Chicago Bulls: Grading coaching staff hires so far this offseason
Grading Chicago Bulls coaching hires
Here, we’ll take a look at the decisions of both Donovan and the Bulls new front office regime both to add one key veteran assistant/head coach well known around the NBA landscape, and the move to keep another assistant on staff from Boylen’s tenure.
Maurice Cheeks, Assistant Coach
Maybe the most notable addition overall to the Bulls coaching staff so far this offseason is the former Thunder assistant coach Maurice (Mo) Cheeks. A well-traveled longtime NBA coach, Cheeks could be a nice addition to the Bulls coaching staff that helps move this young core forward heading into its fourth year.
Cheeks was a Thunder assistant coach from 2009-2013 and 2015-2020. And he was a head coach at different points with the Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, and the Sixers. The experience for which Cheeks brings to the table at a number of different stops (most of them pretty successful) should help him bring a very positive presence to the Bulls staff.
Grade: A
Chris Fleming, Existing Assistant Coach
The biggest name to stick around amid those in the Bulls scouting department and/or coaching staff is the to-be second-year assistant Fleming. It does look like Fleming’s offensive philosophy of spacing around the perimeter on offense and launching a lot of three-point attempts had a big impact on the Bulls scheme on that end of the floor last season.
Fleming is one of the brighter up and coming minds among assistant coaches around the NBA. Hence why he got a number of interviews for head coaching vacancies around the league’s landscape. Keeping him around could be huge for Donovan and the Bulls.