It became obvious that the sit-down with the Reinsdorfs no longer would be about them trying to sell Donovan on why he should stay as much as them making sure there would be no reason to leave.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how Donovan sounded, like a coach anticipating the future in an organization that will start focusing on doing whatever it takes to win. An organization in which he\u2019ll have a louder voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d be crazy not to want Billy\u2019s input in player acquisition from players around the league,\u201d Bulls CEO Michael Reinsdorf said. \u201cHe\u2019s an NBA coach, he coaches against these guys. Some of these guys he\u2019s already coached. Billy will be involved and will be encouraged. I\u2019ll probably push Billy to be more involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
A responsibility Donovan was appreciative of and didn\u2019t take lightly. The fact that he was even talking about his future with the Bulls said a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very appreciative that Michael would give me the opportunity and say, \u2018Hey, what do you think? Tell me what we need to
do,\u2019 \u201d Donovan said. \u201cAnd I can give him some thoughts and ideas, and, OK, how do we take these thoughts and ideas and how do we move forward?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always believed this: The room is smarter than any individual, and there are a lot of smart people in that room. If we can put our heads together and figure out how do we get to that? I don\u2019t have all the answers to those things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just know the last four years, we have not won at a high level. I want to win at a high level. I want to be a part of that. The organization deserves that, everyone in the organization wants that, and then everybody has got to put their heads together and figure out, \u2018How do we go about doing that?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan\u2019s words had some layers, especially considering the Sun-Times reported last season that Karnisovas ran the franchise more like a dictatorship than a \u201croom\u201d of collective ideas.<\/p>\n
Yes-men kept a paycheck, while those with different opinions were soon unemployed.<\/p>\n
So how would it work to keep a coach and give him more input but still use an outside firm to find the right people to lead the front office? Reinsdorf made that simple, if Donovan stays.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re interviewing someone and they\u2019re not sold on Billy, and they\u2019re not sold on a Hall of Fame coach, they\u2019re not sold on a person who has won championships in college, who has gone deep in the playoffs with Oklahoma City, who I believe with the Chicago Bulls, given the team he was given, I think every year he achieved really good results,\u201d Reinsdorf said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot the results we wanted, but it\u2019s not because of Billy. So if someone is not interested in Billy and Billy wants to be our coach, then they\u2019re probably not the right candidate for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Reinsdorf downplayed the idea of Donovan remaining the coach and carrying the title of VP of basketball operations, he\u2019s willing to listen to all options in the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think Billy cares about titles,\u201d Reinsdorf said. \u201cBilly cares about being a head coach, cares about the players, the -organization \u2014 that\u2019s the most important thing. I hate getting so bogged down in titles. What\u2019s more important is what are your responsibilities, what input do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n
If Donovan is in fact staying, he\u2019s about to have a lot more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The Bulls\u2019 overlying philosophy has been not to tank. Team president Michael Reinsdorf reiterated that but admitted they need to be better in understanding league trends and being in front of them rather than chasing them.<\/p>\n [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone] read<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/2282674\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4928x3285+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F69%2Ff9%2Fabb81a174fd780f3a1e554bed40f%2Fbulls-future-basketball.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/cbc6a6c\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3953x2635+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F7e%2Fad%2F042fe80141d0ba14466e02b8b6cd%2Fap25201082893086.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"20200821_AK_ME_Photoshoot_V_-32.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/fbb1caf\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4816x3443+0+0\/resize\/840x601!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ffc%2Fd7%2F22294cb44a09a162fdcec64d5cb0%2F20200821-ak-me-photoshoot-v-32.jpg\")
<\/p>\n