In the immediate wake of the firing of head coach Fred Hoiberg, the Chicago Bulls plan to make Jim Boylen the permanent head coach for at least the rest of the season and not give him an interim tag, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Boylen is signed through the 2019-20 season, paying him just under $1 million annually. It’s still unknown whether the Bulls will ask him to coach under his current contract or negotiate a long-term extension for his services.
The Bulls have now placed their faith in Boylen, who will have a chance to play at full strength, getting team catalysts like Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis back from injury in the coming weeks — hoping he can bring their visions of improvement to fruition. Lauri Markkanen just returned from an injury over the weekend that had kept him out all season.
Chicago is off to a 5-19 start to the season, a major reason behind Hoiberg's firing and the start of a new era under Boylen, someone most of the young players have grown fond of for his intensity and passion for the game.
The task will be tough for Boylen, as the hole is deep for this team that has fallen to the bottom of the standings, with only the 4-18 Cleveland Cavaliers keeping them from the end of the barrel.
Boylen has championship experience, netting two rings during his time as an assistant for the Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995 and another as a former understudy of Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, prior to joining the Bulls.
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