Bulls Deny Knicks’ Request to Interview Billy Donovan

[Mr. Tibbs]

Billy's a solid coach, hard to see any coach doing much better with this squad. I actually think this past year was arguably his most impressive, as it really looked like the approach was changed up to better fit with the roster.

That being said, I'd have immediately asked what they could offer for him before approving or denying the interview request.

[Jcool0]

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[nomorezorro]

some random podcaster with 2k followers is probably not breaking contract news

[kulaz3000]

Read on Twitter

If you want to fatten your nest egg for retirement, find a way to get hired by the Bulls in the front office and then just kick up your feet. You'll be set for life.

[Jcool0]

some random podcaster with 2k followers is probably not breaking contract news

It's not national secrets.

[Stratmaster]

Last time we had Billy extension updates was 2023 and now we're having them again so I guess the secret extension we never had any verification on was for 2-3 years.

I have no issue with this.

Billy's been creative with building offensive and defensive systems around the players we have. I appreciate that rather than coaches like Hoiberg who try to put a square peg in a round hole and run "their offense" regardless of what the talent is.

Players play hard and the team generally seems cohesive and together. He's maintained a strong and positivel locker room.


And if any of that changes and they need to move on from Billy - it's not my money so I don't care if they have to pay out his contract.

Anyone whining about this is just complaining for complainings sake.

Or... they just don't agree with your puffed up assessment.

Which part don't you agree with?

That's he created different offensive and defensive systems to fit the players on the roster?

The players play hard?

The locker room appears to be cohesive and in good spirits?

That it's not my money?

That the length of his previous contract extension must have been for 2-3 years?

That the people complaining are just complaining to complain? There's 4 pages in this thread and not one post names a single available coach people think would be better than Billy, which to me sounds a lot like complaining just to complain.

Tell me about these offensive and defensive systems he has implemented over the last 5 seasons. The "give it to Demar and let him cook" genius approach? Or the "run as fast as you can and shoot as soon as you can" approach?

I have gone through all of the elements of coaching and where Billy falls short a hundred times. Not doing it any more. Because no one ever addresses it. They just say "the players and the media like him". Or they say " the coach doesn't matter much in the NBA, then immediately contradict themselves by giving Billy credit because the Bulls outperformed Vegas pre-season odds by 17 wins over 5 years. No other coach in the league with his mediocre results has managed his tenure.

I mentioned there was a discussion about extending him on the score and suggested people listen to it. Not because all of the discussion supported my opinion. It certainly didn't support your puffed view either. It was a pretty measured and careful discussion. Because no one wants to be the one calling the coaching darling out. But they weighed both sides of the argument. A couple things they did pretty much agree on though. That he is a HoF coach because of his college years. He has done nothing to warrant it at the NBA level; and that he doesn't deserve another extension. The only argument for extending him was that the Bulls aren't going to compete any time soon anyway. That's a great way to make decisions. The counter to that was better to make the change now and let a new coach work with the new roster.

But that was just in the 60 seconds I listened to. I am sure there was more and I am sure some of it was more positive.

[Stratmaster]

I hear a lot about the Bulls new style of play. The Bulls were 3rd in the league in possessions per game for the season. I would assume that post ASG they may have been higher. Maybe even first.

Here is the problem with Billy's new approach. The Bulls, and the 2 worst teams in the league, were all in the top 5. Of the top 7 teams in possessions per game, only 2 had winning records. The best record of those top 7 was Detroit.

Yes. You need to push the ball and shoot 3's in the modern NBA. But it can't be ALL you do.

[yifsuibfe1]

Forget where I saw the video but Bob Myers said in an interview that the Donovan extension was basically a result of the Knicks calling to interview him and that other teams might be doling out more money to keep their coaches from interviewing with NY, thus screwing up the coaching salary market. In summary, team owners aren’t happy with the Knicks coaching search.

[Stratmaster]

Forget where I saw the video but Bob Myers said in an interview that the Donovan extension was basically a result of the Knicks calling to interview him and that other teams might be doling out more money to keep their coaches from interviewing with NY, thus screwing up the coaching salary market. In summary, team owners aren’t happy with the Knicks coaching search.

I can believe that. It only shows the Bulls front office is even more stupid than we thought; to take the bait.

[yifsuibfe1]

Forget where I saw the video but Bob Myers said in an interview that the Donovan extension was basically a result of the Knicks calling to interview him and that other teams might be doling out more money to keep their coaches from interviewing with NY, thus screwing up the coaching salary market. In summary, team owners aren’t happy with the Knicks coaching search.

I can believe that. It only shows the Bulls front office is even more stupid than we thought; to take the bait.

