The Chicago Bulls are hiring Tiago Splitter as their next head coach, per ESPN. Splitter, who spent last season as the Portland Trail Blazers’ interim coach, fills the vacancy left by Billy Donovan, who stepped down at the end of the season.
In his lone season coaching the Blazers, Splitter led the team to a 42-39 season and its first playoff appearance since 2021. While that ended in a first-round exit at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs, the Blazers showed major improvement after four consecutive losing seasons.
Splitter will now be asked to do the same in Chicago, where the Bulls cleaned house in their front office as well, after another disappointing season. Now, though, armed with the No. 4 and No. 15 picks in next week’s draft, the Bulls are turning the page and hope that Splitter can lead a young Chicago team in the right direction.
The Bulls had four finalists for the coaching vacancy, including Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, Hawks assistant Ryan Schmidt and Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr. However, Splitter won the job, and his history working as a player development coach with the Nets and Rockets should serve the Bulls well. Chicago has struggled to develop players in recent years, or given up on them entirely, like Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, two quality guards who were traded at February’s deadline only to make an immediate impact on the Wolves and Hornets, respectively.
White and Dosunmu were the two lone success stories of the Bulls’ recent draft picks, while guys like Patrick Williams and Dalen Terry have been disappointments as former first-round draft picks. Noa Essengue might also fall into that category, after the Bulls drafted him with the 12th overall pick in the 2025 Draft, only for him to play in just two games before being sent down to the G League and then undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. Perhaps a change in the front office and coaching staff will get Essengue’s development back on track next season.
But looking ahead beyond who’s currently on the Bulls roster, Splitter will have his hands on the early development of whoever the Bulls take in next week’s draft. CBS Sports expert Gary Parrish most recently projected them to select North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson with the No. 4 pick, a 6-foot-9 prospect who has insane athleticism, but has the most unrefined game among the projected top four players in the draft. But the Bulls will take the best player available at that point, and for a team in desperate need of a talent influx, someone like Wilson can only help them.
While it probably doesn’t feel like it right now for Bulls fans, this team is headed in the right direction after years of waiting too long to hit the reset button. Between a new front office and coach and two lottery picks, the Bulls are finally ready to build organically instead of chasing veteran stars that don’t quite fit seamlessly. The hope is that Splitter can be the conductor leading all of this.