The Bulls have continued moving on from the old regime, as team sources confirmed that long-time athletic trainer Jeff Tanaka was told by the organization that his contract would not be renewed.
Tanaka joined the Bulls as an assistant trainer in 2008, and became the head trainer in 2014. He had come over from the San Francisco 49ers, where he spent eight years working for the NFL team.
It was the second major dismissal since Arturas Karnisovas took over as Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations last month, with Karnisovas firing then-general manager Gar Forman on the first day he was officially given the keys to the organization.
A source did tell the Sun-Times that the decision on Tanaka was Karnisovas’, as he’s living up to his declaration that, “I was hired to effect change in the current situation.’’
Not that the Tanaka decision was anything close to Forman’s quick ousting, however.
Karnisovas and new general manager Marc Eversley both promised that each department would be thoroughly looked over, and considering all the injuries that the Bulls have undergone, of course medical/training was going to fall under that jurisdiction.
While a source did say that by no means was Tanaka the scapegoat for the injuries, it was more about the new front office wanting to bring in someone of their choosing with Tanaka’s contract up.
“Just like anything else on our staff, we are going to utilize our time to evaluate everybody on staff – not only players, coaches but also people in the front office as well,’’ Eversley said earlier this month, when discussing the house-cleaning process they planned to utilize.
But the bigger question? How does this impact the job status of coach Jim Boylen and the rest of the staff?
For now it doesn’t.
Boylen has two years left on his current deal, and the Bulls are in no hurry to move on him with uncertainty of the season reconvening still in the air. However, the Sun-Times reported two weeks ago that once the NBA does make a decision on the 2019-20, expect clarity to come on Boylen’s future quickly, with Karnisovas & Co. moving on from the coach.
As previously reported, ownership would like Boylen back and have told the coach as much. But Karnisovas and Eversley have already had detailed discussions with players and retained personnel, and were getting enough of a mixed bag of feedback of what’s gone on the last year that they are leaning toward starting with a new coach of their choosing and moving on from Boylen.
