The Chicago Bulls have hired Billy Donovan as their head coach, the team announced Tuesday.
“We are very pleased to welcome Billy and his family to the Chicago Bulls,” executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas said in a statement.
“The success that he has sustained over the course of his coaching career puts him on a different level. We feel his ability to help his players reach their potential, both individually and collectively, will mesh well with our roster.”
Beyond staffing his front office, Donovan’s addition is the first major move by Karnisovas, who the Bulls hired away from the Denver Nuggets in April to replace their longtime brain trust of John Paxson and Gar Forman.
Billy Donovan and Artūras Karnišovas had no previous working relationship. But in talking to people around the league last night, people who know both men said there are shared personality traits. It’s why Donovan’s hire says as much about Karnišovas’ vision as anything. Column: https://t.co/iibOUcMsGL
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) September 23, 2020
Donovan just finished a five-year run as the Oklahoma City Thunder’s head coach. The team went 243-157 (.608) overall and qualified for the postseason in each season, including the most recent campaign, which came after the Thunder traded franchise player Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets.
The Bulls are coming off Jim Boylen’s tumultuous tenure after they fired Fred Hoiberg midway through the 2018-19 campaign. Chicago went just 22-43 under Boylen in 2019-20 and failed to earn an invitation to the NBA’s season restart in Orlando.
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