Chicago Bulls: What if Jim Boylen actually returns?

Rewind to the NBA trade deadline. Recall that the Chicago Bulls had a press conference that afternoon.

There were quite a few “themes” discussed during the presser. The most noteworthy one was that the Chicago Bulls acquired a quality wing in Otto Porter Jr. the evening before. There was surely some positivity going around management given that they closed the book on the Jabari Parker experiment among other fixings.

Porter appears to be a hit (more on that later) and for once, it appears like GarPax actually made a positive and (dare I say) sensible transaction. However, there were other interesting topics that came about during the presser.

Like how they won’t be very involved in the 2019 free agency class (shocker), how they’re still in the process of evaluating Kris Dunn (not a great sign for him), or how they won’t immediately buy out Robin Lopez.

But there was one thing that I think stuck out to the public. One thing in particular that floored most and tilted the masses into oblivion:

Not exactly the news that the diehard Bulls fans were exactly keen on hearing. I’ll play devil’s advocate here and defend Pax here. Why would he, the guy who took the interim tag off Boylen when he fired Fred Hoiberg, dunk all over him at a press conference? Why would he publicly not give a vote of confidence to a guy who he recently gave a raise?

My general thoughts aside, what if Pax isn’t fibbing here?

There is a possible doomsday scenario here for the Bulls. What if my reasoning is reading too deeply into what might be empty words from Pax? What if Boylen actually is going to coaching the Bulls next year?

If you’re willing to evaluate the entire situation with an open mind, it’s not totally crazy. If certain events play out accordingly, then maybe our worse nightmare would become reality.

Going back to Porter, he’s been a fantastic addition to the Bull’s roster, averaging 22.5 points, 5.8 boards, a fiery 62.1% shooting from the field and a blazing 57.9% three-point shooting clip. He’s been a great fit with the Bull’s current core.

While tanking skeptics might say he’ll ruin the Bull’s shot at the first overall pick (he really won’t at all), his success with the roster could lean towards GarPax keeping Boylen. It’s possible that they’d believe he fits Boylen’s offensive “philosophy” to perfection. He actually fits a lot more what Hoiberg was running this season but that’s a different story.

Going off of tanking, if Chicago somehow wins the lottery and drafts Zion Williamson the team is probably a fringe playoff squad. Why would GarPax punt Boylen to the moon at any point through the season if they’re in the playoff hunt?

There is also the possibility that the front office isn’t exactly open to the idea of paying for three head coaches next season:

These are probably the only ways where I could see the Bulls actually retaining Boylen for the long haul. Each one could very well play out and lead to another round of “Boylen Ball”. It’s not a great idea in any fashion, and likely means the team is going to return to being stuck in neutral (and rolling down a hill) for a while.

At the end of the day, what I bring up is mostly conjecture and me making deductions off of the front office’s prior history and my mostly pessimistic views. The second half of the season will hopefully bring forth some organizational stability or improvement from the younger guys.

(Probably not because life isn’t fair).