Bulls' Reinsdorf says next GM must be sold on Donovan as coach - ESPN

CHICAGO — Bulls CEO and team president Michael Reinsdorf on Tuesday outlined the qualities he is looking for in a new head of basketball operations, including one major requirement — retaining Billy Donovan as head coach.

«If I interview someone and they're not sold on Billy, they're not sold on a Hall of Fame coach,» Reinsdorf said during a video call Tuesday, «they're not sold on a person who's won championships in college, who's gone deep in the playoffs with Oklahoma City.… If Billy wants to be our coach and someone's not interested in that, then they're probably not the right candidate for us.»

Donovan is scheduled to meet with ownership the day after Sunday's season finale to discuss his future, Reinsdorf confirmed Tuesday. Reinsdorf said he did not expect Donovan's decision to take long, but he reiterated that he wanted Donovan to remain as coach and even planned to push him to be more involved in personnel decisions.

One day after the Bulls fired vice president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley, Reinsdorf explained his decision to move on after six years with the duo at the helm, addressing the fans in his opening statement about building a «real and sustainable winner.»

«Over the last few months, I started looking at where we were at and I thought to myself, 'How are we going to get out of this mess?'» he said.

With a week remaining in the regular season and the Bulls at 29-49, Reinsdorf made the change. He cited the Bulls' abundance of cap space this summer and potential lottery picks, including an extra first-round pick owed to Chicago if Portland makes the playoffs, as a blank slate for a new direction.

«I just felt like now is the time,» he said. «We tried the other route. It didn't work.