The coaching offices at the Advocate Center didn’t stay vacant very long.
Weeks after purging most of the staff — Chris Fleming remaining the lone holdover — new head coach Billy Donovan grabbed a definite Oklahoma City flavor on Monday, adding Chicago native Maurice Cheeks and former Thunder and Bucks coach Josh Longstaff.
Former 76ers assistant coach John Bryant was reportedly hired on last week, although wasn’t given a specific title.
Cheeks was not a surprise, playing the role of Donovan’s right-hand man throughout his tenure with the Thunder. Longstaff worked in OKC, but also with the Knicks, and most recently in Milwaukee.
Longstaff comes with a great reputation as having that players-first mentality that Donovan and executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas have been preaching, but it’s Cheeks that is the big prize.
Yes, the former elite defensive point guard brings on-the-court experience, but Cheeks was also a head coach in Portland, Philadelphia and Detroit, as well as working as an assistant for the Thunder and 76ers.
Cheeks, 64, made his name in Chicago as a standout for DuSable High School, before heading to West Texas A&M, where he was an All-Missouri Valley Conference player for three consecutive seasons.
He was drafted in the second round [36th overall] by Philadelphia, and helped them win the 1993 NBA Finals. Cheeks was a four-time All-Star, four-time All-Defensive First Teamer, and had his No. 10 retired by the 76ers.
If the Bulls decide to keep Kris Dunn in the mix, Cheeks could be a mentor for the defensive-minded point guard. But even without Dunn, expect Coby White to have an instant mentor for his growth into that position, and better believe the entire roster just became better defensively.
It was last month that Donovan came aboard and fired assistants Roy Rogers, Dean Cooper, Nate Loenser and Karen Stack Umlauf.
