Rumors

Michael Carter-Williams: Coach Hoiberg goes, alright Jimmy, obviously this starts with me and you, like what’s going on? Jimmy goes, well one, I think you’re soft. Two, I don’t like you. He didn’t even get to three. Coach Hoiberg was like, well then, fuck you, Jimmy. And Jimmy’s like, ah, it’s fuck me now. You wanted to know how I felt. So that’s how the meeting started, bro. And I’m sitting over in the corner like, oh my God. I’ve never heard this in my entire life."

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ClutchPoints: Coach Fred Hoiberg: "Jimmy, this starts with me and you. What's going on?" Jimmy Butler: "One, I think you're soft. Two, I don't like you." Michael Carter-Williams talks about Butler and his coach going at it in Chicago👀 (via @ThanalysisShow) pic.twitter.com/09fijZmJTQ

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Nebraska basketball played hard defense and crashed the glass early in Sunday night’s win over Rutgers. The early energy certainly helped boost the Huskers. It also captured the attention of a special guest in the Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd — NBA Hall of Famer Kevin McHale. McHale was in Lincoln to take in the Husker game because of his relationship with Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg. McHale coached Hoiberg in Minnesota and worked alongside Hoiberg when he transitioned to a front office job.

247Sports

Hoiberg noted that he was coached by a pair of former Celtics greats — playing for McHale, as well as Larry Bird. Hoiberg said the two couldn’t have been more opposite from a personality point of view, but both had their ways of getting their points across. “He was a man of few words but when he spoke, obviously, with his pedigree, you were sitting there on pins and needles,” Hoiberg said of Bird. “With McHale, he would just sit there all day and talk to you. Just talk about spacing and about the game and I played golf with him last year and he had a whole crowd around him…he’s a special human being.”

247Sports

The memories that flash first are happy. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg remembers Chicago for the day his twin sons were born, for the two seasons he spent establishing himself as an NBA rotation player on the Bulls, and for the playoff series he almost won as Chicago's coach in 2017. But as the Huskers travel to Northwestern, located 14 miles north of Hoiberg’s old life, on Tuesday, the more painful recollections return. The mounting losses, the speculation surrounding his job, and the stress he shouldered in Chicago are resurfacing in Lincoln four years later.

Omaha World-Herald

In Chicago, Hoiberg said Monday that the Bulls “led the league in injuries” during his first season. One year later, Rajon Rondo broke his hand with the Bulls leading the Boston Celtics 2-1 in a first-round playoff series. And one year after that, the Bulls pivoted to a rebuild. Hoiberg’s Bulls tenure turned ugly the following season, when he began questioning his players’ motivation. He called Chicago’s effort “embarrassing” after a 105-89 loss to a shorthanded Celtics team in March 2018. And he told the Chicago Tribune that his makeshift lineups were “not an excuse to not bust your ass” after a 135-106 loss to the Charlotte Hornets seven months later.

Omaha World-Herald

Fred Hoiberg might have some, well, let’s call them unresolved issues with NBA Draft Combine measurements. “I got kind of screwed with mine,” he says. Here’s the story: At the 1995 combine, Hoiberg and his fellow hopefuls were separated into groups, rotating among four stations. One was for measurements. At Hoiberg’s station, there was a cord under the carpet. He noticed it and stood on it. “It was definitely to inflate my height,” he said, laughing. “I thought it was smart.” And it totally worked: Hoiberg measured 6 feet 5 3/4 without shoes. “I’m absolutely not that size,” he said. “This was a wise business decision.”

The Athletic

KC Johnson: Arturas Karnisovas has picked up 2020-21 option on assistant coach Nate Loenser's contract, per sources. Loenser, originally hired in 2015 by Fred Hoiberg as a video coordinator, is widely respected by players and also served as head coach of Windy City Bulls in 2016-17.

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This would be in-line with a Sun-Times report back in November, in which the newspaper wrote that general manager Gar Forman’s job security was taking on water, with the organization’s senior advisor Doug Collins the loudest voice in a needed change. Collins has never been a big fan of Foreman’s, starting with questioning Forman for the hiring of Fred Hoiberg.

Chicago Sun-Times

Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Jim Boylen succeeding Fred Hoiberg as Bulls coach. “I don’t know if it feels like a year. It’s been such an intensive, 58-game game situation [last season] and then the busy summer. The season starts and you’re kind of in the thick of it,” Boylen said. “All I can say is I’m really enjoying it. I like this group of guys. I like the way we work. I like the way we practice. And I just really feel comfortable coaching these guys.”

NBC Sports

Hoiberg, who accepted a seven-year, $25 million deal March 31, insisted it didn’t feel strange to stop by the combine. He even said he has had sporadic contact with Bulls executive vice president John Paxson, who fired him as coach Dec. 1. In fact, the two were seen chatting at the combine Thursday.

Chicago Tribune

“I’ve talked to John a few times. I’m very thankful for the opportunity I got in Chicago,” Hoiberg said. “I learned a lot there and am a better coach because of that experience. I’m doing everything I can to make the most of my new opportunity. I’m excited about it. And that’s all I’m looking forward to.”

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Bulls have agreed on a multi-year contract extension with coach Jim Boylen, league sources told ESPN. After replacing Fred Hoiberg in December, Boylen had agreed on a short contract that would take him through the end of the 2019-2020 season, but this new deal will replace it. Bulls ownership and management consider Boylen the teacher the franchise needs now with a young roster, and loved the way he's been able to build relationships with players along with holding them accountable and coaching them hard.

ESPN

Chris Basnett: Hoiberg says he's spent a lot of time with Isaiah Roby. Put him through workouts that will prepare him for what he'll see when he works out for NBA teams. "He's going to get a lot of opportunity... And if he decides he wants to come back, we'll be more than happy to have him"

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