Bulls remain committed to mediocrity with head coach extension

Donovan signed a multiyear extension with the Bulls this weekend, a move that follows earlier extensions for vice president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley. The move keeps the leadership trio in place for the next few years after an unimpressive five seasons together.

Since the Bulls hired all three men before the 2020-21 season, the team has gone 195-205. Chicago has finished 11th, sixth, 10th, ninth and ninth in the Eastern Conference in those seasons, winning one single playoff game in 2022. In the last three seasons, it has been eliminated from the play-in by the Miami Heat every year.

But that level of non-success seems fine for owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who doesn't seem all that interested in seriously competing. Perhaps that's because the Bulls have led the NBA in total attendance for the last four seasons. Despite their massive crowds, Reinsdorf and his son, Michael, the team president, don't particularly invest in the team, paying the luxury tax just twice in the team's history for a total of $8,130,677.

As long as the Bulls are profitable, management is fine with finishing in the middle of the pack, and closer to the back of that pack. Perhaps that's why the Bulls seem resistant to trading their stars, and continue picking late in the lottery. It's as if they're hoping they'll repeat their 2008 draft lottery luck, where they had only a 1.7 percent chance at the No. 1 pick, and ended up with the top pick and future MVP Derrick Rose.

They've committed so fully to Donovan that they hired his son, William Donovan III, as head coach of the G League Windy City Bulls last year. The G League Bulls went 11-23 last season and have only made the playoffs once in their history, so perhaps the younger Donovan is a perfect fit.

One clear thing is that the Bulls aren't mediocre by accident. The fans might desperately want a playoff contender, but management is content to compete for a play-in spot instead.