Bulls’ Donovan fills out coaching staff
Additions include four to the player development department
The Chicago Bulls officially announced coach Billy Donovan’s staff and expanded their player development department, a top priority under the team’s new regime.
Maurice Cheeks, Josh Longstaff and John Bryant were previously connected to the Bulls as assistant coaches. On Saturday morning the Bulls announced they will be joined by Jim Cotter, Billy Schmidt and Chris Fleming.
Cotter was coach of the G League’s Windy City Bulls last season, and Schmidt spent five years with Donovan in Oklahoma City as the Thunder’s director of quality control. Schmidt alsoworked as an assistant coach under Donovan one year at Florida. Fleming, the lead assistant under former coach Jim Boylen, will be the lone holdover to remain on staff.
Player development has been a point of emphasis for the Bulls’ new leadership, which backed that up by adding four player development coordinators to the staff as well with Henry Domecrant, Ronnie Burrell, Ty Abbott and Max Rothschild joining the team.
Domecrant, a Chicago native, spent the last two seasons as an assistant for the Windy City Bulls after a 12-year playing career in Europe and the G League. Burrell comes from the Brooklyn Nets organization where he spent one season as a player development and video assistant and last season as an assistant with their G League affiliate.
Abbott spent the last two seasons in player development for the Philadelphia 76ers organization, starting at their G League affiliate beforemoving to Philadelphia last season. Rothschild, who is also from Chicago, also comes fromthe Sixers’ player development department after playing basketball and graduating from Penn in 2019.
At his introductory news conference on Sept. 24, Donovan gave a window into his player development philosophies, one he gained fromRick Pitino.
“It’s a pretty extensive thing,” Donovan said then. “It’s not just putting (players) in specific roles. It’s on the court. It’s film. It’s getting them to understand howto impact the team in a positive way, how they can impact and make the people around them better.
“I’ve always felt like the sign of a great player is a player who makes everyone around them better. When they’re playing their role and they’re making the group better, I think they have a chance to continue to blossom and grow and improve through that.”