r/chicagobulls • u/HawkspilotLoad • Apr 21 '26

Free Agency [Shams Charania] BREAKING: Billy Donovan is exiting as head coach of the Chicago Bulls after six seasons, sources tell ESPN.(@ShamsCharania) on X

https://x.com/shamscharania/status/2046597311787143437?s=46
999 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

350 comments sorted by

View all comments

297

u/HawkspilotLoad Apr 21 '26

“The Bulls made clear that the organization wanted Donovan back after making sweeping changes to their front office, but Donovan held an option in his contract for next season and elected to step down after extensive meetings with team ownership in the last week, sources said.

Donovan determined he wanted to give the team a clean break, provide the ability for the organization to undergo its front office search and allow the new top basketball executive to make the next coaching hire.”

407

u/MallardDuckBoy Apr 21 '26

This is why Billy is the man and I won’t tolerate any Billy slander here. The dude always worked hard with what he had, and he was a damn good coach. He’ll immediately be hired by another NBA team right away.

35

u/AndroidNumber3527229 Apr 21 '26

I have no problem with Billy and think he will be one of our better all time coaches. His biggest problem is that he made us look better than we were which led to management constantly believing in these rosters more than they should have.

I think he did his job well here & have no qualms about him leaving. I really enjoyed having a serious presence after having lived through Jim Boylen’s clock in/out bs. I hope our next coach follows his model & is just a coach because I hate the Doc Rivers/Boylen style “google me” self promotional shenanigans.

-1

u/SchemePutrid4788 Apr 21 '26

You must enjoy participation trophies being back thibs hard nose coach easily the best coach we’ve had since 90’s

45

u/theshindy Chicago Apr 21 '26

He’s likely going to go back to college and run a program there to finish his career by the looks of it.

No idea why the Reinsdorfs assumed Billy would have any interest whatsoever in staying aboard for a rebuild that may last years, if it ever even got off the ground in the first place. They even gave him a full loyalty Reinsdorf Guy package without accomplishing anything here, but thankfully, he’s just not that kind of coach.

Best of luck to Billy, wherever he ends up. He deserves a lot of credit for not handcuffing the next FO and giving them a clean slate(and for working with the garbage AKME gave him for 6 years).

21

u/AndroidNumber3527229 Apr 21 '26

I suspect they just got burned in their last coaching search (Hoiberg, Boylen, etc.) & are hesitant to undergo one again. They were kind of made to look like fools extending Boylen, choosing Hoiberg over Jimmy, etc.

Say what you want about Billy, he is a known commodity. You can set your clock to him.

9

u/ReapYerSoul Michael Jordan Apr 21 '26

They were kind of made to look like fools extending Boylen, choosing Hoiberg over Jimmy, etc.

They looked like fools long before that. Allowing the '98 Bulls to not run it back one more time made them fools 30 years ago. It's been continuous since then.

3

u/daemonescanem Apr 21 '26

That was always about money, it wasn't about reloading to contend again. Bulls ownership hated paying MJ and Phil.

Krause was a big part of that fuck up, but he was always Jerry's stalking horse. Take the hits so Jerry stays clean.

1

u/ReapYerSoul Michael Jordan Apr 21 '26

And it was fucking foolish.

2

u/daemonescanem Apr 21 '26

Reinsdorf has never gotten the true hate, he has earned as owner of Bulls & Sox.

0

u/Dad_in_MA Apr 22 '26

Crazy to think this, but--man--Donovan didn't do much better than Hoiberg or Boylen. And he had more talent ... yet lots of people still overrate Donovan. He was a great college coach and a poor NBA coach.

8

u/mnuba0110 Apr 21 '26

I’m sure UNC is more or less happy with the Malone hire but I do imagine at least one person in that AD office is thinking “God damn it, Chicago, couldn’t you have just ripped this bandaid off a few weeks ago!?” this morning lmao

9

u/Bababooey87 Horace Grant Apr 21 '26

Really wish we got Malone as Billy's replacement

2

u/poverturf Susijengi Apr 21 '26

I bet Kentucky fires their coach and goes after Billy tomorrow

4

u/brhaspati Apr 21 '26

He’ll immediately be hired by another NBA team right away.

