• sport

• NBA

Danny Abdia's Race to the Top

She just wants to dance: Will Danny Abdia help Chicago get back to its heyday?

After years of being a joke, the previous season - including the impact of "The Last Dance" - caused the Bulls' owners to shake up the system.

Now, with a new coach and management, they hold the fourth pick in the draft - and are mentioned as one of the candidates to absorb Abdia, whom a local journalist defines as "the best player in the cycle"

Tags

• Danny Abdia

• Chicago Bulls

Eran Soroka

Friday, September 25, 2020, 4:00 p.m.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments

• Summary: Manchester United - Crystal Palace 3: 1

• Maccabi Tel Aviv players

• Amir Turgeman, coach of Hapoel Kfar Saba

• Summary: Rostov - Maccabi Haifa 2: 1

• Summary: Hapoel Beer Sheva - Motherwell 0: 3

• Ante Zizic, Maccabi Tel Aviv

• Summary: Bayern Munich - Schalke 0: 8

• Hapoel Tel Aviv fans are protesting against the management

Danny Abdia is training in Atlanta ahead of the draft (Danny Abdia's Twitter account)

The Bulls did not have a single representative among the 24 All-Star players.

Instead of celebrating, Daniel Greenberg recalled, "Everyone just laughed at the Bulls. For years they have been the league's joke, considered one of the oldest organizations."

In one home game, last November, something at Jerry Rainsdorf broke down.

Daniel Greenberg doesn't even remember if it was a home defeat to Houston on the 10th of the month, a home loss to Brooklyn on the 17th of the month, maybe a loss to Miami on the 23rd of the month - by the way, you must have noticed a common denominator for the three games.

He just remembers it was a home game over the weekend, and that he felt something out of place with the mythical Chicago Bulls chairman.

"Usually, in every home game all the tickets are sold," says Walla!

Sports Greenberg, a sports journalist from Chicago, "And in the same game I was in, there were so many empty seats - even the opponent was not bad. Even some of the fans who did come mostly shouted 'fire Foreman'. See on Reinsdorf that he understands it is impossible to continue like this. "That month, by the way, the Lakers came to Chicago, and it felt like an away game. The management was not really happy about that."

Rainsdorf, regardless of Miri Mesika, remembers November.

This was just the beginning.

After November came February.

In February the Bulls hosted the All-Star Game.

Usually, an opportunity to turn a positive spotlight on the host city and its basketball heritage.

So on the face of it, this was supposed to be a celebration in the Wind City.

Even Anthony Davis, who grew up in Chicago, gave a glimmer of hope when he left the door open for a possible rehearsal, in the panel he attended.

But the Bulls did not have a single representative among the 24 players in the main star game.

Instead of celebrating, Greenberg recalls, "everyone just laughed at the Bulls. For years they have been the league's joke, considered one of the most outdated organizations."

February went by, March came with the Corona break, and another disappointing season ended - it will become clear when the bubble plan is announced - for Chicago.

In the last three seasons they have won less than a third of their games, and since the departure of Jimmy Butler have also not reached the playoffs.

It is true that there are a total of three seasons, but here it is neither Charlotte nor Sacramento in which it is possible to live a decade without a playoff and no one at the national level will shed a tear.

It is a huge city with a basketball team carrying on its back a mountain of tradition.

And when April came, the Chicago Bulls were back to being the team that all of America is talking about, and Jerry Rainsdorf - thanks to one documentary series - once again felt what it was like to be in the top.

More on Walla!

NEWS

"You are no longer a man": This is how it feels to play for the first time in the NBA

To the full article

"The Last Dance" reminded him: You can't continue to be a joke.

Jerry Rainsdorf (Photo: GettyImages)

With all due respect, and she has respect

"With these appointments, the Bulls went back to being a respectable club," Greenberg says. "The previous management was very old-school, they tried to adapt, but it was not. Under the new government, there is already a coach who was a player and knows how to communicate with players. Bringing receipts and credibility, something the Bulls have been lacking in recent years

"The Last Dance" was supposed to hit the screens in June after the final series, but, you know what happened.

In mid-April, in the absence of any other real sport, the documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Bulls of the 90s, which only won Emmy this week, exploded on screens around the world.

Tens of millions are estimated to have watched the phenomenon, and nowhere in America has it had a higher rating than in the state of Illinois.

A week before the premiere, Rainsdorf responded to fans' requests from November (and every other month, more or less, in recent years), and fired general manager Gar Forman, who was replaced by the esteemed professional from Denver, the legendary former player who played for Barcelona in 1992 against Jordan: Arthuras Karnishovas.

