2) Candidates Chicago Bulls passed on to hire Billy Donovan: Doc Rivers*
There’s an asterisk next to the name of now former Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers for good reason. The 58-year-old Chicago, IL, native had yet to be fired by the time the Bulls hired Donovan. Rivers is very likely to land elsewhere in the near future, though. He carries a career head coaching record in the regular season of 943-681 (.581 winning percentage), and a playoff record of 91-89 (.506 winning percentage).
But the hiring of Rivers would be something that a lot of Bulls fans would expect from this ownership. The Bulls love to have that hometown reunion story with their players, and coaches/staff, when it’s in the cards. And they would’ve had the chance to hire Rivers if they had waited a few more weeks before making the hiring of Donovan official.
Not to say that Rivers would be a better fit for the Bulls than Donovan, but he’s certainly a proven winner that brings a very credible resume to the table. The problem that Rivers ran into with the Clippers and Celtics both was waning postseason success and unexpectedly early playoff exits in the first and second rounds.
Rivers and the Clippers were upset in the second round of the playoffs this year, as the two-seed, by the upstart three-seed Denver Nuggets. The Clippers had a 3-1 series lead against the Nuggets, but couldn’t hang on to get that crucial fourth win. That seemed to do it for Rivers’ time coaching up the superstar duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.