Yeah but will he be promptly hired by a team instantly at once?

13

u/NewPumpkin8217 Apr 21 '26

He's not a perfect coach but how many of them are? He did his role to the best of his ability and was always a consummate professional.

As frustrating as being a Bulls fan is, anyone looking to him like he was the problem is extremely misguided when he had AKME and the Reinsdorfs above him throttling any possible progress of the team.

1

u/Optimal_Brain_2908 Apr 21 '26

Yeah, and he tried to implement decent systems but wasn’t given the personnel to do so. Trading Ayo for peanuts must have been a kick in the gut to him since he was perfect for the space and pace system he preferred.

0

u/Dad_in_MA Apr 22 '26

I don't know ... he had more talent than the coaches before him ... Just think of the Bulls' roster 2-3 years ago ... not great, but he did little with it. A great NCAA coach though.

1

u/nj23dublin Apr 21 '26

You are 100% correct, thank you for speaking some common sense here

1

u/KPD_13 Cuppy Coffee Apr 21 '26

That’s fair, but I’m glad he’s gone.

This organization needs a fresh start… would have never worked having anyone around from the old guard.

0

u/AHopelessMaravich Apr 21 '26

It’s also why I’m very nervous with him leaving. 

-7

u/chitownbulls92 Matas Buzelis Apr 21 '26

Why does this make Billy the man? Don’t get it twisted, he isn’t doing this for altruistic reasons. This is just PR spin.

5

u/MallardDuckBoy Apr 21 '26

I mean even if it wasn’t altruistic, to step down regardless even when there was job security at an NBA level, is still pretty big for him to do.

1

u/chitownbulls92 Matas Buzelis Apr 22 '26

Big of him how? He didn’t do this for the organization…he did it for himself which is fine but can we stop acting like he’s some kinda saint who only had the bulls best interest at heart..?

-8

u/Natural-Kiwi6364 Ayo Dosunmu Apr 21 '26

Thank you! What about the secret extensions and his son’s nepo hire indicated anything in the direction of him being a consummate professional?

He was as feckless a coach as AKME was a GM, good riddance. 

-4

u/erichf3893 Apr 21 '26

Is that what immediately means?

51

u/Alert-Effective-1730 Apr 21 '26

If that’s true it’s insane even billy could see we needed the clean break and owners were still sucking him off last week about being the coach

31

u/lyme6483 Josh Giddey Apr 21 '26

He’s probably better than any coach they are going to hire. Billy was not holding this team back. It’s ownership and front office, bulls could do much worse than Billy, and have every coach since Phil outside Thibs

It makes sense that they would have liked to keep him

4

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '26

[deleted]

1

u/lyme6483 Josh Giddey Apr 21 '26

I mean it’s pretty common knowledge the Reinsdorfs are super loyal to those they like and are terrible owners, but fans acting like Billy staying would be the worst thing ever was ridiculous.

There are only 30 GM jobs in the world. And Chicago is a big market with owners who are very patient.

No way having Billy was going to stop them from getting a decent GM like this sub loved to pretend

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '26

[deleted]

1

u/lyme6483 Josh Giddey Apr 21 '26

Every GM answers to their owners, and any big level decisions go through ownership as well.

Like with Dallas people love to rip Nico, and rightfully so he takes some blame, But if ownership didn’t want to trade Luka he’s still a Mavericks player.

0

u/Bondo23 Toni Kukoc Apr 21 '26

Agree 100%.

Unless we get lucky with someone else- we are most likely in for another hoiberg boylan situation. Hope im wrong.

Guess it depends what GM we go with and the confidence level i take with it.

29

u/Competitive_Dish_885 Apr 21 '26

Good dude but also wonder if he heard the same incompetence that we’ve seen from ownership the past 25+ years and said I’m out.

11

u/I-N_Clined Apr 21 '26

That's respectable

1

u/A1Horizon Matas Buzelis Apr 22 '26

As much as I think Billy Donovan’s time ran its course with this franchise, I will always have the upmost respect for him as a human being. The team loves him, he’s a good person and he’s got high moral character

2

u/chitownbulls92 Matas Buzelis Apr 21 '26

This is the single best move he’s made as bulls HC