Chicago Bulls, Jacob Boltel (Matt Krohn-USA Today Sports)
As we approach the halfway point of the NBA season, more than a few coaches of struggling teams are finding their seats stuffed with warmth.
We’re only about 35 games into the season and it’s time to turn on the NBA coaches’ hot seat. For our list, we are looking for the coaches responsible for potential playoff teams. You won’t see names like Jamahl Mosley, Dwayne Casey or Stephen Silas, whose teams are clearly in the process of rebuilding.
Let’s take a look at three NBA coaches whose careers may be at stake
3. Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls
The 2022 season marked the Bulls’ first postseason trip since 2017, and it was refreshing to see all of their big deals and trades pay dividends. However, the second year of the DeRozan-LaVine-Vucevic Big Three hasn’t been pretty. The trio has an incredibly low efficiency rating on the court together, and to make matters worse, Lonzo Ball news Nothing has improved. The point guard star remains indefinitely,
The Bulls’ lack of consistency should piss off their fan base. Despite the 16-19 record, the Bulls are great 7-1 against the Bucks, Nets, Celtics and Heat this season. This team has the talent to compete with the best dogs in the East, but struggles with teams they are worse than or on par with.
Fourth quarter training Than Donovan has been horrible this year. Chicago is 4-8 in games decided by five points or fewer (0-5 to start the season). Nothing has changed from last year. It’s the same late-game DeMar DeRozan’s isolation in a time of crisis. Not much training or offensive strategy. It’s really surprising that LaVine hasn’t been used more in these key offensive moments, especially after Chicago’s investment Over $215 million to him off last season.
The bigger question is how does Donovan actually improve this team? Sure, they snapped a playoff drought last year, but Milwaukee almost swept them. Shouldn’t a team including DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic make the postseason? It would be confusing to miss the playoffs with this trio in such a weak Eastern Conference.
Coach Donovan has not had much success developing young talent for the Bulls. Kobe White has gone down every year under Donovan, and while Patrick Williams looked promising in his rookie year, he hasn’t made many strides since then. Ayo Dosunmu is the only young man who has exceeded expectations.
Bulls fans aren’t happy, but moving on from Donovan isn’t quite as simple. Perhaps unfortunately, the Bulls extended Donovan to four years at the end of last season. This certainly complicates matters if Chicago bothers his coaching and leadership.
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