Suddenly, the rebuild label seems cheap and obsolete.
Sure, the names in the Bulls locker room scream “unproven,’’ but the hiring of Billy Donovan as the new head coach is evidence that something bigger is going on throughout the offices of the Advocate Center.
Something a tortured fan base should start embracing.
Something that even forced Zach LaVine to interrupt a live gaming stream of Call of Duty.
“Oh damn, we got Billy Donovan as our next coach,’’ LaVine blurted out in mid-stream on Facebook Gaming from his hotel room Tuesday. “I swear … [the news] just came out. Yeah, wow, that will be good.’’
Of course LaVine then complained about his online soldier “glitching again.’’
Apropos, considering the Bulls have been glitching since they traded Jimmy Butler back in 2017 to take this descent to rebuild hell.
So what does the hiring of Donovan change?
A lot.
Yes, it gives the Bulls a proven winner, but there is evidence that it’s much bigger than that.
Donovan’s five-year, $30 million contract had run its course when the Thunder were eliminated from the playoff bubble last month. While both sides seemed committed to each other on the surface, ownership also let Donovan know that the next direction of the franchise was blowing up the roster and going young.
Donovan didn’t like the look of that map, so it was a mutual parting of ways.
Why then walk away from one franchise beginning the rebuild process to another that seems stuck in the rebuild process mud?
“Only two jobs worse than [the Bulls head coaching job]: The captain of the Titanic and my fitness coach,’’ Hall of Famer Charles Barkley declared on the TNT broadcast.
Harsh, but not untrue.
Or at least until now.
For Donovan — a guy who could have sat out a year and waited for a better offer from another franchise — to meet with executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and so quickly accept the new position, well, Karnisovas should either be running a used car dealership or shared with Donovan such a promising vision that the coach couldn’t say no.
It’s that latter scenario that should have Bulls fans excited.
Just connect the dots.
Karnisovas is hired, and that Michael Reinsdorf decision is instantly applauded league-wide. The Bulls COO then hands the keys to his new executive, allowing him to fire teacher pets Gar Forman and Jim Boylen. Karnisovas then grabs highly-regarded up-and-coming executive Marc Eversley to become the new general manager, and while interviewing some really good assistant coaches to take over the head coaching chair, pivots when Donovan hits the market and gets it done in weeks.
It’s so anti-Bull.
Especially with the history that the Jerry Reinsdorf regime followed.
So what exactly was Donovan told? That’s the wait-and-see, but all signs point to Karnisovas also being very aggressive in flipping this roster to either land a superstar in a trade — you’re on notice Milwaukee — or prepared to clear the decks for the 2021 superstar free-agent class, and looking to add at least two elite players.
Donovan likely wouldn’t have come aboard for anything less than that sort of go-big-or-go-home attitude.
How big?
Is a Giannis Antetokounmpo for Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and the No. 4 overall pick from the upcoming November draft outrageous?
Probably, but Karnisovas has given Bulls nation the ability to dream. That’s not a feeling they had since former coach Tom Thibodeau was wrongfully pushed out the door in 2015.
No, Karnisovas has made sure it’s now a new game in town.
One that has so far been glitch-free.