"There's always pressure on the Bulls' management," Greenberg explains, "this is the Chicago Bulls. But the series increased the pressure. The people in Chicago wanted that atmosphere again, they wanted the Bulls to be relevant again."

Given the interest shown by the Bulls (although the management, as I recall, changed) in Danny Abdia during the season, it may be that the Israeli will be given some of the responsibility to return the crown to its former glory.

After watching episodes 3-4, the agitated Carnishovas finally decided who would be the new general manager to work under him: Mark Everley, with a past in Philadelphia and Nike management among others, became the first black in the Bulls' managerial role.

"I was so emotional watching the series that I thought to myself - why wait until Monday? See if he's awake," Karnishovas told ESPN about the emotions that filled him at one in the morning.

It is not clear if the Lithuanian wrote "awake?"

And if Everley answered with a smiley wink, but the Bulls had a new manager born, who was announced on May 1st.

It wasn't long before coach Jim Boylen was also instructed to start packing.

"Boyle has been widely criticized for trying to instill a blue-collar toughness and mentality in the bunch of players who were there, and I don't think that's fair," said Brian Oringer, an NBA scout for seven years and now running the account "Scouting with Bryan." "It was a super-young team. Without any idea how to win. "

This week, a new coach, Billy Donovan, was added to the package, who will reportedly earn $ 24 million for the next four seasons.

Donovan left Oklahoma City just about a month ago, precisely after leading it much further than in the most optimistic forecasts.

At the start of the season they were given a 2% chance of reaching the playoffs;

In the end, they were one move away from one regional semi-final move.

Only that with Chris Paul on a heavy contract towards the end of his career, and a pile of resources and draft picks for the coming years, the management decided to change direction.

For Donovan it is less the cells.

"He agreed to small changes," says Sarah DuBry, editor of the Welcome to loud city website that covers the Thunder, "but the Thunder wanted to start dismantling and moving cargo to other places, or in other words, a big change."

"With these appointments, the Bulls went back to being a respectable club," Greenberg says. "The previous management was very old-school, they tried to adapt, but it was not. Under the new government, there is already a coach who was a player and knows how to communicate with players. We bring receipts and credibility, something that the Bulls have been missing in recent years. "

Oringer adds: "Boylan has developed some players who can serve as rotation players in the league. I hope they have learned to keep and play strong, these are habits that will help them with Billy."

More on Walla!

NEWS

Draft in the dark: How will the postponement of the draft affect Danny Abdia and Yam Madar?

To the full article

More on Walla!

NEWS

• Also Charlotte following Danny Abdia?

  "Can evolve into a kind of Detlef Shrampf"

• "Danny Abdia Can Become a Golden State Face in the Age After Kerry, Thompson and Green"

• "Danny Abdia is the best player in the draft, he should be selected first"

• The next wave of masks: more comfortable, beautiful and protective - at a special discount for Walla!

Unlike his predecessor in the role, he knows how to both demand from the players and connect with them.

Billy Donovan (Photo: AP)

Someone run for him through a brick wall

"Donovan is relatively relaxed, and that's how he gets people to approach him, to listen to him, to draw ideas from him. The young people really liked it. There's a reason he was a successful college coach."

One of the reasons why there has been concern that Danny Abdia will be coming to the New York Knicks is coach Tom Thibodeau, who is known as one who wears his players to the core in grueling training.

So even for Donovan, it turns out, there is no shortage of people who will give horror stories.

"There's no coach I worked for as hard as Donovan, and I's moved to Thibbs as well," slingshot Doug McDermott told Sam Smith, the same Sam Smith from "The Last Dance," on NBA.com.

"Billy arrives at the hall at 5:30 in the morning. He stays up late at night. He's all a basketball man."

Greenberg adds: "He is a coach for whom players are willing to run through a brick wall."

The authority and love of these players, Diobri testifies, Donovan does not necessarily achieve through Taschim. "He can easily make connections with the players, especially the young ones.

For example, Stephen Adams, who is a calm and relaxed guy who likes to fool around, used to be interviewed barefoot.

I do not remember it happening to Scott Brooks, the previous coach.

Donovan is also relatively relaxed, and so he makes people approach him, listen to him, draw ideas from him.

The young people really liked it.

