DALLAS — There will be no Boys & Girls Club anywhere in sight.
Jim Gray, LeBron James? Stay at home.
This “decision” is Bulls coach Billy Donovan’s to make and his to make alone. He made that clear Sunday with the regular season ending in the 149-128 loss to Dallas and his future up in the air.
He did divulge that he plans to sit down with owners Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf early this week, doesn’t plan to drag his decision on and will make it by himself.
There was a lot of speculation that with Donovan’s father and mother-in-law dying in the same week in February and his mother dealing with health issues there would be a lengthy discussion with family members, but it doesn’t work that way for the Hall of Famer.
“One is, I feel like I need to [make a quick decision] moving forward and certainly listen to what they have to say,” Donovan said. “The one thing, as difficult [a time] as I went through at the All-Star break, and I mean this in all respect, my family is not going to necessarily have anything to do with the decision. They have been incredibly supportive, and it would be more my internal [decision], 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 certain family pressure of, ‘Hey, listen, can you go take some time? We’ve gone through some of these difficulties.’ They’ve never put me in that situation. I’m grateful for that. So if it would have anything to do with the family, it would totally be on me.”
Donovan also ruled out the idea that he would survey the landscape of potential job openings and shop his services around.
He almost made it sound like if he does decide to walk away, there would be some downtime — maybe taking a season off — to reassess what he wants from the profession.
“No, my commitment and loyalty is to the Bulls,” he said when asked if he would play the wait-and-see game for another NBA gig to open.
The Sun-Times did learn that it sounds as if Donovan is committed to staying in the NBA, with or without the Bulls.
As for the Bulls, the Sun-Times reported that the one job they were concerned about that might entice Donovan right away would be Orlando’s if the Magic move off Jamahl Mosley.
In the wake of the firings of executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley, Michael Reinsdorf made it clear that keeping Donovan was a top priority, and they want him to have more input in the decision-making.
That’s all well and good, but the most important decision Donovan will be making soon is whether he wants to be a part of what feels like a rebuild. The loss did allow the Bulls (31-51) to lock up the No. 9 lottery draft spot.
“Obviously, things have changed with Arturas and Marc, and you go through the season thinking we’re all kind of going to go through [an exit meeting] together,” Donovan said. “That’s changed, and I’m sure [ownership wants] to talk about what the plan is going forward, what their thoughts are, all those kinds of things. We’ve always done that after every year of how we can get better and those types of things.
“I love being in Chicago and I love the organization, everything about it, but we’re in this pivot point right now where everything has changed. So for me to sit down and have a conversation, that’s really what I want to do, just to find out where we’re all at with this and how we’re going to move forward.”