Looks like Houston just signed Udoka to a big extension

[Stratmaster]

Forget where I saw the video but Bob Myers said in an interview that the Donovan extension was basically a result of the Knicks calling to interview him and that other teams might be doling out more money to keep their coaches from interviewing with NY, thus screwing up the coaching salary market. In summary, team owners aren’t happy with the Knicks coaching search.

I can believe that. It only shows the Bulls front office is even more stupid than we thought; to take the bait.

Looks like Houston just signed Udoka to a big extension

Well, they went from 22 wins, to 41 wins, to 52 wins in his 3 seasons with the team. That's 52 wins with 30 year old Van Vleet being tops in minutes played, only 2 players averaging more than 14 points per game, and a top scorer averaging 21 ppg. Their 3 high usage players had .549, .545 and .544 TS%. Top rebounder 10 per game and the only one averaging more than 8. And they played in the West.

Meanwhile, Billy's teams showed no year over year improvement. He had 2 prolific scorers with .600+ TS%, and a double double machine at Center and the newly anointed #1 option Coby White on top of that.

I guess our Rockford boy Van Vleet really is that good?

As an aside, Vegas had them down for 43 wins. So much for Vegas.

[kodo]

I hear a lot about the Bulls new style of play. The Bulls were 3rd in the league in possessions per game for the season. I would assume that post ASG they may have been higher. Maybe even first.

Here is the problem with Billy's new approach. The Bulls, and the 2 worst teams in the league, were all in the top 5. Of the top 7 teams in possessions per game, only 2 had winning records. The best record of those top 7 was Detroit.

Yes. You need to push the ball and shoot 3's in the modern NBA. But it can't be ALL you do.

Well ranking wise we did go up after the ASG, but we slowed down. The rest of the league just slows down a lot more post ASG. We were 104 pace pre ASG and 103 post, but our pace ranking went from #3 to #1.
Our TS% went up post ASG, so it's hard to call it a bad move. We cracked top 10 entering the territory of good teams, we had a higher TS% than Boston post break.

I think the call to play fast makes sense for Chicago because we have no real talent advantage to exploit with a slower, switch switch switch until you hunt down the matchup you want that the elite teams do. If you got Steph & Butler, hunt someone down and iso them. Or Tatum, or Brunson, or Luka. But our best case 1 on 1 is Coby vs anybody? Yeah just go for an open shot from anyone then, and the best way to create open shots is to push before the defense sets up.

If the Bulls ever get a star #1 option, slowing down will make more sense. But right now they're probably playing the best way they can on offense. It's not going to work in the deep playoffs but it is probably the best offense you can muster for a team whose top 2 hero ball options are Coby White and (checks notes) ... Tre Jones.

[Red Larrivee]

some random podcaster with 2k followers is probably not breaking contract news

It generally just seems like how the Bulls operate if they know that a front office transaction is unpopular. How many times did we read about John Paxson or Gar Forman getting contract extensions?

Also, they already did this before in 2022 when KC reported about an extension way after the fact.

[Stratmaster]

I hear a lot about the Bulls new style of play. The Bulls were 3rd in the league in possessions per game for the season. I would assume that post ASG they may have been higher. Maybe even first.

Here is the problem with Billy's new approach. The Bulls, and the 2 worst teams in the league, were all in the top 5. Of the top 7 teams in possessions per game, only 2 had winning records. The best record of those top 7 was Detroit.

Yes. You need to push the ball and shoot 3's in the modern NBA. But it can't be ALL you do.

Well ranking wise we did go up after the ASG, but we slowed down. The rest of the league just slows down a lot more post ASG. We were 104 pace pre ASG and 103 post, but our pace ranking went from #3 to #1.
Our TS% went up post ASG, so it's hard to call it a bad move. We cracked top 10 entering the territory of good teams, we had a higher TS% than Boston post break.

I think the call to play fast makes sense for Chicago because we have no real talent advantage to exploit with a slower, switch switch switch until you hunt down the matchup you want that the elite teams do. If you got Steph & Butler, hunt someone down and iso them. Or Tatum, or Brunson, or Luka. But our best case 1 on 1 is Coby vs anybody? Yeah just go for an open shot from anyone then, and the best way to create open shots is to push before the defense sets up.

If the Bulls ever get a star #1 option, slowing down will make more sense. But right now they're probably playing the best way they can on offense. It's not going to work in the deep playoffs but it is probably the best offense you can muster for a team whose top 2 hero ball options are Coby White and (checks notes) ... Tre Jones.

Yep. Generally speaking, bad teams, and coaches with no other ideas, play as fast as they can.

