A front office and coach that get along? Yes, rare air for the Bulls
When it came to Bulls offseasons, it often felt like the front office and coach were on separate pages in roster building. Boylen could be changing that.
LAS VEGAS – Jim Boylen had to choose his words carefully, as the Bulls coach admitted on Saturday that what was pulled off this offseason was somewhat unprecedented.
Boylen wanted tougher-minded players added to the roster. He got them.
He wanted competition at the point guard spot. He got it.
He wanted some more raw power around the rim. Meet Daniel Gafford.
Heck, former coach Fred Hoiberg is still waiting for general manager Gar Forman to deliver him a shooter, and Hoiberg was fired last December and is now coaching at Nebraska.
It’s safe to say that the Bulls front office and the head coach haven’t always been in sync with building a roster, going back to the Tom Thibodeau Era and the cold war that the last few seasons turned into.
“I don’t know how to say it any clearer than we have open communication,’’ Boylen said of his relationship with the front office. “They allowed me to present to them on the 24th of April about my vision of the team and our staff and who I thought we could be and where I thought we needed to go. You guys have heard about my board notes. I take board notes and I take a picture of it. I had 120 pages of board notes of what I thought we needed to do or what I thought we could be or how I thought we could get there. When the season ended, I compiled those notes and I did a presentation to Michael and Jerry [Reinsdorf] and John [Paxson] and Gar of my vision of this team. I guess it resonated with them.’’
While Boylen and the rest of the Bulls brass that are gathered in Las Vegas for Summer League were still not talking about the specifics of their free-agent signings until everything is made official, landing Thaddeus Young and his veteran experience to the frontcourt was likely on more than a few of Boylen’s “board notes,’’ while drafting Coby White with the seventh overall pick and doing a sign and trade for Tomas Satoransky will give a new look to the backcourt.
Boylen likes a tight ship in his practices and in the preparation of his players, and there’s a growing collection of a no-nonsense type roster.
“That’s been a big tenant of ours – to get this right,’’ Boylen said. “Get the right people on the bus in the right spots. [Bulls consultant] Coach [Doug] Collins, that’s one of his big things with me. Get the right coaches on the bus in the right spots. Get the right players – role definition, shot selection, coachable guys, guys who care about the city. And we’ve done that.
“In reality, we’ve done nothing yet but do our work, which is what we’re paid to do. Now we have to become a team.’’
It also helps that Boylen and Paxson have built a good relationship, especially with Paxson’s track record with his last three coaches.
There’s a reason Boylen was extended for three years so soon after the season ended.
“He’s a tough guy,’’ Boylen said of working with Paxson. “He’s been to the mountaintop. I lean on him as much as I can. I don’t want to have this misperception that this is all hunky dory either. There are times he has gotten into me about things that he wants me to do. And I’ve told him some things that I’m upset about that I need some help with. And we just work it out.
“I almost feel like it’s big brother, little brother. Your big brother grabs you and puts you in a headlock sometimes and says, ‘Hey, you got to do this.’ Sometimes you talk to him, whatever it is. It’s been awesome.’’