Billy Donovan

Bulls Rumors: LaVine, DeRozan, Donovan, More

The Bulls have lost four straight games and are just 6-14 since opening the season with a 5-4 record. Amid the prolonged slump, concerns have arisen within the locker room about whether stars Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan “can click together at a high level on the court this season and beyond,” according to Shams Charania and Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic.

Charania and Mayberry report that the Bulls have held multiple team meetings to attempt to work through their issues, including one-on-one sessions between LaVine and DeRozan. However, those efforts haven’t led to on-court results — according to The Athletic’s duo, an “on-court, stylistic tension” has festered throughout the season.

Asked about the situation in Chicago, LaVine said that the team’s win-loss record has magnified any issues the team may be experiencing.

“I think everybody goes through ups and downs, just like every team does,” LaVine told The Athletic on Tuesday. “Obviously if we’re not winning games, not everybody’s going to be happy. It’s not going to look as good as it was before. It’s all glitter and show when you’re winning games. But when you’re losing games and you’re trying to do the same things, it’s turmoil. Everybody has their right to their own opinion. For me, I keep my head down. I work on my game and try to help my team. I help try to lead the team. That’s where I stand. I just try to take it day by day and evaluate how we’re doing.”

Citing multiple league sources and people close to the situation, Charania and Mayberry also report that LaVine and the Bulls haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye this season. Specifically, they say there has been “a palpable feeling across various parts of the franchise of a disconnect over LaVine’s situation in Chicago.”

The Athletic’s report is lacking in specific details and the wording is somewhat vague, so it’s difficult to tell exactly what the issues in Chicago are or how seriously we should take them. At the very least, it sounds like the team’s slump is creating frustration and tension that might not exist if the Bulls had won a few games. Whether the club will be able to work through those problems and rebound without major personnel changes remains to be seen.

Here’s more on the Bulls:

  • There has been “increased skepticism” within the Bulls’ locker room about head coach Billy Donovan and his staff, per The Athletic’s duo. However, Donovan signed a preseason extension and his job is safe, according to Charania and Mayberry, who say the veteran coach is focused on optimizing LaVine and DeRozan through “a balance of execution, accountability and cooperation.”
  • LaVine dismissed the idea that he has been negatively impacted by the increased expectations that came along with his new five-year, $215MM+ contract. “It hasn’t weighed (on) anything for me. I don’t understand how that gets put into context,” he said. “Just because you sign a deal, it’s supposed to be added weight to it? I think there’s added weight each time you step on the court if you don’t perform or you don’t play the right way. But everybody’s open to their own opinion.”
  • After Sunday’s 150-126 loss to Minnesota, veteran guard Goran Dragic said the Bulls’ problem is that they’re “not playing for each other.” Donovan also suggested that the team is playing too individualistically: “We’ve got to get out of the mindset of worrying about scoring and how’s it going offensively and realize the ball scores. And if the ball’s moved and passed whoever scores, scores.”
  • ESPN’s Brian Windhorst explores whether it makes more sense to stay the course or to pivot and become a seller. As Windhorst notes, the Bulls owe their 2023 first-round pick to Orlando with top-four protection, so even bottoming out and finishing with the league’s worst record wouldn’t give them more than about a 50/50 chance to keep that pick. On the other hand, with so few sellers on the trade market, Chicago could potentially get a good return by trading certain veterans.

Bulls Notes: Williams, Future, Big Three, Caruso

Bulls power forward Patrick Williams has been re-enlisted as a starter with Javonte Green now hurt, though he’ll likely be demoted again when Green returns, writes Annie Costabile of The Chicago Sun-Times.

“We’ll probably put [Green] back in the starting lineup [when he’s healthy] to see what that looks like,” Chicago head coach Billy Donovan said. Even though Williams will be returning to the bench soon, teammates have noticed that he appears to be growing more assertive and confident of late.

