Coach Billy Donovan signed an extension with the Bulls before the season began, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Donovan had two years remaining on his current deal when he negotiated the extension during the offseason. Charania doesn’t provide details of the extension, but he writes that Donovan is now under contract “for several more years.”
Chicago is just 86-88 under Donovan, but the team has shown steady progress since he became head coach. The Bulls were coming off a 22-win season when he was hired in 2020. They went 31-41 in Donovan’s first season, then improved to 46-36 and reached the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Charania points out that Chicago was among the league’s best teams last season before Lonzo Ball‘s knee injury in January. Through January 1, the Bulls were fifth in the league in offense and 10th in defense and they held the best record in the East for much of that time.
The team is currently 8-10 as Ball remains sidelined after another surgical procedure on his left knee in September. Sources tell Charania that Ball and the team remain hopeful that he can return sometime in the new year.
The 57-year-old Donovan came to the NBA in 2017 after winning two NCAA championships at Florida. He compiled a 243-157 record as head coach in Oklahoma City, which was a playoff team in all five seasons he spent there.
Doesn’t seem like a great idea.
Not bad hc,but not great too.
Ah, the kiss of death, like “he has our full support”, weeks before the dismissal.
Only hope for Billy is Jerry can’t convince one of his assistants to cover while they finish paying out Donovan’s contract.
If your team is dependent on Ball being healthy to be good then this is a poorly developed team. Then they max deal a guy with knee issues in LaVine (and consequently hold him out of games to try to keep him ‘fresh’) and Ball has the ‘bone bruise’ from hell to his knee apparently… Not all Donovan’s fault I get that, but it just sounds like without Ball this team is hopeless and that should not be the case if you have a good coach.Nevermind all of these guys that leave the Bulls and find their talent all of the sudden…..I guess the more things change the more they stay the same with this org….