Head coach Billy Donovan has signed a multi-year extension with the Bulls, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The team’s PR staff has confirmed the deal, according to K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link).
Charania’s sources say that negotiations between Donovan and the team began late last season and continued through this week. Chicago also reportedly gave extensions to executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley, keeping its current management team in place.
Donovan, 60, has a 195-205 record in five seasons with the Bulls. He has led them to just one playoff series, losing to Milwaukee in five games in 2022, and they have been ousted in the play-in tournament in each of the past three seasons. Despite limited on-court success, Johnson points out that Donovan still has strong support from ownership and the front office (Twitter link).
Donovan was among several established coaches the Knicks sought to interview last month after firing Tom Thibodeau. The Bulls, like all their counterparts, turned down those requests, and a report at the time indicated that Donovan is “in Chicago to stay.”
A former college star at Providence, Donovan built his coaching reputation by leading Florida to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007. He left for the NBA in 2015 and compiled a 243-157 record in five years with Oklahoma City. He led the Thunder to the playoffs each season and earned NBA Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors in 2020, but he and the team reached a mutual decision to part ways.
Although the Bulls were just 39-43 last season, players responded well to Donovan’s new approach of playing at a faster tempo. They finished sixth in the league in scoring at 117.8 PPG and tied for third by making 15.4 three-pointers per game. Chicago has parted with veterans such as Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan in recent years and has decided that Donovan is the right coach to transition into an emphasis on younger talent.
With Donovan’s extension out of the way, the next priority will be to resolve a contract standoff with restricted free agent Josh Giddey.
Committed to play in at best, Billy D is not a good NBA coach.
Oh God……………. Joke I hope! Is it April Fools?
Crazy that he gets a 3rd extension while championship winning coaches (Vogel and Bud) have been fired twice during his second extension. Bulls still tops in attendance and that’s all that matters
Sorry raz427 !! I hope this doesn’t ruin your entire day.
Ruined mine.
I really don’t get this. Not sure I want to go as far as to say they don’t care about a championship.
They do care about playing well, filling the seats, being a “good” franchise.
I guess being respectable is the good and they’re afraid of falling to the bottom, not realizing that’s what it takes to climb the ladder back up.
They’re just not willing to feel that pain for three seasons.
Some teams, particularly in the East, are fine with being a .500 team. They’ll convince themselves that their play-in appearance or them just sneaking into the playoffs with a .500 record in the weaker conference means they are just one season/player away from being a legit contender. And then by the time they realize they spent the past 3-5 seasons hopelessly chasing a 6 seed and a first round exit, they’re too afraid to spend the next 2-3 seasons necessary to rebuild.
The Bulls should’ve sold off and started a rebuild like two seasons ago. But they doubled down on their 2022 playoff appearance and kept making decisions like they had a championship core that was a few unlucky bounces away. Everybody but the Bulls organization knew that their core—a healthy Lonzo, LaVine, DeRozan, and Vucevic—was not a championship core.
Gary, This front office has permanent brain damage.
Every Bulls post on this site is so dispiriting.
That’s just too much of a coincidence.
lol a conspiracy theory would be the most exciting Bulls news in years. Maybe I’m just drowned under by this team’s mediocrity that Bulls news doesn’t move my dial at all, but it sure seems like everything the team does these days (years?) is so damn underwhelming and offers no hope of breaking free from their stagnancy.
Yep, I think many bulls fans are. You’re definitely not alone Expat.
Nothing will change until Bulls fans stop going to games. Money for mediocrity is Reinsdorf’s #1 priority.
LMAO! Committed to the play in!!!!
Bruhhhhhhhhhhhh AINT NO MF WAY!!!
This organization is fully committed to mediocrity.