Chicago Bulls: 3 positives to the Billy Donovan hire

He’s entirely new

Do you remember what you were doing 17 years ago?

Well for starters, you weren’t on this website. The Motorola Razr hadn’t been invented. Steve Bartman wasn’t a household name around Chicago yet. Kordell Stewart, Chris Chandler and rookie Rex Grossman were the quarterbacks for the Chicago Bears.

And John Paxson was the new general manager for the Chicago Bulls.

Seventeen years, and only five playoff series wins to show for it. Take away the two division championship seasons and that’s a 572-641 record under John Paxson (and later Gar Forman alongside Paxson, who would take over as GM when Pax was promoted to vice president of basketball operations).

The Bulls haven’t been the same since Jordan left. And yet, they’ve been exactly the same since Jordan left.

But the hiring of Donovan is a clear signal that a new era is beginning in Chicago. No more hiring in the GarPax/Reinsdorf circle. No more requirement of having a connection to Iowa State University as a prerequisite for being hired by the Bulls. And clearly, it’s a sign that Reinsdorf has given Karnisovas complete control over the team.

After all, Donovan was almost certainly the most expensive option available. But the notoriously frugal Reinsdorf showed that he has finally come to grips that the team must spend and adapt if they want to be relevant again.

There’s certainly plenty more work that needs to be done to make the Bulls a championship team, but hiring Donovan was a massive step in the right direction.

Enjoy it, Bulls fans. This could be the start of something special.