy into those things. If guys don't want to buy in then it will be on me and Gar (Forman) to figure that out.
"I kind of have to laugh a little bit about these things because when did it become a bad thing to practice a little bit harder?" Paxson said. "We've lengthened the season, we don't have as many back-to-backs, don't have the four in five nights anymore. To get better as a player you have to practice."
After the disagreement over the weekend, the Boylen and the players agreed to form a leadership committee to address any concerns or disagreements. That committee will include Markkanen, Portis, Lopez, Zach LaVine and Justin Holiday.
The coaching change was unexpected, but it seems clear Paxson thought the Bulls needed a jolt and he expects Boylen to provide one. Bad habits and inconsistent effort were a problem, but Hoiberg was also working with a flawed, depleted roster.
"Boylen is detailed, he's passionate, and he's holding guys accountable to certain things. And we need that," Paxson said. "A young team needs that more than anything.
"I'm confident in what we're doing. I think this will strengthen us because we have to band together now. There's so much noise out there, so much negativity. I don't feel it inside our building or our locker room."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls