A stat in today’s The Athletic
really popped out: in losing 135-105 to
the Nuggets last night, the Bulls
suffered their ninth double-digit loss under new head coach Jim Boylen (not to
be confused with their ninth straight loss overall), and six have been by at
least 25 points (see above). Ouch.
So, in 21 games under Boylen, the
Bulls have gone 5-16, which means not only do they lose, they can be expected
to lose badly. On top of that is Boylen,
given to odd substitutions (see the 133-77 blowout to the Celtics on December 8th)
and odd comments (see just about any interview). Hmm—a Jerry Reinsdorf team, a weird hire to
lead things. Why, Boylen could be the
second coming of Terry Bevington, onetime manager of the White Sox.
Bevington was hired early in the
1995 season to replace Gene Lamont. Over
the course of two-plus seasons, Bevington amassed a 221-214 win/loss record,
including 85-77 in 1996 and 80-81 the next season. That doesn’t sound too bad until you realize
he had Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura in their prime, along with a young Ray
Durham plus a cast of characters that included one-season performances by the
likes of Danny Tartabull and—wait for it—Albert Belle. So, you could say that Bevington
underperformed given the talent on hand.
He was also generally acknowledged
to be a jerk, at least with the media, which no doubt endeared him to
Reinsdorf. You see, Mr. Reinsdorf likes
to think himself a genius of an owner, the man who won championships behind
such surprise front-office picks as Jerry Krause and Kenny Williams, neither of
whom would qualify as media darlings.
Yes, you could argue Reinsdorf was just broken-clock-twice-a-day right, but
he was right nonetheless and so felt emboldened to hire a Bevington and a
Boylen. The one was stopped-clock-wrong
while sure looks to be an exact twin.
Somebody needs to shake that clock
to get it ticking again.
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