(Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)
The Chicago Bulls are stuck in the middle as a play-in tournament team, and there has been plenty of speculation about which direction they may head in this offseason.
Two seasons ago, they were looking like potential contenders, but a meniscus injury to Lonzo Ball in January 2022 has sidelined him ever since, and the team simply hasn’t recovered.
On Wednesday, they reportedly made an interesting move when they hired Billy Donovan III, who is the son of their head coach Billy Donovan, to be the head coach of the Windy City Bulls, their G League team, per Shams Charania.
The Chicago Bulls plan to hire Billy Donovan III – son of Billy Donovan – as head coach of their NBA G League Windy City Bulls team, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Donovan III served as an assistant coach for San Antonio’s Austin Spurs affiliate in 2017.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 5, 2024
The elder Donovan has been the big league Bulls’ head coach for the last four seasons, and prior to that, he had spent five seasons as the Oklahoma City Thunder’s head coach after he had been at the helm of the University of Florida for 19 years.
During his time with Chicago, the team has made the playoffs once, and this season, it went 39-43 and reached the play-in tournament, only to lose the second game there to the Miami Heat.
Last year saw the exact same result, as they won the first game of the play-in tourney versus the Toronto Raptors before getting burned by the Heat.
This offseason, DeMar DeRozan will be a free agent, and guard Zach LaVine has continued to see his name come up in trade rumors.
It is hard to imagine Ball coming back and playing well while staying healthy, so perhaps Chicago’s best move would be to take whatever they can get for LaVine and start over.
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