Bulls to hire Wes Unseld Jr. for Billy Donovan’s staff originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
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After the The Chicago Bulls and head assistant coach Chris Fleming have parted ways, NBC Sports Chicago reported that coach Billy Donovan sought a replacement with head coaching experience.
It’s about to happen.
The team’s public relations staff confirmed the initial report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Donovan and the Bulls are set to add Wes Unseld Jr. as a top assistant coach. Unseld Jr. not only spent the last two and a half seasons as head coach of the Washington Wizards, but he worked six seasons under Artūras Karnišovas in Denver when he served as Michael Malone’s assistant.
In fact, Unseld Jr. was under strong consideration to replace Jim Boylen in 2020 when Karnišovas took over as executive vice president before Donovan became available.
Donovan had preliminary conversations with other veteran coaches with head coaching experience before reaching a verbal agreement with Unseld Jr. And those talks are expected to lead to another high-profile hire beyond Unseld Jr. That hire could serve as a head coach. co-lead assistant with Unseld. Jr.
The Bulls’ personnel is constantly changing. Josh Longstaff recently left to take a position on Charles Lee’s staff in Charlotte. Maurice Cheeks has voluntarily taken on a smaller role that may involve less travel. And John Bryant is moving from the back bench to the front bench.
Karnišovas also recently parted ways with former Performance Health director Chip Schaefer as he weighs possible further changes to the training and performance staff. According to sources, Karnišovas could also reshuffle the player development coaching staff.
