stepped down<\/a> as coach shortly after season\u2019s end.<\/p>\nThe Bulls had conversations with Donovan about returning, but he decided to step aside rather than work with a new front office.<\/p>\n
Chicago allowed 121.5 points per game this season, ranking 28th overall in the NBA. The Bulls finished with a 31-51 record while missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year.<\/p>\n
Bryson Graham was hired as Chicago\u2019s executive vice president of basketball operations on\u00a0May 4. Stephen Mervis and Acie Law IV joined the team\u2019s revamped front office on\u00a0May 19.<\/p>\n
Splitter, a 6-foot-11 center from Brazil, played seven years in the NBA with San Antonio, Atlanta and Philadelphia before officially retiring from basketball in 2018. He won an NBA championship in 2014 with the Spurs.<\/p>\n
He previously served as head coach for Paris Basketball in the top French league for one season after a stint as an assistant for the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n
Uncertainty about Splitter\u2019s future with the Trail Blazers swirled at season\u2019s end. Still, Splitter was approaching the job with the same positivity that has helped carry the team through a strange season and into the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n
The sentiment was apparent after the Blazers won Game 2\u00a0against the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we do this, to have games like this, to experience wins like this,\u201d Splitter said in April. \u201cI told them before the game, I mean, all the stuff that we went through throughout the season is to get to these moments. And have fun. Go there and hoop. Go there and ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to recent reports, new Blazers owner Tom Dundon has been looking at different candidates to fill the head coaching job permanently.<\/p>\n
Splitter shrugged off the reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to be a pro,\u201d Splitter said before Game 2. \u201cTry to focus on my locker room and my staff to stay and think about basketball. Same way when I got the job and all the stuff that was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Splitter was tasked with continuing Billups\u2019 development of a young and inexperienced but talented squad that included Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija.<\/p>\n
Along the way, the Blazers withstood several extended absences because of injury. Scoot Henderson missed 51 games with a hamstring injury, Avdija struggled with a sore back, and veteran Jrue Holiday had a calf injury that sidelined him for 25 games.<\/p>\n
And then there was the speculation over Dundon\u2019s acquisition of the team. The former majority owner of the NHL\u2019s Carolina Hurricanes struck a deal with the estate of former owner Paul Allen to buy the team before the start of the season.\u00a0The sale became final in March.<\/p>\n
Donovan was arguably the top candidate on the market when the Bulls hired him in September 2020.<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s lone playoff appearance since all three were hired came during the 2021-22 season, when it finished sixth in the Eastern Conference at 46-36 and got knocked out by Milwaukee in the first round. The Bulls lost in the SoFi Play-In Tournament the next three years.<\/p>\n
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.<\/p>\n
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