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Billy Donovan is used to the rumors connecting him to high-profile college basketball jobs. It feels like it happens every time there’s a marquee opening in the coaching cycle. To this point, Donovan has been comfortable sticking in the NBA as the leader of the Chicago Bulls for the last six seasons. While the team has only made one playoff appearance since hiring Donovan, that has more to do with the Bulls’ slumlord-style ownership under Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf and a delusional and incompetent front office led by Arturas Karnisovas.
Would you believe the Bulls currently have the best shot profile in the NBA? It’s true: Chicago is No. 1 in shooting location effective field goal percentage according to Cleaning the Glass, a stat that captures what the team’s eFG% would be if they shot a league-average field goal percentage from each location. Throw in Donovan’s defensive success with the Bulls — the 2022-23 team finished No. 5 in defensive rating despite playing with a lousy defensive core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic — and there’s a case to be made that Donovan is still an excellent head coach who maximizes the talent on the flawed rosters Karnisovas gives him.
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The Bulls finally punted on trying to compete for the play-in tournament at the trade deadline by tearing down the roster. It feels like Chicago is going to be in for a long, long rebuild, and that doesn’t feel like the right fit for the 60-year-old Donovan. On Tuesday morning, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that there’s “growing speculation that Donovan might step away” from the Bulls after the season. On Tuesday night, North Carolina fired Hubert Davis as head coach, and Donovan’s name was immediately near the top of the list of potential replacements.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reported that Donovan is “expected to be at or near the top of the list” for North Carolina. There’s also speculation that the Kansas Jayhawks job could open up in this cycle if Bill Self steps down to focus on his health. Donovan is still under contract with the Bulls for next season, but “there are a ton of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/billy-donovan-could-college-basketball-185534474.html
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Publish date : 2026-03-25 18:55:00
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