“I made a joke one day, if he gets a tech in a game, I’ll pay for his tech… because he doesn’t make any expressions,” All-Star Chicago small forward DeMar DeRozan said, hoping to inspire some more on-court aggression from the 2020 No. 4 draft pick out of FSU.

There’s more out of Chicago:

  • At 10-14 on the season, the Bulls seem to be in a bit of a no man’s land when it comes to their short- and long-term futures, opines Bobby Marks of ESPN. After a successful roster overhaul in 2021 led to a fast start, major injuries to Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and Zach LaVine sank the Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings. The team lost 15 of their final 22 games during the 2021/22 season. Marks notes that, with the Bulls now low on assets after offloading several picks in that eventful 2021 summer, they’re closer to the bottom of the East than the top, and may have more luck trading their best players to get worse than they would trading their limited future draft picks to get better.
  • The Bulls’ Big Three of LaVine, DeRozan, and center Nikola Vucevic all scored 25 or more points to help Chicago close out the Wizards yesterday. This collective success represents exactly what head coach Donovan hoped for when he issued a challenge to the team’s three top scorers last month to mount a simultaneous combined effort, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “We’re definitely capable,” DeRozan said. “There will be games where other guys come up big for us and take the weight off us having to score. It will vary. As long as we stay aggressive and compete our butt off, I think we’ll be fine.”
  • Caruso, recently elevated to the Bulls’ starting lineup ahead of second-year guard Ayo Dosunmu, has earned rave reviews from his coaches and colleagues, Johnson writes in another piece. “He changes the whole game,” DeRozan said. “AC could have four points. But take him out of the game and the game is completely different… He’s a helluva competitor and a helluva person. It’s hard to find teammates like that. The appreciation he has for the game is such a contagious thing. When you’re around him, you feel that joy.”

Central Notes: Diakite, Dosunmu, Williams, LaVine, Nembhard

With Dean Wade out three or four weeks with a shoulder injury, the Cavaliers started Mamadi Diakite against the Knicks on Sunday, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Diakite made one previous start this season as a fill-in for Jarrett Allen. The third-year big man out of Virginia, who went scoreless in 11 minutes, is on a two-way deal.

We have more from the Central Division:

  • Bulls coach Billy Donovan moved Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu to the second unit and Donovan believes it could facilitate their development, particularly the young power forward, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. “This may actually help his development, putting him in some situations where he can be a little more aggressive. I still think the development part for him is in place,” Donovan said.
  • Despite the lineup changes, the Bulls aren’t going anywhere unless Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic do a better job of blending their talents, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes. LaVine concurs with that assessment. “Coach got to make his decisions, but you know the best players on the team, we got to be the ones that make the plays,” LaVine said. “On bad days, take the criticism. Good days, make sure to help us win. Play defense. Make the shot. That’s what you do. That’s why you’re in position to do this. It’s a player-driven league. I think it always starts from top to bottom.”
  • Andrew Nembhard has been a solid presence at both ends for the Pacers during his rookie campaign, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files notes. The Pacers signed the first pick of the second round to a four-year deal that is fully guaranteed for three full seasons and $6.4MM, a record amount for a second-rounder coming out of college. Nembhard, who hit a game-winning 3-pointer against the Lakers, is averaging 7.4 PPG and 3.4 APG in 21.9 MPG.
  • Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton missed Sunday’s game due to a sore groin, Agness tweets. It’s the first game he missed since being acquired from Sacramento last season.

Bulls Notes: Lineup, Williams, Dosunmu, Donovan

The Bulls made a change to their starting lineup on Friday against Golden State, replacing Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Williams with Alex Caruso and Javonte Green.

The new-look starting lineup didn’t exactly set the world on fire – the five-man group was outscored by seven points in just over 10 minutes of action – but head coach Billy Donovan said he liked what he saw and doesn’t expect it will just be a one-game tweak, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. He added that it wasn’t a defensive-minded move to try to slow down the high-powered Warriors.

“It was more to see, ‘Let’s see what this looks like,'” Donovan said, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I’m always evaluating and you’re not trying to make a decision after two or three games. But I think there’s a pretty decent body of work for the number of games we played. And I just wanted to take a look at something different.”

