The roller coaster ride that led to Jim Boylen’s firing by the Bulls

Even in the final days, Boylen was confident that he would be the head coach for the start of the 2020-21 season. He found out on Friday just how wrong he was.

Extreme confidence or flat-out delusions of grandeur?

It’s tough to figure out which path Jim Boylen was walking before Friday’s news that the Bulls were parting ways with the head coach after just two seasons.

Maybe it was both.

Because while everything around him screamed that he would in no way see the final two years of the three-year contract extension he was given in the 2019 offseason, a source told the Sun-Times that even as late as this week, Boylen remained confident that he would have whistle in mouth at the Advocate Center when the 2020-21 season began.

The reasoning? Boylen was under the belief that in no way did the new regime of executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley want to remove him as the target, starting the clock on their own job security.

The problem was that not everyone thinks like Boylen. That was a mentality he likely learned under the Gar Forman regime. Survival 101.

Karnisovas, however, made it very clear that he’s not into surviving, he’s into winning.

“Ultimately my responsibility is to move this organization on a trajectory of success, and from the beginning this has involved making changes,’’ Karnisovas said after the Boylen firing was announced. “I’m dedicated and committed to cultivating a culture that breeds winning, and has its sights set on championships.’’

That definitely wasn’t the culture going on before Friday, at least from what the Bulls players were saying.

The latest kidney shot to Boylen came last week, as the usually mild-mannered Tomas Satoransky had some interesting comments on a Czech radio show when asked about his then-head coach.

“How would I say it diplomatically?’’ Satoransky said. “It definitely wasn’t an easy season for the coach because this was his first season as a head coach in the NBA, ehh, nobody was doing well so there was huge pressure on him. The fans do not forgive and the coach is generally the one who’s the first on the firing line. They just don’t forgive Jim and I certainly don’t want to throw dirt at him because I know how hard he works to win games, but the season wasn’t a successful one and unfortunately that’s the only thing fans see.’’

Satoransky, however, like many of the Bulls players, also felt that Boylen would be back for next season, telling that to the Czech media.

So why was the Boylen offseason roller-coaster ride filled with so many twists and turns? Fluid situations usually are:

May 8, 2020 – The Sun-Times reported that while the Reinsdorfs and former executive-turned adviser John Paxson wanted Boylen to be get a fair look by the new regime, they empowered them to make the decision on their own.

The paper was also the first to report that the early Zoom calls conducted with the players quickly damaged Boylen’s standing, with Karnisovas and Eversley getting enough mixed feedback about the last year that they were said to be already leaning toward starting fresh with a new coach once the NBA decided how to resolve the season.

May 20, 2020 – The Sun-Times broke the news that long-time head trainer Jeff Tanaka was fired, and later found out that Boylen was empowered by the new front office to make such decisions. That was not only confusing for Bulls personnel, but also the players who liked Tanaka.

June 3, 2020 – The Bulls were informed that they will not be invited to the Orlando bubble restart, but with more players expected in and out of town throughout the next six weeks, Karnisovas wanted to see first-hand the interaction between coach and his locker room.

June 5, 2020 – The Sun-Times reported that 76ers assistant coach Ime Udoka was the leading candidate to replace Boylen, according to several NBA scouts.

July 29, 2020 – Several Bulls players tell the Sun-Times that there was a growing concern that they weren’t being heard by the new regime, despite both Karnisovas and Eversley insisting they were a “players first’’ front office.

Meanwhile, Karnisovas and Eversley continued observing Boylen, also knowing that there were some red flags in his file, including a run-in with a team chef that required a meeting with lawyers several years ago.

Aug. 6, 2020 – In the wake of chairman Jerry Reinsdorf telling USA Today that he was losing “nine figures’’ combined between the White Sox and Bulls because of the coronavirus shutdown, the Sun-Times also learned that in looking to avoid furloughs throughout the operations and business side of the organization, all bonuses and pay increases were temporarily frozen.

The paper wrote that there was “growing thought that financial concerns the Reinsdorfs have about the 2020-21 season will keep Boylen and most of his staff on the Bulls’ bench.’’ That growing thought was soon squashed.

Aug. 14, 2020 – In the wake of the Boylen firing being announced, Karnisovas dismissed the idea of finances ever being a concern in the coaching aspect of the franchise, but did admit that the opinion of the players was a component in the decision. “Players are always a part of it,’’ Karnisovas said.

As far as the Boylen red flags? Karnisovas took the high road, despite being asked about it twice.

“The decision was based on mainly of the basketball part of it, so a basketball decision was made,’’ he insisted.