Bulls players are fully embracing coach Billy Donovan and ‘Billy Ball’

Donovan’s offensive philosophy includes some basic concepts, but the strength of the new coach has always been adapting to his roster rather than imposing a rigid philosophy on his players.

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Billy Donovan has shown the ability to tailor his coaching style to match the talent he has to work with. 

Billy Donovan has shown the ability to tailor his coaching style to match the talent he has to work with.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

It’s easy to generalize the Bulls’ offense last season under former coach Jim Boylen. After all, bad is bad.

Whether it was Boylen allowing an analytics department to sell him on styles of play that didn’t match the personnel, or Boylen’s own inability to help players consistently understand how to pull off what was asked of them, the offense was broken from Day 1.

Pick a statistical category, but the numbers that mattered most were a 104.1 offensive efficiency rating (27th in the NBA) and just 22 wins.

Far too often, the Bulls were a square peg being pressed into a round hole as inconsistent three-point shooters were asked to live and die from long range while sacrificing the comfort of their mid-range games.

Now begins a new era of “Billy Ball” — and, with it, relief.

Boylen’s replacement, Billy Donovan, had basic concepts he wanted his Thunder teams to execute in his five years in Oklahoma City, and he laid them out this week as the Bulls were easing into training camp.

“I do think, with this group, we’ve got to run, and we’ve got to be really willing to move and to cut and to help each other generate shots,” he said. “I think that’s going to be important for this group.”

That’s great, but so is Donovan’s real strength as a coach: He adapts.

Look at the rosters he had with the Thunder featuring future Hall of Famers. Whether it was Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook together, or Westbrook with Paul George, or Chris Paul after Westbrook and George were traded, Donovan coached to the strengths of the players rather than making them follow a concrete scheme.

His teams’ offensive efficiency has never been lower than 17th in the league, and twice it was in the top eight, including second (109.9) in the 2015-16 season with Durant and Westbrook.

In other words, he’s a real NBA coach — one who understands that while things went very wrong for the Bulls last season on both ends of the floor, dwelling on it isn’t an option.

“One of the things I try to do — and I’ve obviously gone into different situations in college, going to Oklahoma City and now to Chicago — is I think the past is the past and we need to focus on what’s in front of us right now,” Donovan said. “[Guard] Zach [LaVine] is such a dynamic player offensively, but we can’t always rely on him being so dynamic. We’ve got to rely on each other. So how can we build out a system offensively where we’re not only playing into guys’ strengths but we’re creating a situation where maybe the sum is greater than the parts, so to speak — where we’re all helping each other? And I do think a lot of that now is we’re going to have to move and cut and work to generate good shots. That starts on the rebound, being able to get out and run in transition. And it really starts in the half-court.’’

The Bulls will have to learn to walk before they can run, and coronavirus protocols have limited intrasquad scrimmaging until this weekend. They’ll have very little time to continue learning the offense before their first preseason game against the visiting Rockets next Friday.

The players, however, seem confident that Billy Ball will catch on quickly and pay fast dividends.

“We’re going to be better than we were last year,” big man Wendell Carter Jr. said. “If that includes us making it to the playoffs, then that’s what we’re going to do. If not, then I know for a fact that we will be better than last year.”

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