CHICAGO _ The Bulls officially announced Jim Boylen's contract extension Friday, a formality after executive vice president John Paxson said on April 11 that such a move was "very possible."
Boylen already was under contract through next season when he took over for the fired Fred Hoiberg on Dec. 3. The Bulls, who never placed an interim tag on Boylen's head coach title, initially reworked his deal to reflect his increased responsibilities. This multiyear extension replaces that deal.
"Jim has a strong vision on where he wants to take this team, and he has done a great job establishing the culture that we want this organization to stand for as we continue to progress," Paxson said in a statement. "He has tremendous passion for developing young talent, is a strong communicator and a good fit for this team. The organization is confident in the direction that he is taking our players, and we are committed to him."
The Bulls were 5-19 when Boylen took over and went 17-41 under him, finishing at 22-60 and missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
The move is mostly about ownership and management's belief in Boylen's teaching ability for a young roster and strong care factor for players. But it's also rooted in the organization's desire to upgrade Boylen's staff. Boylen now has security to present to potential lead assistant coaching hires, a process that sources said Boylen has begun.
After a tumultuous start to his tenure in which he challenged players' conditioning publicly and used two five-man substitutions in a franchise-record 56-point loss, Boylen connected with several players through long film sessions and daily communication. Zach LaVine, one of the most emotional and passionate voices at an air-it-all-out team meeting Dec. 9, even offered to pay Boylen's fines for getting ejected from a March 16 road loss to the Clippers.
"We're not winning and he's still coaching us hard," LaVine said then. "We're going somewhere. And I appreciate that."
League rules prohibited LaVine from following through on his gesture anyway. And with his new deal, Boylen certainly can afford to pay his own fines.
But Boylen isn't worried about that. He's focused on making himself and the Bulls better.
"Change is hard on people," Boylen said on the final night of the season in Philadelphia. "There was a shock to the system here that I thought was necessary, although at times painful and difficult. I think we're going to see benefits of that not only this year, but in the future.
"We obviously have guys around here that want to be coached, honor 'Bulls' across their chest. That might not be for everybody. But I know what winning looks like. I've been a part of it, and we're going to try and build this culture to be a winning culture."
Indeed, Boylen already is excited for his first training camp as head coach.
"It will mean hopefully establishing our foundation at both ends better. Hopefully, it will reinforce the style of play that we want," he said that April 10 night. "We want to improve our individual defense and our team defense. That's a big training camp point of emphasis. That's what training camp is, getting in a stance and learning how to play together defensively.
"Offensively, we're going to keep building on our multiballhandler system and playing out of flow and then executing. I didn't think we always screened well this year. I didn't think we hit the open man as well as we could. Those are all training camp basics that are going to be coached and taught."
