Candidates to replace Jim Boylen as Chicago Bulls head coach

 1. Kenny Atkinson

Kenny Atkinson is one of the best things to come out of the Brooklyn Nets since the aftermath of the Boston Celtics trade including Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and Kevin Garnett in 2013. After losing half a decade of draft picks, Sean Marks brought in a young Atkinson fresh from being mentored by now two-time Coach of the Year Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta, to develop the young and low valued players/assets on the roster.

Atkinson has created a track record in Brooklyn of great development like building D’Angelo Russell into an All-Star in 2019, then the young guard became the piece to flip for Kevin Durant in a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors. Another development project was Spencer Dinwiddie who this season averaged 20.6 points and 6.8 assists per game, and he came to the Nets from the Chicago Bulls’ G-League team.

The last example is Joe Harris. He shot a league-high 47.4 percent from 3-point range in 2018-19, and he was picked up for next to nothing after being waived by the Orlando Magic.

The Bulls desperately could use a talented and proven coach to develop and make a playoff team out of this young core of Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter, Jr.

Kyle Korver spoke glowingly of Atkinson’s player development when he was hired as the head coach in 2016:

"“I think our player development has been second to none the last four years. I think it has been amazing watching guys develop and grow and Kenny leads that.”"

Atkinson is a modern coach, unlike the old school and frankly out-dated Jim Boylen who ran a team with high-flyer in LaVine, rim runner Carter, Jr and stretch-4 Markkanen. Boylen had a pace of 99.7 which was 16th out of 30 teams this season, compared to the Nets who ran at a pace of 101.2 which was 10th.          

It’s a seamless fit into Chicago for Atkinson. He would have a scoring guard in LaVine and a young big with great hands and instincts in Carter. Atkinson should be the highest priority for the newly minted front office in Chicago to bring the Bulls back as a feared team in the NBA.