Critics of Bulls coach Billy Donovan aren’t going to be persuaded. They’re dug in.
They point to his 219-236 record (.481 winning percentage) with the Bulls and the fact that he believes in a tight leash with younger players, not giving them free rein and heavy minutes.
They lump Donovan in with the front office — and maybe even with ownership and the roster — and say it all has to go, leaving only the Bulls’ six banners, the Jordan statue and the United Center.
The reality, however, is that ownership is cemented, that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley will be allowed a second true rebuild and that players such as Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis are the foundation pieces.
As for Donovan, be careful what you wish for.
He has given no indication he isn’t all in on trying to right the ship Karnisovas again has run aground and has multiple years left on his contract, but he is as competitive a coach as there is and is being asked to bring a stick to a gunfight. That gets old quickly.
Name a top-15 player Donovan has been able to coach since taking over for Jim Boylen. OK, a top-25 player. Has there even been a top-50 player?
Let’s throw DeMar DeRozan into that group, for argument’s sake.
In his first season with DeRozan — who likely will be a Basketball Hall of Famer — Donovan helped him play some of the best all-around basketball of his 17-year career, all the while knowing DeRozan’s mid-range game soon was going to be made extinct by an up-tempo, pace-and-space brand of basketball.
That’s about where the list ends.
Nikola Vucevic was an All-Star-caliber player for a time, and Zach LaVine dipped his toe in the pool for a few seasons. But the overall bag of talent Donovan has been handed hasn’t been good.
What can Donovan do with elite talent?
Well, he took the Thunder to the Western Conference finals in 2016 and even had a 3-1 lead against the Warriors before the team dropped the series. A couple of months later, Kevin Durant decided it was easier to join the Warriors than try to beat them.
And all Donovan did with elite talent at Florida was build the school into a college basketball powerhouse, as evidenced by back-to-back NCAA championships.
He’s in the Hall of Fame for a reason. The only way Karnisovas is getting into the Hall is by buying a ticket at the admissions booth.
Now Karnisovas is asking Donovan, 60, to use the final 27 games of the season to help the front office make roster decisions. That means he’s asking him to lower the expectations of winning that Donovan carries like a badge.
Is this what Donovan signed up for?
The last elite coach to clean up the mistakes of a Bulls front office was Tom Thibodeau, and his tenure ended with an unceremonious firing.
For now, however, Donovan is saying the right things and trying to turn his focus from winning to something positive.
‘‘I like it from the perspective of, ‘Can we really, really help these guys?’ ’’ Donovan said when he was asked whether this season was one of the bigger coaching challenges he has gone through. ‘‘Because there are a lot of guys that have contracts and things like that, and you want to be able to help guys.
‘‘Yeah, I haven’t necessarily gone through anything like this, so it is challenging.’’