Decision on Bulls coach Jim Boylen could shape COO Michael Reinsdorf’s legacy

The younger Reinsdorf has to balance father Jerry’s philosophy with the team’s needs for the future.

SHARE Decision on Bulls coach Jim Boylen could shape COO Michael Reinsdorf’s legacy
Bulls executive Michael Reinsdorf will soon have to decide if coach Jim Boylen will survive the team’s shakeup.

Bulls executive Michael Reinsdorf will soon have to decide if coach Jim Boylen will survive the team’s shakeup.

Maria Cardona/ Sun-Times

There have been times when Bulls chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf sounded as though he was reciting from the ownership handbook provided by his father, Jerry, years ago.

What’s refreshing about him, however, is that he not only will color on some of the pages in that handbook, but he also purposely will go outside the lines.

That’s what the last month has been like for the younger Reinsdorf. It has been about balancing the philosophies of his father with understanding the Bulls’ need to catch up to the rest of the NBA’s front offices and about rewriting the handbook a bit to start establishing his own legacy.

And things are progressing.

Four years ago, when Reinsdorf first was given more power, it seemed former general manager Gar Forman would have a job for life. He and Forman were good friends, and their wives were linked as honchos with Bulls Charities.

By last season, however, Reinsdorf still was backing vice president of basketball operations John Paxson but seemed to be cooling on Forman, even discussing the process of finding a new GM and the complications behind it.

‘‘From an ownership standpoint, when it comes to the basketball side, probably the most important thing from the ownership side is to make sure you hire the right general manager,’’ Reinsdorf told the Sun-Times 13 months ago. ‘‘I don’t think that’s easy for a lot of owners, and the reason I don’t think it’s easy for a lot of owners is it’s a different industry that they’re not experts in. If it was their industry, it’s very easy to identify and say, ‘OK, this guy I’m hiring for my financial company because of his background.’ I think it’s harder picking out [a head of basketball operations].’’

Reinsdorf did just that, however. He identified Arturas Karnisovas as the face of the Bulls’ basketball department and brought him to his father for a final stamp of approval.

Karnisovas quickly fired Forman and opted to keep Paxson on as an adviser, then late Sunday hired Marc Eversley to be the new GM.

That’s why the pending decision on coach Jim Boylen and his staff is so intriguing. On one side, Reinsdorf already has allowed Karnisovas to fire a former friend in Forman. On the other, the Reinsdorfs like to have the final say on coaches, whether they are hiring them or moving on from them.

The last time Reinsdorf spoke publicly about Boylen, he sounded more than sold on him.

‘‘I think the process just needs to change on how you’re hiring coaches, but there is difficulty in that you don’t truly know someone until they’re sitting in that office or they’re on that bench,’’ Reinsdorf said late last season. ‘‘One of the things I’m excited about Jim is you knew Jim. There were no surprises. Just like Phil Jackson. When Phil Jackson was hired, they knew Phil. There were no surprises there.

‘‘From that perspective, it’s not just [the front office’s] responsibility in hiring the coaches. We signed off on it. I’d also say that I wouldn’t change it anyway. Scott Skiles was still the right coach at that time, and Tom Thibodeau was the right coach at that time.’’

What is yet to be determined is whether Boylen still is the right coach at this time. Reinsdorf’s legacy might depend on making the right call on that.

The Latest
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”
That the Bears can just diesel their way in, Bronko Nagurski-style, and attempt to set a sweeping agenda for the future of one of the world’s most iconic water frontages is more than a bit troubling.
Only two days after an embarrassing loss to lowly Washington, the Bulls put on a defensive clinic against Indiana.
One woman suffered a gunshot wound to the neck. In each incident, the four to five men armed with rifles, handguns and knives, approached victims on the street in Logan Square, Portage Park, Avondale, Hermosa threatened or struck them before taking their belongings, police said.