The Chicago Bulls are coming off a historic home loss, a 133-77 defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics, the worst in NBA history. This monumental loss included two wholesale substitutions by new head coach Jim Boylen, the first in the opening quarter after quickly falling into a 17-0 hole, then another early in the third, as his team failed to come out aggressive and right the ship. Boylen's starters didn't play for the last 21 minutes of the game.
After the game, Boylen promised a hard practice to come on Sunday, one that was met with wide disapproval by some members of the team, forcing an ultimate hash-it-out meeting with them at the practice facility.
Reflecting back on his first week as a coach, Boylen acknowledged he welcomes these bumps on the road:
“Yesterday was a blessing for where we have to go,” he said, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Boylen then dispelled the rumors of a team-wide mutiny coming his way Sunday, noting there were only a few players, not all of them, that disagreed with his decision to hold a practice after a back-to-back:
“That is not true that ‘they' didn't want to have practice. ‘They' means everybody. That is not true. I don't like that narrative,” said Jim Boylen. “The truth is we had a couple guys who thought a Sunday practice was excessive after the week we had.
“They have to trust me that if I bring them in to practice, I'm going to manage their legs. They didn't understand that. So I explained to them that you have to trust me that I'm going to do what's best for this team. What was best was coming in, being together and growing.”
Jim Boylen seems to feel that he has the full support coming from management as far as taking harsh decisions with this roster, something that has quickly become evident in his early tenure as a head coach in this league.
Follow Us
Subscribe