Dosunmu and Williams remained in the rotation, logging 21 and 19 minutes respectively, and Donovan said he appreciated how they handled the new roles.

“I understand there’s always a level of prestige with starting. I get all that. But I also think those guys see a bigger picture,” Donovan said. “It’s not like I said to them, ‘Hey listen, I’m moving you out of the starting lineup and you’re out of the rotation.’ I was really pleased with the way both responded. They’re team guys. They want to win. I’m sure in their heart of hearts want to start. But I also think the team is more important to them.”

Here’s more on the Bulls:

  • Donovan is hoping that the move to the second unit will encourage Williams, a former No. 4 overall pick, to avoid getting passive on offense. “The one thing we’ve been trying to do is to try to get him to be more aggressive,” Donovan said, per Johnson. “I think being out there with three terrific offensive players in Zach (LaVine) and Vooch (Nikola Vucevic) and DeMar (DeRozan), sometimes there aren’t as many opportunities. I told him in doing this I wanted him to be more aggressive offensively, that he was going to need to be somebody who could give that group a little bit of a pop. I look at it that this may actually help his development.”
  • Although the Bulls were pleased that Dosunmu and Williams accepted the lineup change without complaint, LaVine suggested that his teammates should view their demotions as a challenge. “I don’t think they should be happy or satisfied with it at all,” LaVine said, according to Johnson.
  • Writing for The Sun-Times, Cowley questions why Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf kept a lid on the contract extension that Donovan signed with the team before the season began, arguing that it’s a disservice to fans to try to keep that sort of move under wraps.
  • Donovan’s extension is a reflection of how the connection between him and president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has grown in recent years, according to Johnson, who notes that the two men speak almost daily and says there’s “never any misunderstanding in their shared, direct conversation.”

Billy Donovan Has Contract Extension With Bulls

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.

Central Notes: Osman, LaVine, Middleton, Matthews, Pistons

Cedi Osman has received sporadic playing time and has been the subject of trade rumors but the Cavaliers forward has usually taken advantage of his opportunities, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes.

After playing just seven minutes against Charlotte on Friday, Osman got 37 minutes of court action the next night against Miami and put up 20 points and 12 rebounds. He’s likely to receive plenty of playing time on Monday with Caris LeVert out due to an ankle sprain.

“He’s one of those guys where there’s a spirit and an energy that we depend on, and we know the lift he gives us,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “I think Friday night he didn’t play as much, and I think he wanted to show he was going to take advantage of his minutes.”

Osman’s future beyond 2022/23 is uncertain, as his salary for next season isn’t guaranteed.

We have more from the Central Division:

  • Zach LaVine said there’s no ill feelings between him and Bulls coach Billy Donovan, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. LaVine was upset when he was benched during a loss to Orlando on Friday. “Me and Billy talk all the time,” LaVine said. “It’s a tough decision. Obviously, I’m a competitive guy. I want to play. I just told him I feel like I’ve earned the right to go out there and try to play through a bad game. His decision was to try to do the best thing for the team, which I respect. If we won, obviously I would’ve been ecstatic. We lost, I wasn’t. I had a terrible game.”
  • The Bucks assigned Khris Middleton and Wesley Matthews to the G League’s Wisconsin Herd, Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. That allowed the rehabbing players to get some practice time. The Bucks didn’t practice since they’re playing against Portland on Monday.
  • The Pistons played without three injured starters — Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart — at Sacramento on Sunday and lost despite scoring a season-high 129 points. Coach Dwane Casey said the team needs to push through adversity, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. “It’s not ‘Woe is me’ right now in the locker room,” Casey said. “We’ve got to stay together, stay connected.”

Zach LaVine Frustrated By Late-Game Benching

Bulls star Zach LaVine was on the bench for the final three minutes and 43 seconds of the team’s 108-107 loss to Orlando on Friday and was “obviously frustrated” when he spoke to reporters after the game about the decision, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.

