Bulls coach Billy Donovan opens up about direction of franchise

The Bulls’ front office won’t be speaking with the media for another month.

That has been the usual drill for executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas since he took the job.

There are the same talking points on media day in the fall, a wrap-up of excuses after the trade deadline in February, then the exit interview filled with promises — soon to be unfulfilled — in April.

That leaves coach Billy Donovan to answer the questions Karnisovas should be answering, and that was again the case Monday.

With the Bulls no longer having ‘‘Derrick Rose Night’’ to hide behind, Donovan was peppered with questions about the organization’s plan and direction as the trade deadline Feb. 6 approaches.

To his credit, Donovan did very little bobbing and weaving, but he also didn’t say what many Bulls fans wanted to hear, either. It seems holding on to their top-10-protected first-round draft pick this summer and keeping it away from the Spurs isn’t the Bulls’ priority.

Even with a loaded draft class waiting in the wings.

‘‘No one is saying to me: ‘Hey, listen, wait a second. With this draft pick right now, we’ve got to make sure . . . ’ It’s always been about the integrity of competition and playing, and I appreciate that,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘In the conversations I’ve had, with the roster and with the team where we are right now — and I appreciate this — I’m not being directed at all. ‘Hey, Billy, you’ve got to play this guy, this guy and this guy and sit this guy.’ That’s not happening.’’

That’s why Donovan’s attitude is to keep his foot on the pedal, play to his fast-paced style and win as many games as possible.

He can’t be blamed for that, either.

But that’s also why he was asked whether there is a plan to get the Bulls out of mediocrity. On that front, there was only so much he could say.

In the past, until trade talks became serious, the front office made it a habit to keep that off Donovan’s plate and let him focus on the games. That seems to be the case again this season.

‘‘They’re all talking about the rosters, players, those types of things,’’ Donovan said of ongoing trade rumors. ‘‘With that being said, you’ve got to have a partner that is willing to work with you.

‘‘I haven’t necessarily had any conversations with [Karnisovas] about, ‘Hey, this is really potentially going to happen for the foreseeable future.’ Or, ‘This is what we’re going to be doing.’ He’s listening to everything. Like in any situation, you can have a plan of what you want to do, but you aren’t able to do it because you’ve got to have partners in all this stuff.’’

The Sun-Times reported last month that there was ‘‘light momentum’’ in trade talks with the Nuggets about guard Zach LaVine, but it never gained much traction. Center Nikola Vucevic is another realistic trade candidate, but there has been more speculation than reality there, too.

Then again, maybe the Bulls don’t think holding on to a chance for a top draft pick should be a priority in getting better.

The way Donovan explained it, because the game is changing to a high-paced sprint, it might be more important to have depth with 10 to 12 guys rather than focusing on landing that one ‘‘it’’ guy.

‘‘If we want to continue playing this way, you can’t have eight guys,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s no way you can sustain playing that way, that fast.

‘‘So instead of one guy or two guys, how do we build out where there’s 10 or 12 guys? [Then] if you lose a guy, you’re not taking this huge hit. That’s what I’ve shared with them in terms of what I’ve thought.’’