(670 The Score) Bulls coach Jim Boylen needs help.
We know his support system on the Bulls' bench had better be above and beyond industry standards, after seeing what it took to rein in his instincts and edify thought processes in just his brief time on the job so far. He roared into head coaching by doing a "Full Metal Jacket" Gunnery Sergeant Hartman bit, all but waking them up in the barracks for practice by banging an aluminum garbage can and policing the contents of footlockers, a clown act that still has him the butt of jokes around the league. But a threatened mutiny was eventually avoided, and his tenure stumbled along.
So Boylen decided his next trick was to compete in the modern NBA by choosing to have fewer possessions and by taking more contested two-point shots, rather than the opposite of both that everybody else realizes is actually the correct strategy. Of these notions he was also disabused over time, shepherded by various front office voices that apparently included at different moments executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, pro personnel director Jim Paxson and Doug Collins, who's titularly the senior advisor of basketball operations but has had to function as more of a mysterious coaching Svengali. It has already taken a village, in other words, to keep Boylen on track.
President Michael Reinsdorf continues to try to make us feel better about Boylen by reminding us that Collins is around and that Boylen is always talking to other coaches so he can get better at what he does. So that's nice, but it's the immediate help to his right and left during games that can matter the most, and shoring that up appears to be a priority after rolling with a staff of assistants widely believed to be among the NBA's weakest.
And now that reports have Boylen's surprise contract extension covering three more years, it really matters.
Out is Pete Myers, who just retired for personal reasons in a way that can only be completely coincidental. Replacing him is veteran Roy Rogers, a respected defensive specialist most recently with the Rockets (and yes, the same guy acquired for the Bulls to facilitate a lucrative sign-and-trade golden parachute for Scottie Pippen 20 years ago). Earlier in May, the Bulls grabbed Chris Fleming off of the Brooklyn Nets' bench to be their lead assistant, tasked with overseeing the offensive side of the ball. This means a further rearranging of chairs, with Dean Cooper believed to be transferring to another position with the team.
It would be ideal if Fleming and Rogers function as coordinators, essentially, allowing Boylen less of an opportunity to get things wrong. In a perfect world, he'd be in charge of yelling on the sidelines while his lieutenants arrange and instruct the players, call the plays and determine when and how to use timeouts.
So it's reassuring to have some increased competence on the Bulls' coaching staff -- but equally unnerving to understand how important it is that it's there.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's Bernstein & McKnight Show in middays. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein.
