Bulls head coach Billy Donovan has begun to fill out his new coaching staff, as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that Maurice Cheeks will be an assistant under Donovan in Chicago. The team is also hiring Josh Longstaff away from the Bucks to be an assistant coach on Donovan’s staff, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Cheeks is a logical fit for the Bulls, having been an assistant under Donovan with the Thunder for the last five years. He’s also a Chicago native, so joining the Bulls will be a homecoming for him. In addition to his two stints in Oklahoma City as an assistant coach, Cheeks has been an assistant for the 76ers and served as a head coach in Portland, Philadelphia, and Detroit.
As for Longstaff, he’s another former Thunder assistant, though he worked for the team from 2010-14 and didn’t overlap with Donovan. Since then, he has been an assistant for the Knicks, the head coach of the G League’s Erie BayHawks, and – for the last two years – a member of Mike Budenholzer‘s staff in Milwaukee. He’ll get the opportunity to become a front-of-the-bench assistant in Chicago, Wojnarowski notes.
The Bulls announced last month that assistants Roy Rogers, Dean Cooper, Nate Loenser, and Karen Stack Umlauf wouldn’t be returning to the team. Although the club is revamping its coaching staff for Donovan, it sounds like there will be at least one holdover in Chris Fleming.
I love the Mo Cheeks hiring and hope it works out for him and them even though I don’t particularly like the Bulls. They seem to have made some decent structural changes….finally
Trust me. You have no idea how it feels to have been a Bulls fan for years under the GarPax era. Lol
Not personally, but my oldest son is a Bulls fan (a long sad story I am afraid lol) so I got to suffer vicariously with him.
I feel y’alls pain..I have never wavered in 30 years from being a diehard Bulls fan, but I honestly havent watched a full game in a year now..
Enough was enough, if they didnt make some drastic changes, like they did, I’m afraid I would have given up on them all together. Hopefully, it will be fun to be a Bulls fan again.
They have some pieces and solid players with LaVine, Markkanen, Carter Jr., and White that at times looked like a real spark plug off the bench. Even Gafford and Dunn, defensively, looked like solid rotation pieces last year. Health will be key, but this is also an extremely important draft for them this season. While expectations are pretty low, there is still alot of pressure on this new regime to hit the ground running..
It’ll definitely speed up their process if they can hit on Hayes and finally find their PG and their floor general they’ve been missing since Rose..
Also, I still miss Jimmy Buckets..
This comment speaks volumes to the Bulls fanbase everywhere!! You pretty much said it perfectly!!
Yes we have Phily and the feeling is mutual!
I just cant wait to see what the Bulls roster can do healthy, and with a competent coaching staff..Not to mention, what the future holds with a front office that isn’t ran by stooges and cronies..
The change we Bulls’ fans have been waiting for has finally come true, now let’s just hope we see some results on the court!!
I’m a Georgia resident, and was just struck by MJ and Scottie in my early years, and stuck with them. I truly hope things have finally changed in Chicago, because they’re just too historic of a franchise to be this dysfunctional and bad..