LaVine had scored just four points on 1-of-14 shooting in his first 25 minutes and was a team-worst minus-19 on the night. When head coach Billy Donovan replaced him with Ayo Dosunmu, the Bulls were down 101-97. The team subsequently went on a 10-2 run before ultimately losing the game on a Jalen Suggs three-pointer with five seconds remaining.

“That’s Billy’s decision. He gotta lay with it,” LaVine said, per Johnson. “Do I agree with it? No. I think I can go out there and still be me even if I miss some shots. But that’s his decision. He has to stand on it.

“I’ve missed a lot of shots, man. But I’ve had a lot of games where I played terrible and in four to five minutes, I can get 15, 16 points. I just wasn’t able to shoot the next shot.”

In addition to his struggles on offense, LaVine looked “a step slow” on defense, according to Johnson. The two-time All-Star said he wasn’t sure whether he’d talk to Donovan to seek out an explanation for the decision, but the Bulls’ head coach offered one voluntarily during his own postgame media session.

“He had a tough night shooting and I thought that group really fought their way back into the game,” Donovan said, referring to the five-man unit of Dosunmu, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Alex Caruso, and Javonte Green. “I played DeMar the whole second half. He seemed like he was fine physically. I came back to Zach and it was one of those games for him. He just didn’t have a great game. Great players, it happens. He cares deeply about the team. He just wasn’t playing well.

“… I’m sure he’s really disappointed. He’s a really, really competitive guy. I love working with him every day. He’s about the team. I know how much he puts into it and how much it means to him,” Donovan continued, adding that he wasn’t worried about the move having any long-term ramifications.

“The ramifications of him not being out there, to me, I was trying to do what was best for our team in that moment. That’s my job and my responsibility. I thought that was the best decision at the time. To me, I don’t look at it as anything else other than a one-off game. I know he wanted to be out there. There probably aren’t very many games in his career that he hasn’t been out there in those minutes. But that group was playing well.”

LaVine is coming off an eventful summer in which he underwent left knee surgery and also signed a five-year, maximum-salary contract worth approximately $215MM. He has missed a few games already this season as the Bulls manage his recovery from that surgery and has yet to fully hit his stride — his 20.7 points per game and 41.5% shooting percentage are his lowest marks since he averaged 16.7 PPG on 38.3% shooting in an injury-shortened 2017/18 season, his first year in Chicago.

Although LaVine wasn’t thrilled by having to watch the deciding moments of a close loss – the Bulls’ fourth in a row – from the sidelines, he said on Friday night that he’ll try to move past it.

“Obviously, I have to do a better job at the beginning of the game. I gotta make my shots,” LaVine said. “But you play a guy like me down the stretch. That’s what I do. Do I like the decision? No. Do I gotta live with it? Yeah and be ready to put my shoes on and play the next game.”

Bulls Notes: Dosunmu, Markkanen, Williams, Ball, White

Second-year Bulls point guard Ayo Dosunmu wants his head coach Billy Donovan to hold nothing back in his approach, and Donovan has delivered, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Mayberry notes that Donovan is generally more conversant with younger Chicago players than he is with the team’s vets.

“He just wants me to reach my full potential,” Dosunmu said of Donovan. “He tells me a lot. He’s always coaching with tough love. I love that because that’s making me become a better player. I want to soak up as much information as I can to try to get better every game. Coach does that. He’s always on me when I do things positive and negative. And I think at the end of the day that’s going to make me become a better player and help our team become a better team.”

In his second NBA season, the 6’5″ guard out of Illinois is averaging 11.7 PPG on .488/.353/.923 shooting splits. He is also chipping in 3.8 RPG, 3.2 APG and 0.8 SPG.

