Redskin

Mayberry: What kind of Bulls coach will Billy Donovan be?


Sam Presti sounded like such a fan in the beginning.

“I don’t think people understand,” the Thunder’s chief basketball executive would say privately five years ago. “We got Billy Donovan in Oklahoma City.”

For emphasis, Presti would elongate Donovan’s first and last name, as though he was hyping his favorite indie band. He cited Donovan’s impeccable credentials. Compared his milestones to other coaches before they turned 50 — and noted how no one but Bobby Knight could touch him.

Presti sold past the close, perplexed perhaps that not everyone shared his level of excitement, or that some couldn’t help but wonder how a decorated college coach would fare in his first year steering pros. Not to mention it was the year before Kevin Durant would hit unrestricted free agency. Presti hadn’t just made a bold hire. He had disrupted the culture of Thunder basketball and risked rocking the…





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