Getty Head coach Billy Donovan and Patrick Beverley #21 of the Chicago Bulls.
For one game at least, all is well for the Chicago Bulls and newly-signed guard Patrick Beverley following their 131-87 victory of the new-look Brooklyn Nets on February 24.
So much so the outspoken Beverley had some explicit praise for his new head coach.
“Billy Donovan got some s***, man,” Beverley said from the Bulls’ locker room after the game in a video posted on Twitter by Darnell Mayberry of the Athletic of his early impressions of the once highly sought-after head coach who has met some trying times with this inconsistent Bulls team, something Beverley is in Chicago to hopefully change.
“He got some s***,” Beverley repeated. “I been saying it since I got here, I been around a lot of coaches, and just his ability to get what he wants – offensively, defensively – from his players is phenomenal.”
The Bulls sit 12th in the Eastern Conference and are 2.5 games out of the Play-In Tournament now with just 22 games to go in the regular season.
Donovan’s ability to maximize his players has come into question, even in the locker room.
“In the third season of Billy Donovan’s tenure, there’s also been increased skepticism within the locker room about the head coach and the coaching staff,” reported Shams Charania of The Athletic following a blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 18. “For Donovan, the challenge of optimizing DeRozan and LaVine together through a balance of execution, accountability and cooperation looms large.”
Chicago went on to win three straight and eight of their next 11 contests after that loss which featured a blowup in the locker room at halftime.
Donovan, who said he considers the locker room the players’ area, now has a mouthpiece.
“I believe communication is the biggest thing to be a human,” Beverley said. In a relationship – marriage, whatever the case may be – [if] there’s no communication, wife’s going to get mad. You got a friend, you feel some type of way. No communication, friend gets mad. So, it’s the same thing with basketball…Communication helps get organized, helps you stay together. So, it comes natural.”
The Bulls Needed Guidance
It should be refreshing to fans to hear the discourse around leadership from the players on this team. The most forthright example is veteran Goran Dragic who said in no uncertain terms that there was a lack of direction from the point guard spot in the starting lineup.
“I do think the starting unit needs a point guard, that’s for sure,” said Dragic ahead of a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
But it’s not just Dragic, whose minutes have waned throughout the season.
Two-time All-Star Zach LaVine also revealed that he had wanted Beverley on the Bulls for the last couple of years, believing the veteran could fill the vocal leadership role left by Thaddeus Young who was traded to the San Antonio Spurs for DeMar DeRozan with whom LaVine has had on-court friction mostly due to the lack of a guiding force at lead guard.
“When you got a guy like Pat Beverley on the team, the intensity that he come with the first second that he came with, the energy that he bring, you got to follow behind that,” DeRozan said, via Mayberry. “Holds everybody accountable and going to compete at a high level. When you see a teammate with that mentality, you got to follow behind it”
Patrick Beverley Doing What Works for the Bulls
Beverley had eight points, five rebounds, and four assists. The honeymoon period could very well extend beyond the team’s wins and losses with the competitive edge that he plays with. But the most important thing could be that he isn’t the grating personality he is often portrayed to be, at least not for his team.
Billy Donovan on Patrick Beverley’s impact
He’s also staying in the moment.
“I just tried to make the game easy for Zach,” Beverley said asserting that he isn’t in Chicago to put up monster offensive numbers. “Make sure he didn’t have to do a ton of dribbling. And make sure DeMar caught it in his spots. And we were fortunate to do that today.”