Could Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls finally be heading for a divorce this summer?
The haphazard “roster building” of inept team president Arturas Karnisovas and incompetent general manager Marc Eversley has left Donovan saddled with losing squads throughout most of his six-year tenure in Chicago.
With the Bulls, Donovan has made the playoffs exactly once. While he has occasionally gotten the most out of his usually undersized personnel, it usually leaves the Bulls stuck in lottery no man’s land.
David Banks-Imagn ImagesIs Billy Donovan Looking for an Exit?
According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, some Bulls decision makers believe Donovan is contemplating a departure as soon as this summer.
“There’s been growing momentum around the building that Donovan could step away from the mess and take a season to reevaluate what he wants from the profession,” Cowley writes. “It would make sense considering how emotional the year has been for the Hall of Famer, losing both his father and mother-in-law within weeks of each other.”
Although he was recently named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for his coaching contributions, his efforts with Florida (where he won consecutive championships with Joakim Noah and co. in 2006 and ’07) were likely the key factor to that. He was solid with several All-Star-laden Oklahoma City Thunder clubs, although the club only advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs once.
At present, he boasts a 467-404 overall regular season record as an NBA head coach, and a 19-27 record in the playoffs. His Bulls usually wind up stuck in the play-in tournament, so at least this season that (most likely) won’t be happening.
With Chicago facing a half-hearted rebuild, Donovan won’t be coaching a bona fide contender any time soon. This writer, for one, doubts that he’ll have an opportunity to coach a quality roster until the Reinsdorfs actually fire AKME. But we’re skeptical that will happen anytime soon.
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY SportsFront Office, Donovan Not on Same Page?
Despite Chicago having offloaded much of its veteran talent at the trade deadline to supposedly get worse, Donovan has coached the Bulls up.
Sure, they went winless in February. But the Bulls have gone a disturbingly respectable 5-6 so far this month, including unnecessary victories against the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns.
At present, the 28-42 Bulls are ranked No. 10 in Tankathon’s reverse standings, with a 16.9 percent shot at moving up into the draft’s top four, and a 3.7 percent chance to grab the No. 1 overall pick. With just 11 games left in their season, the Bulls could potentially lap the 29-42 Milwaukee Bucks, but they may have trouble catching the 25-47 New Orleans Pelicans (whose pick will be conveyed to the Atlanta Hawks thanks to a very dumb draft-night trade last summer) or the 24-47 Memphis Grizzlies.
One wonders if Karnisovas and Eversley have communicated to Donovan that he should be trying to, you know, lose as much as possible.
It sure doesn’t seem like he’s gotten the memo. Donovan pretty clearly seems to be trying to win still, despite being stuck with a roster that isn’t very good.
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