{"id":2024347,"date":"2026-07-02T23:44:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2024347"},"modified":"2026-07-02T23:44:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:44:35","slug":"spurs-to-hire-billy-donovan-as-lead-assistant-coach-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2024347","title":{"rendered":"Spurs to hire Billy Donovan as lead assistant coach: Source"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The San Antonio Spurs made another offseason addition Thursday, as former Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan has agreed to join Mitch Johnson\u2019s staff, a team source confirmed to The Athletic<\/em>. Donovan will replace Sean Sweeney, who was hired by the Orlando Magic<\/a> as their new head coach. ESPN was the first to report Donovan\u2019s hiring.<\/p>\n

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Rather than taking a year off to enjoy a normal life and serve as a consultant when his Bulls tenure ended, Donovan has elected to dive right back into the coaching life. In April, he stepped down as Bulls coach after six seasons at the helm and was succeeded by former Portland Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a series of thoughtful and extensive discussions with ownership regarding the future of the organization, I have decided to step away as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, to allow the search process to unfold,\u201d Donovan said in a statement announcing his exit from the Bulls in April. \u201cI believe it is in the best interest of the Bulls to allow the new leader to build out the staff as they see fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Donovan was a floor-raiser during his time in Chicago. Even when the team\u2019s talent level was sparse, he developed hardworking rotations that kept the Bulls in the Play-In Tournament until last season. This will be the first time since he coached the Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook Thunder that he will have a chance to raise the ceiling of one of the league\u2019s most talented rosters. Donovan was also a contender for the University of North Carolina job, which went to former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone.<\/p>\n

The Spurs lost the NBA Finals in five games to the New York Knicks last month, revealing a need for more experience managing high-pressure situations. The team\u2019s top players will undoubtedly grow from coming up short, but Donovan will bring a wealth of experience to help the team get there. A big part of Donovan\u2019s departure from Chicago was his desire to compete as the Bulls were turning toward a rebuild. He\u2019ll get the chance to do that in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

The Spurs had a series of departures on their coaching staff this offseason beyond Sweeney. Though the front row of the bench appears to remain intact beyond Sweeney, including Matt Nielsen, Scott King, Mike Noyes and Corliss Williamson, assistant video coordinator Jon Harris is following Sweeney to Orlando, video assistant Jonathan Tchatchoua is returning to his alma mater Baylor, and player development coach Ryan Oliver is joining Pepperdine as an assistant coach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs made another offseason addition Thursday, as former Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan has agreed to join Mitch Johnson\u2019s staff, a team source confirmed to The Athletic. Donovan will replace Sean Sweeney, who was hired by the Orlando Magic as their new head coach. ESPN was the first to report Donovan\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2024347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2024347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2024347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2024347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2024347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}