Sources: Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to turn up heat on GM Gar Forman

Jerry Reinsdorf might be waking up — and not in the best of moods.

According to several sources, the Bulls chairman is livid about the team’s 6-12 start this season and the continued sinking profile of the organization and is beginning to focus on general manager Gar Forman. The sources indicated this is not a recent change of heart for Reinsdorf, and that his unhappiness has been building after several questionable decisions.

The opinion of former Bulls coach Doug Collins — a Bulls advisor who has never been a huge fan of Forman — is said to be carrying weight in this. When vice president of basketball operations John Paxson named Collins to his advisor role in 2017, Collins was underwhelmed by then-coach Fred Hoiberg’s leadership skills and openly critical of Hoiberg in the wake of a violent altercation between Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis in practice that October. While Paxson and the Bulls have all publicly said Hoiberg’s hiring was a group decision, it was no secret that Forman was pushing for Hoiberg almost a year before Tom Thibodeau was fired as coach in 2015.

Besides the Hoiberg issue, an ongoing mistrust between Bulls players and Forman, and a rebuild that still isn’t paying off in its third year, a source said Forman acted aloof toward a handful of former Bulls players in attendance last week when the team honored two-time All-Star forward Luol Deng, who retired last month.

So why would Reinsdorf target Forman and not Paxson or coach Jim Boylen?

Like Ken Williams, vice president of baseball operations for the White Sox, Paxson is thought to be untouchable to Reinsdorf. Boylen is also well-respected, and his recent three-year contract extension was agreed upon by several Bulls executives — Forman, Paxson and Collins, as well as team president Michael Reinsdorf and Jerry Reinsdorf himself.

If there’s anything for Boylen to be concerned about in terms of dismissal, it’s the size of his contract. He’s one of the lower-paid coaches in the NBA, so if he were fired, Reinsdorf would not have to eat as much money as he did when Thibodeau and Hoiberg were fired.

The Bulls also now owe Hoiberg less in the final year of his contract; the $2.5 million he’s making as Nebraska’s coach this season is offsetting half of the $5 million the Bulls owed him.

Boylen is believed to be in the $1.7 million range per season, so his salary wouldn’t handcuff the Reinsdorfs if they decided to go in another direction.

That’s a decision for down the road. There’s only one seat getting hot right now, and it’s Forman’s.