The Chicago Bulls have overhauled just about their entire basketball operations department this offseason, finally getting rid of Gar Forman and John Paxson at the top of their front office, replacing them with Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, who then fired coach Jim Boylen.
On Tuesday, the Bulls announced the hiring of former Thunder coach Billy Donovan, who was a Coach of the Year candidate this past season for what he did with an OKC team few expected to be a playoff team after trading Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Donovan and the Thunder both agreed to part ways after the season, with OKC appearing to go towards a full rebuild, but it was a mild surprise that Donovan would look to Chicago, who are likewise trying to build a playoff contender, as his next stop.
His top player with the Bulls will be Zach LaVine, who rather famously had some issues with Boylen’s coaching style, and the Chicago guard learned of the Donovan hire like everyone else on Tuesday. LaVine was streaming Call of Duty on Facebook Gaming when the news dropped and offered his initial reactions during the stream, calling him a “really good coach.”
LaVine reacts to Bulls hiring Billy Donovan while streaming COD on Facebook Gaming pic.twitter.com/9f8tOFBhxJ
— Stephen Favetti (@stephenfavetti) September 22, 2020
LaVine seems fairly excited about his new coach, as he’ll get to play for someone who’s made the playoffs all five years he’s coached in the NBA and had tremendous success at the college level with the University of Florida. Making it six playoff appearances in a row will take quite a jump from the Bulls, but the good news is LaVine seems more than on board with the hire and that always makes things easier for a new coach when the star of the team is a fan.
Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/zach-lavine-billy-donovan-hire-reaction-bulls-call-of-duty-video/