The overhaul of the Chicago Bulls coaching staff continued today, though this move wasn’t necessarily part of Billy Donovan’s plan.
Assistant coach Josh Longstaff is leaving Chicago to join the Charlotte Hornets staff led by new head coach Charles Lee. Lee and Longstaff coached together on Mike Budenholzer’s staff in Milwaukee.
Bulls Coaching Staff Will Look Different
Longstaff is now the third Bulls assistant coach from last season to depart from the coaching staff. Lead assistant Chris Fleming was let go afte⛄r the conclusion of the regular season, while NBA HOFer Maurice Cheeks will transition into🐠 a new role that will take him off the bench.
Longstaff figured to play a bigger role on this year’s staff with Fleming and Cheeks both on the way out, so Billy Donovan will have another big set of shoes to fill. He reportedly also considered an opportunity on Mike Budenholzer’s new staff in Phoenix before settling on Charlotte, .
Donovan is hoping to fill at least one of the openings with an assistant who has previous head coaching experience, per Johnson. But we’ll see which direction Donovan ultimately goes in the near future. With the Draft Combine in town and a whole lot of league personnel together in the same place, some of those conversations could very well begin this week.
Arturas Karnisovas refr🐷♈eshingly preached the need for change after Chicago’s blowout loss to Miami in the Play-In Tournament. While we still don’t know what changes the roster will incur, we are most certainly seeing changes on the coaching staff to tip off the offseason so that’s at least a good start.
