Bulls news: Jim Boylen dislikes narrative that Chicago almost had full-blown player mutiny

There were reports that the Chicago Bulls almost had a player mutiny of sorts this past weekend, but new Jim Boylen is trying to set the record straight.

Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen clarified what took place on Sunday after a report by The Athletic initially pointed to a potential team-wide mutiny after a few players were in disagreement with Boylen's decision to hold a practice after back-to-back games.

The coach, now one week into the job, set the record straight in front of the local media:

“That is not true that ‘they' didn't want to have practice. They means everybody. That is not true. So, I don't like that narrative. I don't want that out there. That is not true,” said a passionate Jim Boylen, according to ESPN's Malika Andrews. “The truth is we had a couple guys that thought a Sunday practice was excessive after the week we had. And they have to trust me that if I bring them in here to practice, I'm going to manage their legs, and manage what we're going to do. They didn't understand that. So I explained to them that you have to trust me and I am going to do what's best for this team. What was best for this team was coming in, being together and growing.”

Players reportedly texted each other the same Saturday night after their 56-point loss to the Boston Celtics, wondering if they should not show up at all or do so and walk right out the door to get their point across. Ultimately, they met among each other first, then met with Boylen after to air out their grievances.

“Some guys felt that was excessive. We cleared that up and we're moving on,” said Jim Boylen. “Please don't say they, because that's not how it was. Everybody is allowed to make a mistake. Everybody is allowed to get sideways a little bit. This is an emotional roller coaster at this level. So, new coach, tough week, big win, we got our butt kicked. Everybody is human. Everybody has a reason to do what they do and a lot of times we've all done it where we look back and say, ‘God, I wish I would've done that differently. We could've handled that differently.”

Jim Boylen inherited Fred Hoiberg's hot seat right after his firing, giving him no time to plan anything out and forced to take the reins on the fly, a tall order that will come with its share of growing pains and butting heads with players, despite any familiarity he might have had with them after three seasons with the team.