BOSTON – It would seem like a reboot of the “Odd Couple.”
The upbeat, media-friendly Billy Donovan and the monotone “we’re on to Cincinnati” Bill Belichick.
But it works and it has for some time, evident by the fact that the two were hanging out together in the hallways of the United Center minutes after the Bulls upset Denver on Monday.
Donovan and Belichick actually started their relationship back when Donovan was still coaching at Florida and Belichick was the Patriots head coach.
“He was really gracious with his time with me when I was at Florida,” Donovan said on Wednesday. “We spent a lot of time (together), he spoke to several of our teams. When Florida had their pro day in football it was generally around the SEC tournament, so he was always in for that. But we’ve maintained contact for a long period of time. He had texted me that he was going to be in town (Monday), so he just came by to say hello. He’s been a good friend and someone who has been really gracious with his time.”
The two also shared a rare feat in sports that they discussed often, and that was winning back-to-back championships in their respective professions.
Donovan was asked if Belichick asked for any advice in going from the NFL to now coach in college at University of North Carolina, especially since Donovan went from college to pro. In classic Donovan fashion, however, there was nothing he felt he needed to tell Belichick, especially with the college landscape what it is now.
“He didn’t ask me for any advice,” Donovan said with a smirk. “He’s back in the NFL right now with the way college has the NIL and the money, so I’m sure he knows very well what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.”
Bruised ego
When Coby White was first diagnosed with a bone bruise in his right ankle, he’d been around the league long enough to know that could have meant he was sidelined for days, weeks or months. That’s why he felt fortunate to be back in the starting lineup against Boston on Wednesday, only missing four games.
“I wasn’t concerned but I knew seeing the history of people with bone bruises, you can treat it how you want but it’s just like a thing where it takes time to heal,” White said. “Some people heal faster and for others it doesn’t heal as fast, so for me I was trying to take it day-by-day and stay positive about it. The good thing about me was I saw progression kind of quickly, so that kind of helped a lot.”
According to Donovan, White will stay on a minutes restriction for the time being, limited to 25-28 minutes, and there is some pain management to stay on top of, but White said the hardest part was missing games.
“It was tough, like knowing you can’t go out there and battle,” White added.
Still on the table
Zach LaVine missed the game in Boston and will miss Friday’s game in Toronto for the birth of his third child, but Donovan didn’t want to rule him out for the Sunday afternoon game in Detroit just yet.
What the coach also wasn’t going to do was change the style of play without LaVine, evident by the 24 three-point attempts the Bulls took in the first half against the Celtics.
“For the most part the style is (the same), we’re not going to change too much,” Donovan said. “With him being out there’s not a whole bunch you want to get into in terms of changing things. We have to play the way we have been playing.”