The Chicago Bulls are casting a wide net in their coaching search — and they're actually doing it, not just bragging about it. With a formalized front office under Bryson Graham and a No. 4 pick locked in for June, the stakes couldn't be higher for whoever gets the job.

So who has the best fit? Here's how I ranked all 10 reported candidates.

The hardest to get is always the best one — and Sweeney tells you why.

Sweeney is potentially the hottest name in Chicago's coaching search, currently serving as one of the most important assistants on Mitch Johnson's Spurs staff as San Antonio makes a deep playoff run against the defending champion OKC Thunder. With the team cashing out a long-term rebuild and becoming a better contender in the West, the Spurs may not grant interview permission easily.

But what separates Sweeney is an elite defensive identity he's carried from stop to stop, including Milwaukee, Dallas and now San Antonio, where he demonstrated his elite defensive approach. He also carries a playoff pedigree: a Western Conference Finals in 2022 and an NBA Finals appearance in 2024 with the Mavericks under Jason Kidd. For a Bulls team that has been defensively inconsistent for years, his arrival would represent an immediate cultural reset.

Splitter doesn't have a long or flashy coaching resume. However, he doesn't need one — his one interim season in Portland is already convincing.

After Chauncey Billups was placed on immediate leave following an arrest tied to an illegal gambling investigation, Splitter inherited a young, overhauled roster at the beginning of the season and guided the Trail Blazers to seventh in the Western Conference without Damian Lillard. The composure he showed under genuine organizational chaos is exactly the kind of leadership that translates. Multiple teams are pursuing him for good reason.

The competition might be fierce as the Brazilian is still under contract with Portland, which endeavored to keep him.

Comparing to the aforementioned two, Nori's credibility is built differently.

He broke into coaching with the Toronto Raptors in 2009, moved to Sacramento, then joined Mike Malone's staff in Denver, where he was part of the infrastructure that shaped Nikola Jokic's early development. He later reunited with Chris Finch in Minnesota. When Finch suffered a patellar tendon injury during the 2024 playoffs, Nori stepped into the interim role and guided the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals.

His closeness with star players like Jokic and Anthony Edwards in Minnesota translates directly to a Bulls team with Josh Giddey and ascending talents around.

If the Bulls truly want to replicate the Thunder's model — considering Graham hired former OKC director of amateur scouting Acie Law as VP of Player Personnel — then Bliss is the most logical coaching extension of that philosophy.

As a potential dark horse on this list, Bliss has worked two separate stints in Oklahoma City spanning over a decade, rising from video room to player development to the front of the bench under Mark Daigneault. He has coached everyone in periods with Kevin Durant to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and is directly responsible for maintaining the Thunder's champion-caliber form. If Graham wants Thunder DNA on the sideline, Bliss is the purest selection of that.

If the Bulls need a reinvention in team culture, Quinn should be highly considered.

The long-time Miami Heat assistant is the gold standard of continuity and infrastructure, having spent over a decade climbing from player development to associate head coach in Miami.

Simultaneously, he represents the perfect mix of player and coach, who has a seven-year NBA playing career and an elite coaching pedigree under Erik Spoelstra. Hiring Quinn is essentially downloading the blueprint to "Heat Culture" — a hustle-encouraged and development-first identity that emphasizes overlooked talent and sustaining a desire to win.

On his calling card, Borrego stood out with his modern offensive mindset.

He constructed a top-ten offense in Charlotte and was instrumental in developing LaMelo Ball into a Rookie of the Year and All-Star. His work unlocking Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris earlier in his career shows a consistent ability to maximize players — something Josh Giddey and the Bulls' young core desperately need. The pace-and-space philosophy he runs also aligns naturally with what Billy Donovan built in Chicago.

But the caveat is real. Defense has historically been a concern wherever Borrego has coached, and the Bulls can't afford to solve one problem by creating another.

Bryant has earned every inch of his "player development guru" reputation. Six years mentoring Donovan Mitchell in Utah, four years reshaping culture under Thibodeau in New York, and this month helping guide Cleveland to the Eastern Conference Finals alongside Mitchell again. He was a finalist for the Suns' head coaching job in 2025, indicating that the league has already recognized his readiness.

Skeeter is a high-upside swing for a franchise committed to youth development. He ground his way from video intern in Atlanta to a decade under Quin Snyder and Will Hardy in Utah, where he had a hand in turning Lauri Markkanen into an All-Star and accelerating the growth of Keyonte George and Brandon Miller. Now Charles Lee's top assistant in Charlotte, he's quieter than most names on this list but no less capable.

Unseld brings genuine defensive credibility, who helped transform Denver's defense from 28th in the league in 2017-18 to 10th the following season, and was credited with developing Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr at the time. Of course, as a current Bulls assistant, the internal familiarity with the Bulls organization is a real asset.

Stackhouse's 18-year playing career gives him a respectable floor. A resume with a G League championship with Raptors 905 and SEC Coach of the Year at Vanderbilt in 2023 shows that he can leap as a first-time head coach. But compared to a plethora of experts on this list, Stackhouse feels like the least urgent fit on this list.

If Graham's goal is to inject a fresh, modern basketball mind into the building, a long-tenured former player with limited NBA coaching experience isn't a legitimate move.