DALLAS \u2013 Emotions and relationships will always carry weight for Billy Donovan.<\/p>\n
The Bulls coach has discussed that in length when he retraces a journey that started under mentor Rick Pitino as an assistant coach some 37 years ago, eventually leading him to Springfield, enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
So when he hears from his current Bulls players and they let him know how much he means to their career and how they\u2019d like him to stay, yeah, it hits home with Donovan.<\/p>\n
Matas Buzelis was one such voice, reaching out to Donovan in a phone call last week in the wake of the front office being fired and rumors of Donovan walking away growing stronger.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate it and I love Matas, love all the guys,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cGoing back to Matas, we\u2019ve had a great relationship. I think it\u2019s pretty well documented that I\u2019ve pushed him pretty hard. He needs that and wants that, and I really appreciate the conversation. We had a good conversation and we talked, and I want to see him continue to grow and develop.\u201d<\/p>\n
As his coach or from a distance?<\/p>\n
That is the main question facing the Bulls and Donovan, as he met with players and staff on Monday to wrap up the regular season, and was then going to have a sit-down with Michael and Jerry Reinsdorf at some point this week.<\/p>\n
A lot of emotion for Donovan? Sure, but he\u2019s made emotional decisions before. That hasn\u2019t always worked out well. That was the case when he took the Orlando Magic head coaching job in 2007 because he felt it was the right climb to make, slept on it and knew it wasn\u2019t. He then backed out and returned to the University of Florida.<\/p>\n
His Bulls decision, however, is more of a numbers game.<\/p>\n
Finishing No. 9 in the draft lottery seedings, the organization will now have a 4.5% chance to hit the top pick in the June draft and a 20.3% chance to hit in the top four. The Bulls have nine possible free agents, an NBA-best $63 million in cap space, and if Portland can get out of the play-in tournament and reach postseason play, the Bulls will have a second first-round pick for a loaded 2026 class.<\/p>\n
However, Donovan also knows this is not a quick fix. Even if Buzelis continues taking a leap toward being an All-Star caliber player, Noa Essengue \u2013 who missed most of his rookie season after undergoing shoulder surgery \u2013 is the two-way talent the old front office thought he was, the Bulls do get two first-round selections this summer and they both hit, and they use the cap money to add a defensive-minded rim protector, at best it\u2019s still a few more seasons before Donovan can start real winning.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what his decision will hinge on: Does he see the Bulls picking the right direction and building something with staying power sooner than later?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Michael (Reinsdorf) said he wants to build something that\u2019s sustainable, and I agree with that,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cIt has to be something that\u2019s going to be long term, where you\u2019re getting as many cracks at (biting) the apple in the playoffs and try to advance and move on. What\u2019s the exact way to go about doing that? Some of this stuff could end up changing in May (as the NBA examines tanking) with people trying to go through the draft and go that way, go through it three or four years, try and get good young talent, grow together.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to try and build something for sustained success, and I\u2019m not the smartest guy in the room to say, \u2018This is the way you go about doing it.\u2019 This is what these conversations are.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the Reinsdorfs can sell Donovan that the focus is about the business of winning and not just the business, there\u2019s a good chance he will be back for a seventh season. If it sounds like the plan is vague or the priorities don\u2019t match, the front office the Reinsdorfs do eventually hire will have a coaching search on its hands.<\/p>\n
The good news is this won\u2019t be something that drags on for weeks.<\/p>\n
Donovan made it very clear that he doesn\u2019t want to go through that and doesn\u2019t want to put the franchise through unnecessary drama.<\/p>\n
He insisted that he doesn\u2019t have his eyes on another job and that it\u2019s not a decision in which he will be persuaded by friends or family.<\/p>\n
The kind words from ownership and his players have been more than appreciated, but at the end of the day this falls on Donovan. It\u2019s his decision to make and his alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2013 Emotions and relationships will always carry weight for Billy Donovan. The Bulls coach has discussed that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-709793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116398801794066078","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}