With a full offseason and a fall training camp, Donovan feels like the Bulls offense will be in position to maximize the strengths of the roster, but they better have their running shoes on.
Accountability isn’t a curse word for Billy Donovan.
Maybe that’s why his arrival as the Bulls coach last season was so refreshing.
Donovan’s confident enough to admit when things go wrong under his watch, proving that his position is not only about teaching, but still learning. A lesson the old Bulls front office, as well as the coach Donovan replaced, liked to thumb their nose at.
So while assessing why his offense bogged down at times last season after opposing defenses stopped the first couple actions in a possession, Donovan again didn’t duck blame or give some confusing reply.
“I agree with that especially after the trade deadline,’’ Donovan said of that assessment. “I really thought that was a challenge where I thought we got slowed.’’
An indictment of Donovan’s offensive philosophy that was echoed at times during his tenure with the Thunder or just a perfect storm of tough circumstances?
Bet on the latter.
There were times in Oklahoma City where critics felt Donovan’s ball-movement offense was limited after a few actions and turned into isolation far too often, but when looking at his personnel, it’s easy to see why. In his first season, he had both Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant on the roster. Two elite scorers who do their best work in iso.
Durant then left for Golden State, meaning it was the Westbrook show, and when Westbrook wants to attack a defense, Westbrook is going to attack a defense. Not to the point of coaching be damned, but pretty close.
Now focus on Donovan’s 2019-20 season.
Westbrook was gone, leaving the likes of Steven Adams, Terrance Ferguson, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and of course Chris Paul. The preseason odds had Donovan and the Thunder winning 32 games that year, and being near the bottom of the Western Conference.
They finished 44-28, fifth in the West, losing to Houston in the first round in seven games.
That offense was tough to defend because of multiple actions and ball movement, and they played great defense.
That’s the model that should have Bulls fans excited when breaking down Donovan as a coach. Not relying on film from early on in OKC or even last season after the Bulls acquired Nikola Vucevic and Daniel Theis at the trade deadline, and had to throw an offense together with the two bigs and almost no practice time.
“If we didn’t get ‘Vooch’ [Vucevic] in the post or Coby [White] on kick-outs, Zach [LaVine], we definitely got stalled,’’ Donovan said of last season.
So what about this season? With a full training camp, a new-look roster, and plenty of practice time, what does Donovan have planned for this offense in Year 2, making sure there aren’t those lulls late in a possession?
Without simply handing over a playbook with all his sets for the entire league to have eyes on, Donovan was pretty forthcoming with how he wants his offense to look.
Memo to the entire Bulls roster: You best be in shape.
“I think the biggest thing for us is we’ve got to play faster,’’ Donovan said. “We’ve got to run. I think that’s Lonzo [Ball’s] strength, throwing the ball ahead. I think Zach and DeMar [DeRozan] are good in transition. I think utilizing ‘Vooch’ maybe a little bit more as a dynamic passer up top. Sometimes [last season] because we were playing with two bigs, it was what do you do with the other big? We’ve got to figure those things out. Like we use the terminology keep the energy in the ball … keep the thing moving right now instead of it just getting bogged down.
“There’s always a time and a place that with certain guys, elite players offensively, you’re going to iso them, you’re going to put them in situations, but I do think if we can play faster, starting with getting in great shape … Hopefully that can help keep the possession moving.’’
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/2ZNpMAb
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