Meeting is still everything, but Bulls coach Billy Donovan sounded sold
WASHINGTON — The meeting is still everything next week.
Billy Donovan made that very clear on Tuesday in his first presser with the media since vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley — the men that were responsible for him being the Bulls coach — were fired 24 hours earlier.
And what was very obvious was it is no longer going to be a sit-down with the Reinsdorfs trying to sell Donovan on why he should stay as much as making sure there will be no reason to leave.
That’s how Donovan was talking throughout most of the interview; like a coach anticipating the future in an organization that will start focusing on doing whatever it takes to start winning. An organization that he will have a louder voice in.
“We’d be crazy not to want Billy’s input in player acquisition from players around the league,” Michael Reinsdorf said. “He’s an NBA coach, he coaches against these guys. Some of these guys he’s already coached. Billy will be involved and will be encouraged … I’ll probably push Billy to be more involved.”
A responsibility Donovan was appreciative of and didn’t take lightly. And the fact that he was talking about his future with the Bulls said a lot.
“I’m very appreciative that Michael would give me the opportunity and say, ‘Hey, what do you think? Tell me what we need to do.’ “ Donovan said. “And I can give him some thoughts and ideas, and OK, how do we take these thoughts and ideas and how do we move forward?
“I’ve always believed this: The room is smarter than any individual and there are a lot of smart people in that room. I think if we can put our heads together and figure out how do we get to that? I don’t have all the answers to those things. I just know the last four years, we have not won at a high level. I want to win at a high level. I want to be a part of that. I think the organization deserves that, I think everyone in the organization wants that, and then everybody has got to put their heads together and figure out, ‘How do we go about doing that?’ ”
A statement from Donovan that had some layers, especially since the Sun-Times reported last season that there was a growing haze covering the organization that Karnisovas ran the franchise more like a dictatorship than a “room” of collective ideas.
Yes-men kept a paycheck, while those with different opinions were soon unemployed.
So how would it work in keeping a coach, giving him more input, but still using an outside firm to find the right people to lead the front office? Reinsdorf made that very simple if Donovan opts to stay.
“If we’re interviewing someone and they’re not sold on Billy, and they’re not sold on a Hall of Fame coach, they’re not sold on a person who has won championships in college, who has gone deep in the playoffs with Oklahoma City, who I believe with the Chicago Bulls, given the team he was given — I think every year he achieved really good results. Not the results we wanted, but it’s not because of Billy — so if someone is not interested in Billy and Billy wants to be our coach, then they’re probably not the right candidate for us,” the younger Reinsdorf said.
And while Reinsdorf downplayed the idea of Donovan staying the coach but also carrying the title of VP of basketball ops, he’s willing to listen to all options in the meeting.
“I don’t think Billy cares about titles,” Reinsdorf added. “Billy cares about being a head coach, cares about the players, the organization, that’s the most important thing. I hate getting so bogged down in titles. I think what’s more important is what are your responsibilities, what input do you have?”
If Donovan is in fact staying, he’s about to have a lot more.