Billy Donovan says the Chicago Bulls' regular season was disappointing

Donovan feels the Bulls felt short of expectations this season.

Billy Donovan / © Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

After a promising 2021-2022 campaign that saw them finish with a 46-36 record and finish in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, hopes were high for the Chicago Bulls, especially after they added a couple of key veterans in Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic in the offseason. However, the team struggled mightily this regular season, finishing with a 40-42 record and barely sneaking into the Play-in tournament.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan did not mince words in describing what their regular season result was, calling it “disappointing.”

Disappointing campaign

Donovan said he’ll have plenty of time to properly assess the team’s performance during the offseason, but he made it clear that plenty of things didn’t go in their favor. Whether it was Lonzo Ball’s puzzling knee injury to botched or missed calls in the endgame, all played a role in preventing the Bulls from reaching their goal.

“I’ll have time to reflect on the 82,” said Donovan. “But looking at it in totality, the results were disappointing, quite honestly. There were a lot of different variables that played a part of that. We didn’t close games very well. Our consistency has been up and down. We’ve had some crazy plays happen at the end of games where we came up on the losing end.”

Plenty of work to do

Donovan added that with the bad came the good, and they still have a chance at making this season a memorable one—provided they advance past the Play-in tournament, starting with their winner-take-all game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.

“There were some really, really good moments, and some moments that were not so good,” Donovan shared. “You’d like to obviously be in a situation now where you are in the playoffs. But we’ve got to work and find a way to get to that point. So we have work in front of us.”

We're ready.
We're locked in.
It's do or die. @PatBev21 pic.twitter.com/y5HHFs7RiL

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) April 10, 2023