Chicago Bulls hire Billy Donovan as coach to replace Jim Boylen – ESPN

The Chicago Bulls have employed aged Oklahoma Metropolis State coach Billy Donovan as their fresh head coach, the team announced Tuesday.

Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations, aggressively pursued Donovan after the coach left the Oklahoma Metropolis State, sources said, selling Donovan on a partnership and imaginative and prescient for a proficient young roster and chance to manual undoubtedly among the league’s anchor franchises.

Donovan’s representative, Oliver Winterbone of Wasserman Media Neighborhood, finalized the type out Chicago officials on Tuesday, sources said.

Karnisovas and long-established manager Marc Eversley believed Donovan turned into once the most efficient coach on hand, and his music document in Oklahoma Metropolis — alongside side five straight trips to the playoffs in the Western Convention — made him a staunch match for the Bulls.

Donovan, 55, turned into once the Nationwide Basketball Coaches Affiliation’s co-Coach of the Year with Milwaukee’s Mike Budenholzer for 2019-2020. The NBA’s coaches vote on the award.

Karnisovas disregarded aged coach Jim Boylen in Could well and talked with a different of candidates before extending the offer to Donovan.

In his first season with Oklahoma Metropolis, Donovan advanced to the West finals with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and he reached the playoffs in every of the next four years. Donovan turned into once 243-157 (.608) as State coach. He signed a five-year type out the State upon coming back from the College of Florida, where he won two nationwide championships.