The Chicago Bulls freed Fred Hoiberg from his occupational responsibilities on Monday, elevating Jim “Not Boylan, The Other One” Boylen as head coach in his place. It sounds like the Bulls might decide to keep Boylen around through next season, but the presumption that the Bulls actually have a cogent plan seems to be assuming too much.
The Bulls needed a fall guy. Why not Hoiberg?
We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
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That’s behind the end of Hoiberg: the Bulls have no Earthly idea what they are doing. Zach Lowe lays out the idiosyncratic personnel moves the front office has made since hiring Hoiberg to install a Warriors-style system years ago. The good news for Chicago is they ended up with two blue-chip youngsters in Lauri Markannen and Wendell Carter. The bad news is basically everything else, from Zach LaVine’s mammoth contract to the failing Jabari Parker experiment to the coaching turmoil.
Like Ty Lue before him, Hoiberg is lucky to get out when he did. His reputation (quite high entering his Bulls tenure) has taken a hit, perhaps rightfully as he was the first NBA coach to get Jimmy Butler’d and oversaw a leadership cesspool poisoned by Derrick Rose, Butler, Dwyane Wade, and Rajon Rondo. Will Hoiberg slide into a new vacancy in the summer, or will he return to college basketball? We’ll see. There won’t be many openings, and certainly not many attractive openings. I’m not sure Hoiberg can stand to take another messy job after what he’s been through with the Bulls.
Scores
Thunder 110, Pistons 83
Warriors 128, Hawks 111
Cavaliers 99, Nets 97
Wizards 110, Knicks 107
Nuggets 106, Raptors 103
Rockets 91, Timberwolves 103
Clippers 129, Pelicans 126
Schedule
Bulls at Pacers, 7 p.m. ET, League Pass
Magic at Heat, 7:30 p.m. ET, League Pass
Blazers at Mavericks, 8:30 p.m. ET, League Pass
Kings at Suns, 9 p.m. ET, League Pass
Spurs at Jazz, 9 p.m. ET, NBA TV
Links
Joel Embiid is already an MVP candidate. By the numbers, this is true. Jo has already lost the narrative race, though: the Sixers looked flat until Jimmy Butler arrived, when the team took off. That kills Embiid’s campaign, in my opinion. It’s not fair, but that’s the MVP for you. (Kevin O’Connor wrote about Embiid’s MVP case too.)
The Athletic reports that the Warriors dealt with a legitimate meningitis scare in the locker room last spring. This is purported to be the mysterious obstacle David West has been quoted as saying the team overcome en route to the championship. I think it’s awful suspicious that this would come out after nine months of us and the two dozen Warriors beat writers ruminating on that quote, and a month after the team suspended Draymond Green for using coarse language with Kevin Durant. I’m not downplaying that there was a real health scare. I’m suggesting this isn’t entirely what D-West was talking about.
Be excellent to each other.
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