The Chicago Bulls ended their rebuild two years ago, choosing to push forward toward the postseason. They traded for Nikola Vucevic at the 2021 deadline and followed that up with a flurry of free agency signings, including DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, and Lonzo Ball. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone their way since then.
An injury to Ball 35 games into his Bulls tenure has sidelined the point guard ever since, and Chicago hasn’t been quite the same. They have just one playoff game to show for their moves two years ago, which is not what they would have hoped for. Yet among all that, Scoop Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times sees a different issue.
According to Jackson, the biggest problem on the Bulls isn’t the players, front office, or play – it’s coach Billy Donovan.
“Because what Arturas (Karnisovas) and Marc (Eversley) have done in their Gar-Pax takeover is masterfully avoid the problem,” Jackson wrote. “After watching the heart and soul of their team leave itself in the opening-round series against the Bucks in 2022, after realizing their 2-20 record during that regular season against all other playoff teams was way more affirmation than aberration, after not even being honest enough with themselves to see that that team’s reaction and follow-up was to further underachieve with a two-games-under-.500 season with an undeserved spot in the play-in, they’ve avoided that hard look in the mirror and still act as if there isn’t a singular existing problem they as president and GM have the controls to fix staring back at them.
“One which could give this kept core intact and currently constructed roster a for-real-for-real chance to discover who they can be as a unit despite playing for an organization where the ownership seems perfectly comfortable being stuck exactly where they are.
“The Bulls have a Billy Donovan problem. Full stop. But it won’t stop.”
Should the Bulls fire Donovan?
