G-League schedule released, and a new head coach for Windy City Bulls

It isn’t just the Chicago Bulls main team that is making moves this offseason, as their G-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, are undergoing some changes too. Earlier this week, the team announced that they have hired former WCB assistant and current Player Development Coach Henry Domercant as their new head coach. The previous head coach, Damian Cotter, joined Billy Donovan’s staff last season after Windy City opted out of the 2020-21 G-League bubble.

Domercant is a Chicago native (a Naperville North and Eastern Illinois graduate) and spent over a decade playing overseas for various teams such as Olympiacos, Dynamo Moscow, and Galatasary. He has been with the Bulls organization since 2018.

Since the G-League 2019-20 season was cut short and they didn’t play last year, this is going to be the first time in nearly two years that the Windy City Bulls will be playing basketball. In their five year history, they have finished above .500 just once, in the 2018-19 season making the playoffs for the only time but losing in the first round. Now with an expanded regular season, the WCB will get even more chances to build a winning G League team.

G-League teams have two chances to earn silverware throughout the year. The first is by winning the G-League Championship while the second is through the Showcase Cup which is in-season tournament. This year, the NBA announced it was not only expanding the numbers of games in the cup but also changed the format of the entire season. Instead of the Showcase Cup being in-season, it will now take place before the regular season starts in late December. As for Windy City, they will be playing 12 cup games, which at the very least will get them warmed up for regular season action.

More important than the standings is the facilitation to develop players in their system. The roster hasn’t been announced yet, but you can bet that Devon Dotson will be featured a ton as he is currently the only signed two-way player. It will be interesting to see how the front office of Brad Seymour and Josh Kreibich approach creating this roster. Surely there has to be some initiative from the parent team to have some young players on the WCB roster who can be developed and potentially be hidden gems who just need a shot to show their skills. Having a strong G-League affiliate is a strong asset for any NBA franchise to have and the Bulls could certainly benefit from that.

The season tips off on November 6th when they face the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on the road.