‘Everything has changed’: Billy Donovan mulling future with Bulls — but plans to make a quick decision

(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

DALLAS — Billy Donovan has a decision to make: Will he stay or will he go?

After Chicago Bulls ownership fired executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley last week, this decision will serve as the first domino in a critical period of change. But Donovan won’t make a call until he sits down this week with Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and President/CEO Michael Reinsdorf for a long-promised discussion about the team’s future.

A date for this pivotal meeting had not been set as of Sunday night. Donovan was to spend Monday meeting with players, both as a group and in one-on-one exit meetings. Then at some point this week, he will sit down with the Reinsdorfs to discuss whether he will remain the team’s coach for the foreseeable future.

Donovan said he expects to arrive at his conclusion fairly quickly, both out of his own preference to be decisive and out of respect for the urgency of the team’s front-office search. But he didn’t tip his hand in either direction.

“We’re at this pivot point right now,” Donovan said Sunday. “Everything has changed. So for me to have to sit down and have a conversation — that’s really what I want to do, just to find out where we’re all at on this and how we’re going to move forward.”

Before Sunday’s season finale, Donovan faced plenty of questions about how he will reach the decision that will shape both his future and that of the franchise. But when asked how other openings might affect his decision-making, Donovan began shaking his head before the question even could be finished.

“My commitment and my loyalty is to the Bulls,” he said. “I’m employed by them. I work for them. I’m committed here to Chicago. I love Chicago. So it’s not going to be anything about that at all.

“I’m not going to go through it, but there was different opportunities that had been up over the last couple years that I didn’t even entertain or look at, just because I didn’t feel like it was right. I’m trying to be where my feet are planted.”

This decision also comes in the wake of a paradigm-shifting stretch in Donovan’s personal life. His father and mother-in-law both died in February. Days later, his mother suffered a series of circulation issues that resulted in the amputation of her leg.

Donovan, 60, acknowledged that his decision could be swayed by his desire to be closer to home and support his family. But he said he hasn’t felt any pressure from his wife, sisters or mother to consider taking time off or moving closer to their home in Florida.

“I mean this with all respect: My family is not going to necessarily have anything to do with the decision,” Donovan said. “They’ve been incredibly supportive. It would be more my internal (feeling) with my mom and her situation, that would be something that I would want to do. It wouldn’t be a situation where I’m feeling a sense of family pressure. … They’ve never put me in that situation. I’m grateful for that.”

So what will factor into Donovan’s decision?

This isn’t the first time he has faced a hard choice about an NBA coaching job. The highest-profile decision of his career took place in the summer of 2007, when he accepted an offer to become head coach of the Orlando Magic.

Donovan was formally introduced as the Magic’s new coach and gave an emotional goodbye to Florida, where he was coming off back-to-back NCAA championships. A day later, Donovan changed his mind. Within a week, he had parted ways with the Magic and returned to the Gators, with whom he stayed for eight more years.

That regret came on quickly. Donovan said it started with a phone call he received shortly after his hiring from Stu Jackson, then the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations and a former assistant coach at Providence when Donovan played there.

“Welcome to the NBA,” Jackson said on the phone. “It’s a different world than college.”

Donovan woke the next morning with the realization he had made a mistake leaving Florida. He was racked with guilt by the idea of reneging on his promise. But he was driven by a conversation he once had with C.M. Newton, who left the coaching job at Alabama to become assistant commissioner of the SEC.

Newton immediately regretted his choice but tried to stick it out. A year later, he was back in coaching at Vanderbilt and his only regret was the time he wasted before arriving at the same conclusion. Donovan didn’t want to waste his time or that of the Magic. He didn’t take long to make the call and begin the backtrack.

Nearly two decades have passed since the short-lived Orlando dalliance. Donovan feels different now — more decisive, more prepared to interrogate his own choices.

“That was the hard part for me,” he said. “I gave Orlando my word and was going back on it. But I didn’t think it was right for Orlando — knowing how I felt — to not be transparent on it. I think as you get older, you go through some of these situations and you really try to get more in tune with yourself.”

Donovan also is compelled by his responsibility to the young players he invested in within the Bulls locker room, particularly second-year forward Matas Buzelis.

Buzelis was away from the team when ownership announced the dismissal of Karnišovas and Eversley on April 6, stuck at home fighting a fever that held him out for most of the week. Even a young player like Buzelis, 21, knew the implications of a front office being cleared out — so he called Donovan immediately.

“I told him: ‘I hope you don’t leave. I’m riding with you forever. You’re a cornerstone for my career. I don’t want you to go anywhere,’” Buzelis said. “He probably has some options, but I want him to stay. I made that clear.”

That sentiment is shared among the few players expected to remain in Chicago. Guard Josh Giddey echoed Buzelis after Friday’s home finale, praising Donovan for his direct style of communication and deep commitment to player development.

Bulls players know what to expect from Donovan at all times. That means they understand how a franchise influenced by the coach will act — specifically in regard to his perspective on tanking.

“Billy is not the guy to go and tell him, ‘Yo, we want to lose,’” Buzelis said. “That’s not how he is. I know it didn’t show this season, but he’s a winning coach.

“He comes in every day. He’s prepared. He gives us a great speech all the time in the morning about how we’re the underdogs and we should be coming out every game and competing and showing the world who we are. That’s something I have the utmost respect for because he wants to win every time.”

Ultimately, none of these factors matters more to Donovan than his own gut feeling. Without a new top executive in place, the Reinsdorfs can provide only a basic framework for their plans. Loyalty from players is meaningful to Donovan but also can’t drive his decision.

He will talk to his wife, Christine, in depth about his options. He’ll consult other mentors in his life. But mostly he feels this is a decision he needs to make alone.

“The only person that’s living with any decision is myself,” Donovan said. “People can have their thoughts and ideas and whatever it is, but I’m in the situation. … Ultimately, it’s got to come from where I feel in my heart.”

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