No matter which way you slice it, Billy Donovan is the perfect coaching hire for the Chicago Bulls.

The Bulls officially hired Donovan to replace Jim Boylen on Tuesday, two weeks after the 55-year-old mutually parted ways with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Donovan brings a wealth of coaching experience to the table. He has patrolled the sidelines for teams that were made up of young players, stars on a contending team, and surprised with a roster practically plopped together.

Donovan coached Florida University from 1996-2015. In his time in the Sunshine State, Donovan won back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. He also coached a bevy of players who went on to have successful NBA careers, including Bradley Beal, Udonis Haslem, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, David Lee, Mike Miller, Chandler Parsons, and Corey Brewer.

In such a role, a coaching staff is tasked with getting young players on the right track and jelling as a team. This falls in the player development category, which the Bulls need assistance in.

From a pure talent and production standpoint, Chicago has a shiny young core: Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Coby White, and Wendell Carter Jr. Plus, they have the fourth pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Coby White, Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Bulls

Despite the aforementioned players, as well as a handful of savvy veterans, the Bulls went 22-43 this season and were 27th in the NBA in points per game (106.8). Boylen was unable to get them to succeed as a collective unit.

They should be better than this.

Now, if the Bulls wanted to go all in on player development and stay the course on an arduous rebuild, hiring someone like Kenny Atkinson would've made sense. Atkinson helped develop a handful of young players into reputable contributors with the Brooklyn Nets and made them attractive to superstars in free agency. That said, Billy Donovan has the combination of coaching both raw talent and playoff units on his resume.

In his first season with the Thunder (2015-16), they went to the Western Conference Finals and took the 73-win Golden State Warriors to seven games, though they did blow a 3-1 lead. That team featured the notorious Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook duo.

After Durant left, Donovan was at the helm for Westbrook's historic MVP campaign. Then came the acquisitions of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, forcing Donovan to make big adjustments again in 2017-18.

Yes, it didn't work out, as the Thunder were kicked out of the playoffs in the first round that season and the one that followed. That up-and-down run in Oklahoma City gave Donovan critical experience coaching several top-tier players and coaching in the playoffs.

Speaking of such, let's look back at the 2019-20 Thunder.

They lost a grueling seven-game series to the Houston Rockets, which came down to the closing seconds. At the same time, consider the road to that precise moment.

Last summer, general manager Sam Presti traded both Westbrook and George, presumably paving the way for a potential rebuild. Instead, the Thunder stuck with the veterans they received in those trades (Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari) and defied the odds.

Thunder, Chris Paul, Billy Donovan

The Thunder went 44-28, earning the fifth seed in the Western Conference, and Billy Donovan got the most out of just about every player on his depth chart. Paul was a fringe MVP candidate; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took the next step in his sophomore season; Gallinari averaged 18.7 points per game; Steven Adams was his rim-protecting self; Dennis Schroder nearly won Sixth Man of the Year; Darius Bazley, Hamidou Diallo, and Luguentz Dort flashed potential.

The Bulls haven't made the playoffs since the 2016-17 season and haven't escaped the first round since the 2014-15 season. At some point, a team's ownership and upper management is going to say “enough” and make big-boy moves to get back in the dance. The fact that we're talking about one of the most storied franchises in professional sports adds fuel to the fire.

The Bulls have a capable floor general, an electric scorer, a big man who plays inside and out, a big man with upside, and they play in an Eastern Conference where teams in their vicinity are looking and thinking like them.

Teams like the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, New York Knicks, and Cleveland Cavaliers have a grouping of youngsters and draft picks that give them reason to think the 2020-21 season could be their time to make the playoff jump. The Bulls are no different. Furthermore, they have the most proven core of the bunch.

At all stages of his coaching career, Donovan has worked with premier guards. LaVine and White are arguably the two most compelling players on the Bulls; they're Donovan's next projects.

This roster has continuity. A third head coach in three years isn't exactly ideal, but Donovan's arrival signals the end of coaching instability. If the Bulls turn the corner and climb up the East, their head coach has history adapting to prominent players and attitudes. He's a balance of player development and playing to win now.

From all angles, Billy Donovan is the suitable hire for the Chicago Bulls.