Seeking out potential free agent targets with connections back to first-year Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is a good possibility this offseason.
There’s a lot of excitement brewing for what the Chicago Bulls can do heading into the fourth year of the rebuild with all of the organizational changes they’ve made from the top-down so far this offseason. They kicked off an offseason full of organizational change with the demotion of former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and the hiring of former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas to replace him as the lead voice in the front office.
The official title for Karnisovas will be the executive VP of basketball operations.
Since the Bulls hired Karnisovas to replace Paxson back in spring, they’ve made two other very significant changes, among a number of different key hires to change the look of the front office, scouting department, and the coaching staff. The front office was really the first to get a big facelift for the Bulls this offseason.
Karnisovas hired former Philadelphia 76ers senior VP of player personnel Marc Eversley to replace the departed Gar Forman as Bulls general manager. Then, Karnisovas and Eversley hired former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan to replace Jim Boylen as the bench boss in Chicago.
The Donovan hire might bring more excitement for the Bulls heading into the fourth year of the rebuild than any others made so far this offseason. Comparing the impact that Donovan is likely to have to that of Boylen over the course of the last two seasons could be very drastic. And that’s a good thing for this team heading into the 2020-21 season.
But there’s still the looming important task of shifting the roster construction to the liking of Karnisovas and Eversley for the remainder of this offseason. Here’s a look at three former Thunder players that the Bulls could bring in to reunite with Donovan heading into next season.