Top 100 moments of the 2018-19 NBA season, Part 2
16. The Chicago Bulls’ near mutiny against new head coach Jim Boylen
It’s always a good sign when you fire your head coach after a 5-19 start and your team damn near mutinies against his replacement within the first week, right? After giving Fred Hoiberg the ax on Dec. 3, that was the Chicago Bulls’ reality.
After two competitive outings to start Jim Boylen’s tenure, the Bulls were absolutely massacred by the Celtics, 133-77, in the worst defeat in franchise history. In that game, with his team trailing 13-0 early, Boylen yanked all five starters in favor of an all-bench lineup. The first time he pulled a hockey-style substitution made sense. But then he did it again in the third quarter.
The reason? According to The Chicago Tribune‘s K.C. Johnson, Boylen made a “premeditated” decision that it’d be more beneficial to leave the starters out for the final 21 minutes of the game and let them rest up for a competitive practice the next day — you know, the day after the second night of a back-to-back.
Boylen cited Gregg Popovich’s similar practice, but Pop has won five NBA championships and is perhaps the greatest coach in NBA history; he gets the benefit of the doubt. A guy coaching his third NBA game doesn’t get that same leeway, and it’s no wonder the starters took exception to that tactic when he pulled it for a second time in the same game.
However, it was surprising — and eye-opening — when they took such exception that Zach LaVine and Justin Holiday led a players-only meeting in lieu of the practice Boylen had planned, before meeting with the head coach themselves to air out their grievances. That was somehow better than the alternative they had considered: boycotting practice and not showing up altogether.
The alarm bells had been sounding before that, however. Four days prior, The Athletic had reported on a marathon practice that lasted two hours before his first game in charge, with Boylen openly questioning his players’ conditioning and toughness.
Is it any wonder the Bulls were ready to revolt after three two-and-a-half-hour practices within his first four days at the helm? Or that other teams started making jokes at Chicago’s expense? Or that the Bulls actually contacted the National Basketball Player’s Association over these extreme tactics?
Boylen’s defense for the planned Sunday practice after a back-to-back was less than savory, and though things improved between the Bulls and their hard-nosed coach after a time, there’s no question it was a rocky start for the military-style coach and the team he’ll be in charge of through 2020.