When in doubt, bench Tyrus
When Skiles was fired lots of people (Bulls players included) said he was very similar in philosophy (or, as I like to call it when the term refers to Skiles, stupidity) to Scott Skiles. Of course he assured everyone that “he was his own man”. But so far it looks like when he cleaned up his stuff, Skiles left behind his coaching manual and Jim Boylan was happy to find it. The only thing he actually changed was to play Thabo Sefolosha more and Thabo proved he can actually play. In Boylan’s defense, he was forced to play Thabo because of injuries to the other G’s of else Thabo’d probably still be pinned to the bench while Adrian Griffin was getting 20 min per game.
Post game press conference in Chicago
Unfortunately, there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, not even with the trade of Ben Wallace and Joe Smith, which cleared the log jam at PF/C: Tyrus Thomas does not get enough play time. Not even after he has one or 2 good games, not even if he plays well in the few minutes he receives. And even when he plays well in limited minutes, Tyrus still manages to get thrown under the buss by the coach (cause, of course, just like his good friend Skiles, Boylan isn’t guilty himself - it’s ALWAYS the players’ fault).
For example, last night against Washington Tyrus had 2 points on 1-2 FG, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 TO in 9 minutes. That would have meant about 7 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists per 30 minutes. For most players that would have guaranteed more minutes during the second half. But Tyrus was yanked early in the 3rd and then left on the bench.
That apparently happened because “coach” Boylan (and I use the term “coach” very loosely) decided to play small ball. Which may not be such a bad decision if your guards were not named Larry Hughes (who had 5-16 FG and, of course, a website asking him to stop taking so many bad shots), Kirk Hinrich (3 ast, 5 TO) or Ben Gordon (2-9 FG, 3 ast, 3 TO).
Not to mention that going small against a team that shoots 11.1% from the 3p line is basically inviting them to beat you inside if they can’t do it from the outside. It’s like Boylan thought “These guys can’t shoot from the 3p line, so lets make things easier for them. Let’s go small so they have the size advantage”. And it worked. The Wizards said “Thank you for giving us the game” and then proceeded to kick the Bulls’ asses.
There are 2 things to say about this: First, when Tyrus is finally traded and blossoms into an all star and people will wonder “why didn’t this guy produce while he was with the Bulls ?” just remember: it’s Boylan’s fault. Second, considering Paxson already made a statement in which he endorsed Boylan by saying “Jim Boylan is an NBA head-coach”, don’t be surprised if in the summer you’ll see Boylan get the head-coaching job. After all, he’s cheap, just like Jerry Reinsdorf. That’s a match made in heaven.
