Fred Hoiberg
Fred Hoiberg, the new head coach of the NBA's Chicago Bulls, is shown coaching Iowa State against Notre Dame in an NCAA tournament basketball game in Dayton, Ohio, March 22, 2013. Reuters/Matt Sullivan

The Chicago Bulls are trying to lure away Jim Boylen from the San Antonio Spurs to become the top assistant to new head coach Fred Hoiberg. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Bulls already received permission to interview Boylen for the associate head coach job in Chicago behind Hoiberg, who was named head coach after the team fired Tom Thibodeau earlier in the offseason.

Boylen has worked with the top coaches in the league in recent seasons. Before he was an assistant of Greg Popovich in San Antonio he also was a member of Frank Vogel’s staff with the Indiana Pacers. (The 50-year-old Boylen is not to be confused with 60-year-old Jim Boylan, who coached the Bulls for part of the 2007-08 season.)

Boylen also spent time as an assistant with the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks in the past, as well as handling college squads Michigan State as an assistant and Utah as head coach.

As an assistant, he was part of NBA championship squads in Houston (1994 and 1995) and San Antonio (2014).

The Bulls are in the midst of rebuilding their coaching crew after Thibodeau was fired. Tension between the Bulls' brass and the previous head coach came to a head after the Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated the Bulls in five games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.