Donovan, Williams make official Bulls debut together
Billy Donovan does not change jobs very often. He spent 19 years at the University of Florida, then five with the Oklahoma City Thunder before joining the Bulls.
He talked about his emotions before Wednesday's regular-season opener.
"I'm excited to be coaching, I'm excited to be here in Chicago," he said. "The people here have been wonderful, the city has been great. I really have enjoyed the guys, they've worked hard, they're a really, really great group of guys. I think there's a lot of growth that has to take place both as individuals and as a team.
"But yeah, I haven't really been to a lot of different places coaching and certainly I had a long tenure at Florida. And maybe for NBA standards, five years is a long time at Oklahoma City. But I've enjoyed all the places I've been, and met some great people and worked with some great, great players."
Donovan chose not to reveal his starters during Wednesday's pregame availability. But it went as expected with rookie Patrick Williams joining Zach LaVine, Coby White, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. At 19 years, four months, Williams became the youngest player in Bulls history to start the first game of the season.
And Donovan had to be sad to see Oklahoma City's season-opener against Houston because of COVID-19 concerns with the Rockets. Donovan was on the sideline in OKC when a positive test by Utah's Rudy Gobert led to the cancellation of a game on Mar. 11 and shut down all sports in the U.S. for a few months.