Page 1 of 1

Billy Donovan Rebalancing Bulls Rotation Around Overabundance Of Guards

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 2:02 pm
by RealGM Wiretap

The Chicago Bulls trade deadline moves left the team with a roster full of guards. That's something that Bulls coach Billy Donovan has to figure out with his rotation moving forward.


"We have an overabundance of guards, quite honestly," Donovan said. "We just do. I think we have nine guards. It’s a lot."


The Bulls have regularly started four-guard lineups around center Nikola Vucevic. In those looks, Josh Giddey and Zach LaVine were tasked with guarding bigger players. With LaVine out of the picture after being traded to the Sacramento Kings, Donovan is having to re-think that approach.


"With the number of guards we have, I’m not opposed to the times when we’ve started with four guards," Donovan said. "But that may not be the best thing for this group rotation-wise."


Chicago has been prioritizing starts and minutes for rookie Matas Buzelis in recent games. The development of Buzelis, plus reconfiguring the rotation, is something Donovan will focus on coming out of the upcoming All-Star break.


"I’m not going to sit there and just say, 'Listen, the whole entire offense is going to be geared around Matas,'" Donovan said. "But I do think for his development, his growth, he needs to be in some of those situations."

Via Julia Poe/Chicago Tribune


Re: Billy Donovan Rebalancing Bulls Rotation Around Overabundance Of Guards

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 9:02 pm
by watpho71
I can't remember the last time the Bulls had a typical power forward. They have been guard dominant for five or six seasons. At least now they have Smith and Collins behind Vucevic. Not that any of that matters in mediocrity city.

Re: Billy Donovan Rebalancing Bulls Rotation Around Overabundance Of Guards

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 12:12 am
by Tetlak
watpho71 wrote:I can't remember the last time the Bulls had a typical power forward. They have been guard dominant for five or six seasons. At least now they have Smith and Collins behind Vucevic. Not that any of that matters in mediocrity city.


Take a look around the league. Patrick Williams, Matas Buzelis, and Julian Phillips are what 4's are now. The difference between the 3 and the 4 in today's game is nearly nonexistent.

Your "typical" power forward is what the league has moved away from.

Re: Billy Donovan Rebalancing Bulls Rotation Around Overabundance Of Guards

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 12:43 am
by Future Coach
It's not too often that you hear a coach openly talk about how their team is so unbalanced as far as the roster. I would think that is typically more of a "keep in house" type of discussion. Guess it's nice that even the coach openly calls out how bad the front office is, even if he did it in a pretty polite way.

Re: Billy Donovan Rebalancing Bulls Rotation Around Overabundance Of Guards

Posted: Sun May 11, 2025 11:39 am
by watpho71
Tetlak wrote:
watpho71 wrote:I can't remember the last time the Bulls had a typical power forward. They have been guard dominant for five or six seasons. At least now they have Smith and Collins behind Vucevic. Not that any of that matters in mediocrity city.


Take a look around the league. Patrick Williams, Matas Buzelis, and Julian Phillips are what 4's are now. The difference between the 3 and the 4 in today's game is nearly nonexistent.

Your "typical" power forward is what the league has moved away from.


That's a very good observation. The Bulls did improve in team rebounding the past two seasons. The two seasons prior to that they were at the bottom.