Bulls Rumors: Ex-Nets HC Kenny Atkinson Among Targets After Jim Boylen Firing

Former Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson is reportedly among the candidates expected to be considered for the Chicago Bulls' vacant head-coaching job.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bulls are also likely to consider Denver Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr., Toronto Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin and Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham.

Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas announced Friday that the team had fired Jim Boylen after two seasons as head coach.

In the parts of two seasons that Boylen served as Chicago's head coach, the Bulls went a disappointing 39-84, including a 22-43 mark this season.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. were among the Bulls players who were unhappy with the way Boylen coached and utilized them, so finding a coach who better connects with the players than Boylen did will be key.

Atkinson is the only candidate Wojnarowski mentioned who has previous NBA head-coaching experience, as he coached the Nets for parts of four seasons. Brooklyn went just 118-190 during his tenure, but the Nets did reach the playoffs last season, and he had them in playoff position this season before getting fired with a 28-34 record.

Atkinson reportedly interviewed for the New York Knicks' head-coaching job recently, but New York went with former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.

Unseld, Griffin and Ham all figure to be hot candidates moving forward if none of them land the Bulls job since all three are fairly young and part of coaching staffs for some of the NBA's top teams.

Regardless of who is hired as the next Chicago head coach, they will have a big job ahead of them.

Chicago has finished with a maximum of 27 wins and missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons. Additionally, the Bulls haven't made the playoffs in four of the past five years and haven't won more than 42 games in a season since 2014-15.

The Bulls were a perennial contender in the Eastern Conference with seven consecutive playoff appearances from 2008-09 through 2014-15, but they haven't been much of a factor since.

Chicago does have an impressive group of young talent—namely LaVine, Markkanen, Carter and Coby White—but the team is in need of a coach who can effectively blend their skills together.