There's a reason he was a successful college coach. "

Donovan led the University of Florida to great accomplishments, playing in one of his peak seasons as a high-profile duo who went on to make impressive NBA careers - Joakim Noah and Al Horford. Noah, who was already out of the league and returning for a few guest appearances , more likely to return to the Bulls, the team which flower at the beginning of the last decade, to be a mentor in the locker room or professional team. For Horford ... in fact, soon will come to that.

after college, Donovan moved to the professionals and came to Oklahoma City to try and take out the championship last season's Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Thunder Donovan made life a playoff in 2016 defending champions, Golden State, and led it 1-3. Warriors have made a revolution and make the final cut, and the next time Donovan came to pass training in Oklahoma City, Durant was player of Hooriirs.

even without Durant, The Westbrook-led Thunder continued to reach the playoffs every year.This season, when Westbrook was sent to Houston for Chris Paul and plenty of picks, the streak seemed to end.Thanks to veteran Paul, and youngsters who developed great like Shay Gilges Alexander and Loganz Dort, there is still a taste of more Just that when the clock

Showed midnight, the Thunder began to take an interest in bulldozers and tractors for reconstruction.

Donovan, despite being selected by his colleagues as one of the coaches of the season, decided to leave, becoming one of the most sought after coaches in the market.

Philadelphia and Indiana, two playoff teams, were mentioned as options.

So why did he go to Chicago?

"I do not quite understand - in Oklahoma City he did not want to be part of a reconstruction, and then he goes to Chicago, which also needs a faculty revolution?" Oringer wonders.

"In Chicago he didn't come to a regular 'rebuild'," Greenberg explains, "he came to put the Chicago Bulls back on the map."

And my spokeswoman points out: "He'll have to take Zack Lavin one step further."

More on Walla!

NEWS

Luca Effect: Do Doncic's appearances raise Danny Abdia's stock?

To the full article

It's time to dump her and move on.

Zac Lavin (Photo: AP)

Sorry, can I move the car?

"In Abdia's opinion, the best player in the draft," says Greenberg, "he is a very underrated defender, his delivery ability is very much in line with what the Bulls are looking for."

The current staff of the Bulls, how to say, is not really reminiscent of the glory days.

Yes, they have a shooting guard scorer that flies to the skies, but this is about where the points for comparison between the GOAT and Zack Lavin end.

"Zack has not proven he can be No. 1, Laurie Markanen has lost his confidence," said Oringer, adding that "Dabin will move to a sixth coach in seven years. It will be fun to see the Bulls develop with Donovan. They have had quite a bit last season. Games in which the attack was good, and then got stuck and became too predictable, and then everything fell on Lavin. "

Greenberg testifies that a facelift is certainly in the plans of Karnishovas, Aversley and Donovan.

"I think in two years, more or less, there will not be much left of the current staff," says the local journalist.

"Management does not think the current staff is good enough. They are waiting for the free market of 2021. Zack will probably stay, at least in the near term. Uri suffered a lot, but his agent is very close to Arthuras. Kobe White had a lot of potential and people were excited about him, and there is Wendell Carter C. "And when he came out of the draft, they compared him to Al Horford. Donovan might want to make him a player like that."

Last season, with the help of the fast puller White and a few other improvements, the Bulls began to advance to the basketball of the 1920s - more pace, more threes.

At least the interest in the pace is expected to be maintained by Billy, according to Greenberg.

"This is a young team, there is no reason for the players to get tired. I see them running and throwing threes, not building on standing attacks. Donovan is a very defensive coach, but on the offensive side the Thunder saw quite a bit of creativity in the last minutes."

Abdia, Greenberg - with a family in Israel - knows well.

He has a subscription to the Winner League games and he has also seen him in person in recent years.

"In my opinion he is the best player in the draft," says Greenberg, "he is very underrated, his delivery ability is very suitable for what the Bulls are looking for. The only problem is that I do not know how he will fit when Otto Porter, who will probably exercise the $ 28 million option next season. I'm not supposed to see Porter go down to the bench for a loss. But it depends on how the draft progresses. Will come here. "

More on Walla!

NEWS

Going Crazy About Danny: Why is the NBA so excited about Danny Abdia?

To the full article

Will the stars get along for him in the Bulls?

Abdia (Photo: Danny Maron)

As part of the new rule, the Bulls appointed - less than a day after Donovan - a new international scout.

Vania Chernivtsi, a Slovenian who managed NBA operations from the league's offices in Madrid, and among other things was a partner in the organization of "Basketball Without Borders" camps - in one of them, held in Israel, she collaborated with Matan Siman-Tov, Abdia's agent.

Is there a hint of the future here?

Not sure.

What is certain is that Kranjubas, a Lithuanian who comes from Denver's very successful system, which is based on a Serbian-Canadian duo, recognizes the value of international players.

“Denver’s success has whetted the appetite for fans here,” Greenberg notes.

Donovan, for his part, coached Danilo Glinari in Oklahoma City, a player who was compared - and it is not clear why, given the completely different style of play - to Abdia.

And maybe now, with the option to pick another international player, Donovan will find a new cornerstone for the power he wants to build in Chicago.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments