Joel Lorenzi talks Billy Donovan giving Bulls a 'clean slate' in executive search
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What led to Billy Donovan stepping down as head coach of the Bulls?
You're listening to Rahimi Harrison-Grody on Sports Radio 104.3 The Score. Doors closing.
If I interview someone and they're not sold on Billy and they're not sold on a Hall of Fame coach, they're not sold on a person who's won championships in college, who's gone deep in the playoffs with Oklahoma City, who I believe with the Chicago Bulls every year, given the team that he was given, I think he achieved really good results. Not the results that we wanted, but that's not because of Billy. So if someone's not interested in Billy as our coach and Billy wants to be our coach, and someone's not interested in that, then they're probably not the right candidate for us.
That's not because of Billy. It's a little bit harder today. That was Michael Reinstorf in his press conference where he announced after Arturis Karnaschovas and Mark Eversley were fired that the search was on. And now we know breaking news.
How does the Bulls' executive search reflect on Billy Donovan's coaching style?
As of earlier this hour, Billy Donovan stepping away from his head coaching position. With the Bulls. For more on this, on our Rahimi Harrison Brody show on 104.3 The Score, we go to our hotline. That is where we find Joel Lorenzi, who has been covering this story extensively. He is the NBA writer at The Athletic. He's based here in Chicago. Joel, thanks for joining us today.
Always. What's going on?
And you can see Joel on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago.
What are the implications of a 'clean slate' for the Bulls' future?
Joel, this has got to be disaster averted from most people's perspective, including my own, because we talked about it not that long ago how you're asking for trouble when you have a head coach in place and a lead executive can't build out his staff and his front office the way that he wants. Now it looks like there's going to be no constraints. They pick their guy and let their guy do the work, right?
Sure. Yeah, I do think the way I'd kind of settled on this whole thing with Billy is that Billy, for much of his career, has been like an incredible floor raiser, right? Like he's taken some... like super garbage teams and like made like digestible, like rosters. I mean, but as far as like ceiling raising, which is like a real thing, which like Mark Dagnall does, Joe Mazzulla does, like his resume in the NBA as a ceiling raiser has not been super extensive. And so like the grass might not be greener, right? Because as a floor raiser, there are very few out there like Billy Donovan.
How did Billy Donovan's performance impact the Bulls' roster decisions?
But generally, like if you're operating under the guise of like a clean slate like this, this was the phrase I believe Michael used. There's no such thing as a clean slate if you're not allowing your next decision maker to really build out a staff. And that's not just the front office. That's a coaching staff and get someone who is aligned in his vision. Sure, if this was Dennis Lindsay or Matt Lloyd or whoever they might call on, maybe it doesn't take long for them to get aligned with Billy. But I did think it was... Sure. It wasn't the best way to begin your search. And to Billy's credit, I imagine Billy saw the writing on the wall. And to me, a lot of this signals there is going to be a rebuild.
What challenges does the Bulls' front office face in their coaching search?
And we've known for some time now who Billy Donovan is, and he's wired to be competitive.
And
He's tried to do it with some really poor rosters, this year included, where Yabusele is like their one active big for a lot of the time. And it just wasn't enough. Not to mention the sort of turbulent personal year. He had and in the statement they released today, he basically says like he wanted to step down to get out of the way for them to sort of build out a new staff, which I thought was honorable. So there's a lot of variables to this. But bottom line is like, look, it looks like the Bulls could really do a rebuild now. And they did. They're looking at two new hiring processes where they can actually bring in a decision maker they can trust to fulfill that.
How does the experience of past executives influence the current search?
And now they're going to have to bring in a coach that can sort of raise the floor on that pretty soon and maybe eventually raise the ceiling on that, too.
I mean, taking super garbage teams and one with them, Joel, is a bar.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What led to Billy Donovan stepping down as head coach of the Bulls?
0:04–0:59
2
How does the Bulls' executive search reflect on Billy Donovan's coaching style?
0:59–1:26
3
What are the implications of a 'clean slate' for the Bulls' future?
1:26–2:32
4
How did Billy Donovan's performance impact the Bulls' roster decisions?
2:32–3:19
5
What challenges does the Bulls' front office face in their coaching search?
3:19–4:11
6
How does the experience of past executives influence the current search?
4:11–4:54
7
What qualities should the new coach possess to succeed with the Bulls?
4:54–5:46
8
What might be next for Billy Donovan after leaving the Bulls?
5:46–12:06
Speakers
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