The Bulls clarified their structure. Their direction is still a question.

Donovan stepping away clarified the structure. What it didn’t clarify is whether the Bulls are ready to embrace the kind of direction that structure is supposed to support.

Billy Donovan as Chicago Bulls head coach March 16, 2026 (John L. Alexander/The Bigs)

For days, the Chicago Bulls tried to hold two ideas at once.

That Billy Donovan should remain as head coach. 

And that the next head of basketball operations should have full authority to shape the organization.

In the end, they chose one.

Donovan’s decision to step away doesn’t just remove a respected coach from the sideline. It clarifies something the Bulls had not fully defined in the days following the dismissal of Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley: what this next phase is supposed to look like.

In the immediate aftermath of those firings, Michael Reinsdorf outlined the qualities the organization wanted in its next lead executive. At the same time, he made it clear the Bulls wanted Donovan to remain.

Pairing those two ideas — a new leader with full authority, and a returning head coach who already carried influence — created a tension the Bulls never fully addressed.

Until now.

By stepping away, Donovan resolved it for them. The Bulls can now offer a clean structure. A new head of basketball operations with the ability to define not just the roster, but the coaching staff and the direction of the organization as a whole.

That clarity matters.

It’s also what remained unresolved when asked how success will be defined moving forward.

Reinsdorf pointed to wins and losses. The rest of the answer — the part about specific benchmarks — never fully materialized.

Wins and losses are the outcome,. They don’t define the structure that’s supposed to produce them. They don’t explain what progress looks like along the way, or how it’s measured before results arrive.

For the past several seasons, that gap has defined the Bulls as much as anything else.

A lack of imagination. And a lack of alignment. Between vision and execution. Between messaging and action. Between what the organization said it was building and what it consistently prioritized.

That disconnect didn’t come into focus because of what the Bulls did. 

It came into focus when something around them forced it.

The situation with Jaden Ivey didn’t create the gap. It exposed it. Just as Donovan’s decision to step away clarified the structure the organization had been trying to define.

In both cases, the moment wasn’t about the individual. It was about what those moments forced into view.

Donovan wasn’t the cause of that. But his presence, and the organization’s desire to retain him, was part of the structure any new hire would have had to navigate.

Now, that structure is simpler. 

But what comes next will depend on more than structure alone.

Reinsdorf made it clear what he wants this next phase to look like.

A leader with a plan. Someone who sticks to it. Someone capable of building something sustainable without bottoming out for years.

That vision is understandable. 

It’s also where the tension begins. 

Because the path most teams take to build something sustainable often runs through discomfort. Through short-term losses. Through the kind of flexibility that comes from prioritizing long-term outcomes over immediate competitiveness.

The Bulls have consistently resisted that. Not just in action, but in philosophy.

They’ve preferred to remain competitive while evaluating, to build without fully stepping back, to search for direction without fully committing to the process that typically produces it.

That instinct showed up again in how they approached Donovan.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Bulls were willing to offer Donovan essentially whatever he wanted to stay — years, structure, even a broader role within the organization.

That level of commitment speaks to how much they value stability.

It also shows how difficult it has been for the organization to fully separate from it.

Even in a moment that called for reset, the instinct was to preserve what they knew.

And that’s where the question shifts.

Because this isn’t just about structure. 

Or even coaching. 

It’s about how the Bulls intend to acquire the one thing they’ve lacked throughout this entire stretch.

Star power.

For all the discussion of process, communication, and alignment, the reality is simpler.

Teams don’t move forward without it.

And the Bulls, as currently constructed, don’t have a clear path to finding it.

Not in free agency, where they’ve historically struggled to attract top-tier talent. 

Not via trade, where their asset base remains limited. 

And not through the draft, where maximizing odds has never been a priority.

Which brings the conversation back to what Reinsdorf outlined.

A plan. A direction. A sustainable build.

Those ideas only carry weight if they’re paired with a willingness to pursue them fully. Not selectively.

Donovan stepping away clarified the structure.

What it didn’t clarify is whether the Bulls are ready to embrace the kind of direction that structure is supposed to support.

Because defining success is one thing. Building a path to it is another.

And that’s the part the Bulls still haven’t defined.