[Jvaughn]

Quick rant: We literally saw teams that we're in the top 4 in their conference (Grizzlies & Knicks) fire their coaches, because the demand for results is high. Taylor did all he could do with that Grizzlies team, and his dismissal came out of nowhere. Thibs was a little more predictable, but that Pacers team has shown it's much better than expected, so I can't put too much on Thibs there.

The Bulls are out here handing out extensions to a group that hasn't put a playoff capable team together in 4 years. We are an absolute joke of a franchise, and will continue to be so until the Reinsdorfs sell this team. And because they're still one of the most profitable sports franchises, they probably won't have any incentive to ever do so. The Lakers recent sell gives me a slither of hope. Why can't some ultra rich billionaire make an offer they can't refuse?

[Stratmaster]

Quick rant: We literally saw teams that we're in the top 4 in their conference (Grizzlies & Knicks) fire their coaches, because the demand for results is high. Taylor did all he could do with that Grizzlies team, and his dismissal came out of nowhere. Thibs was a little more predictable, but that Pacers team has shown it's much better than expected, so I can't put too much on Thibs there.

The Bulls are out here handing out extensions to a group that hasn't put a playoff capable team together in 4 years. We are an absolute joke of a franchise, and will continue to be so until the Reinsdorfs sell this team. And because they're still one of the most profitable sports franchises, they probably won't have any incentive to ever do so. The Lakers recent sell gives me a slither of hope. Why can't some ultra rich billionaire make an offer they can't refuse?

But....but...Billy is a hall of fame college coach!

[Stratmaster]

The idea that Vegas odds are accurate predictors and should be used to assess coaching performance is ridiculous, as evidenced by the actual track record.

I was bored, so here are Vegas preseason odds, last 3 seasons, oldest to newest, with team results, in alphabetical order. The problem is, this was tedious and I got even more bored, so I only did the first 15 teams. I expect 50% sample over 3 seasons is sufficient:

Atlanta: 46.5, 42.5, 36 Results: 41, 36, 40 Deviation: 15.5 Net Deviation -8.5
Boston: 54.5, 54.5, 58.5 Results: 57, 64, 61 Deviation: 14.5 Net Deviation +14.5
Brooklyn: 50.5, 37.5, 19.5 Results: 45, 32, 26 Deviation: 17.5 Net Deviation: -4.5
Charlotte: 34.5, 31.5, 30.5 Results: 27, 21, 19 Deviation: 28.5 Net Deviation: -28.5
Bulls: 41.5, 37.5, 28.5 Results: 40,39,39 Deviation: 13.5 Net Deviation +10.5 (same as the net from last season)
Cleveland: 46.5, 50.5, 48.5 Results: 51,48,64 Deviation: 22.5 Net Deviation +17.5
Dallas: 48.5, 45.5, 49.5 Results: 38,50,39 Deviation: 25.5 Net Deviation -16.5
Denver: 51.5, 52.5, 51.5 Results; 53, 57, 50 Deviation: 7.5 Net Deviation +5.5
Detroit: 29.5, 28.5, 25.5 Results: 17, 14, 44 Deviation: 45.5 Net Deviation: -8.5
GSW: 52.5,48.5,43.5 Results: 44,46,48 Deviation: 15.5 Net Deviation: -6.5
Houston: 23.5, 31.5, 43.5 Results: 22, 41, 52 Deviation: 20.5 Net Deviation: +16.5
Indiana: 24.5, 38.5, 46.5 Results: 35, 47, 50 Deviation: 22.5 Net Deviation: +22.5
LAC: 52.5, 46.5, 35.5 Results: 44,51,50 Deviation: 27.5 Net Deviation: +10.5
LAL: 44.5, 47.5, 43.5 Results: 43,47,50 Deviation: 8.5 Net Deviation: +4.5
Memphis: 49.5, 45.5, 47.5 Results: 51, 27, 48 Deviation: 20.5 Net Deviation: -17.5

Of those 15 teams, 8 had positive net deviations and 7 negative (Imagine that). I think that is basic math. And basic gambling 101.

The average deviation per season was 7 games per team. So the margin for error of any preseason wins prediction is greater than 7 games. Based on Charlotte at 28.5 the margin for error over a 3 year span is over 9 games per season. I didn't pick out the worst single season prediction but I believe it was more than 20 games off. You don't use unreliable numbers like that to assess anything, but if you did...

...The Bulls had the 3rd lowest deviation of any of the 15 teams. If not for a ridiculously low prediction last season (likely to stimulate betting for a historically heavily betted team that no one would bet on any more); and, the Bulls playing almost all the weak tanking teams down the stretch after one of the most difficult early schedules in the league, the Bulls would have been a true outlier. A team that Vegas actually got right. The fact is, the Bulls performed almost exactly as Vegas predicted, and that is not a regular thing.