Chicago Bulls: Billy Donovan is an excellent hire that will pay dividends early
Billy Donovan will prove to be a great hire for the Chicago Bulls
In each of the last three seasons, the Chicago Bulls have started their season with a new head coach. In 2018-19, Fred Hoiberg started the season as the head coach and was fired mid-season. In 2019-20, Jim Boylen was the head coach (after he took over as interim head coach for Hoiberg), and to start the 2020-21 season, Billy Donovan will be the Bulls’ head coach.
That became official Tuesday afternoon when it was reported that the Bulls had agreed to make Donovan the team’s 24th head coach in franchise history.
After losing in the first round of the playoffs (for the fourth-straight season), Donovan and the Oklahoma City Thunder agreed to mutually part ways. During his five seasons with the Thunder, Donovan made the playoffs in each season and nearly led the team to the NBA Finals during the 2015-16 campaign (his first with the club, and Kevin Durant’s final season in OKC).
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Donovan’s departure from OKC almost immediately made him one of the hottest names on the opening market for teams looking for new head coaches. He was reportedly in the mix for the Philadelphia 76ers job, but Chicago elected to offer him the position accordingly.
The only curious aspect about this entire process for Billy Donovan revolves around the reasoning that he declined a contract extension with the Thunder because he reportedly didn’t want to stick around for a rebuild. You could make the case that the Bulls are in the middle of such a rebuild, and Donovan would be essentially walking into a very similar situation.
On the surface, though, this looks like a solid hire. Donovan may not have had much playoff success after leading the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals in his first year (with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook), but he’s a solid hire.
Donovan will have a solid young core to work with in Chicago, led by Zach LaVine. Coby White, Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. are other rising talents that could Donovan a head start in building this roster.
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I’m not sure if the Chicago Bulls will make the playoffs next season – interestingly enough, they were a trendy pick before the 2019-20 season, but never made the jump during the season – but Donovan will put his team in the best position to win. You can’t argue with that. There’s proof of that, considering he made the playoffs in each of his first five years coaching in the NBA.