There’s more out of the Windy City:

  • Seven-foot Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, drafted by the Bulls with the No. 7 pick in 2017 out of Arizona, has enjoyed a breakout run with an upstart 10-5 Utah club thus far. Chicago can learn a lot from Markkanen’s growth into a fringe All-Star talent, especially with regards to the way the team handles raw third-year forward Patrick Williams, opines K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
  • Although the Bulls are clearly missing the three-point marksmanship and perimeter defense of injured starting point guard Lonzo Ball, the team’s bigger problems will remain even after he returns, Johnson writes in a separate piece. The Bulls lack reliable volume three-point shooters and solid two-way players, which is part of the reason Chicago has is off to a middling 6-9 start this season.
  • Young Bulls role players Williams and Coby White are listed as questionable to play on Friday against a beatable 4-11 Magic team, reports Rob Schafer of NBC Sports Chicago. White’s status actually represents an improvement, as he has missed the last eight Chicago contests with a left quad contusion. Williams sprained his right ankle late in the Bulls’ 124-110 loss to the Pelicans on Wednesday.

Bulls Notes: LaVine, Dosunmu, Ball, Vucevic

Zach LaVine may have dealt with left knee issues during the season but that won’t affect his bargaining power in the offseason, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic.  Multiple league executives believe it’s a foregone conclusion the Bulls swingman will sign a max contract as an unrestricted free agent this summer, Mayberry writes. LaVine could be the top available player on the market, depending on how things shake out with other potential free agents. He averaged 24.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 4.5 APG during the regular season.

We have more on the Bulls:

  • Rookie guard Ayo Dosunmu will be a key performer during the postseason with Lonzo Ball sidelined by a knee injury. He’s ready for the challenge, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I know I play hard. I have a lot of faith. I believe in my ability,” Dosunmu said. “I understand when (the intensity) rises, I’ll be able to rise also.”
  • The team will miss Ball in a number of ways during the playoffs, Johnson writes in a separate story. Johnson notes that, without Ball, the Bulls aren’t creating as many turnovers, their pace of play has slowed and their 3-point shooting has fallen off. The former No. 2 overall pick was ruled out for the playoffs last week after he suffered a setback during his rehab.
  • Nikola Vucevic dominated Brook Lopez two seasons ago in the playoffs, though the Bucks eliminated the Magic. The Bulls will need Vucevic to be stellar once again against his counterpart to have any chance of upsetting Milwaukee in the first round, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. “He’s really important to our team and he’s been important all year long,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I think for him, even when you speak to him, I do feel like that with some of him being in rhythm offensively, I really like the shots he’s gotten.” Vucevic averaged 28 PPG, 11 RPG and 4 APG during that series with Orlando, which lasted five games.

Bulls Notes: Playoffs, Rest, LaVine, Ball

After the Cavs lost to the Magic on Tuesday, the Bulls clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2017, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

I’m happy for our guys, I’m happy for our organization,” coach Billy Donovan said of the playoff berth. “You want to be playing at that time of the year. A lot of these guys haven’t experienced this.”

However, Chicago lost to Milwaukee 127-106, raising more questions than answers about the team’s chances as the playoffs loom, according to Cowley. The Bulls were swept by both the Bucks and Sixers this season, and there’s a good chance they’ll face one of them in the first round.

Here’s more on the Bulls:

  • Donovan said that resting players who feel like they need it over the last three games will take precedence, although he believes that playing would help them stay sharp ahead of the playoffs (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago).
  • That could be particularly important for Zach LaVine, who missed the team’s practice on Monday and shootaround on Tuesday in addition to the Bucks game. Donovan said LaVine’s left knee was bothering him Tuesday morning, but the team’s medical staff indicated that it likely wouldn’t be a multiple-game absence, per Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link). LaVine’s status for Wednesday’s game against Boston is unknown, and he’s considered day-to-day going forward — obviously that could change with the team clinching a playoff berth.
  • DeMar DeRozan said Lonzo Ball‘s impact on the team will be sorely missed, as Schaefer relays (via Twitter). He brings a different type of swagger to us when he plays…From his passing, his IQ, his capability to knock down shots…The whole dynamic of the game changes with ‘Zo out there,” DeRozan said. Ball is expected to be shut down for the rest of the season after experiencing more discomfort in his knee.