CHICAGO - The writing is on the wall. And it's all in capital letters.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances that would defy logic, the fate of Jim Boylen as head coach of the Chicago Bulls may have been sealed today when general manager Gar Forman was fired, officially splitting the ill-fated GarPax bromance.
Unlike Forman though, Paxson, who had served the organizatio
n in various capacities throughout 35 years, was given a dignified landing, pushed gently away to an advisory role, a cushy, high-paying gig that bears none of the powers he once held.
Arturas Karnisovas, a Ukrainian Olympian and Seton Hall University star who took over as the new executive vice president of basketball operations, seems intent on starting on a clean slate that would require purging the vestiges of the GarPax regime.
With his two backers out, Boylen is next, left drowning in the deep waters of change. No life raft to cling on. No wandering ship on sight. No beam of hope on the horizon.
"It was apparent we had differences that would prevent us from moving forward," Karnisovas told reporters via teleconference on his decision to ax Forman.
Forman was a loyal soldier who served the Bulls for 22 years, making his way up from a boots on the ground scout to a shiny, leather chair in the executive offices. He had his moments - taking Jimmy Butler as the 30th pick in the 2011 NBA draft and winning Executive of the Year - but his tenure was mostly soaring with incompetence.
I never delight in someone else's misery. But it's hard to feel sorry for Forman. He was GM for 10 years, paid between $1 to $3 million a season per SB Nation, and he was given endless opportunities to right a sinking ship.
Under his and Paxson's watch, the iconic Bulls franchise became a laughing stock with bumbling picks, head-scratching trades, and a stream of mysterious coaches' hires and firings.
Since acquiring the Bulls in 1985, the Reinsdorfs have never hired an outsider to run their team. Known to be fiercely loyal, they were reluctant to terminate Paxson, who assumed office in 2003 and only has has a 668-646 record and zero championships to show for it.
With an angry fan base banging at the gates and attendance at the United Center dwindling in record pace, the Reinsdorfs - finally, mercifully - decided it was time for change.
At the All-Star weekend here in Chicago last February, Bulls COO Michael Reinsdorf. heir apparent to his father Jerry, the Bulls chairman, announced the search for a new basketball operations chief whose main task will be "to modernize the front office."
Boylen, a screaming, yelling old-school hoops lifer with an affinity for hard two-hour practices, five-man substitutions, and strange timeouts (he called one with 1:08 to go and the Bulls down 25), is anything but modern.
With GarPax out, keeping Boylen will be like getting rid of the police precinct commander and somehow retaining the desk sergeant.
Still wielding the sharp knife that is dripping with the blood from an old era, why would Karnisovas attach his administration to a polarizing figure that had publicly squabbled with the team's star players while winning only 31.7 percent of the games he coached?
The new sheriff in town means business. Two shots. Two men down.
Boylen is next on his crosshairs. Fat, sweaty fingers on the trigger, eyes on the prize.
Make no mistake, Karnisovas, the 49-year old former Nuggets GM, will fire that gun.
We just don't know when.
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