2) Why Chicago Bulls should tank for Cade Cunningham
Billy Donovan mentoring the young guard
A lot of excitement does exist in the Bulls fan base surrounding what the former Oklahoma City Thunder and Florida Gators head coach Donovan can bring to the table. Donovan replaces the former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen, which was a necessary move following the way this team played over the course of the last two seasons.
Boylen led the Bulls to a record of 22-43 during the shortened 2019-20 regular season, good for 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings. And the total record that Boylen posted as the Bulls head coach over the course of two years was 39-84 (.317 winning percentage). Boylen didn’t seem to do much to help this rebuild move forward in the last two seasons.
That’s what Karnisovas and Eversley brought Donovan in to do, as he is a proven winner at both the college and NBA levels. He won two National Championships during his time as the Gators head coach. And he registered a regular season record of 243-157 (.608 winning percentage) during five years as the Thunder head coach.
Donovan helped to mentor young guards like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Terrance Ferguson, Victor Oladipo, and Lu Dort, among others, during his time as the Thunder head coach. He proved to make good use out of a lot of the younger players he mentored in general too, such as center Steven Adams and power forward/center Nerlens Noel in the last three or five years.
It’s hard to imagine a world where a point guard as overall talented and versatile as Cunningham could not have his skill set maximized under a head coach like Donovan.