Bulls' Billy Donovan not surprised by Celtics' success

Ahead of tonight's game against the Celtics, Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan was asked if he was surprised by Boston's success this year after losing Tatum, Holiday and Porzingis. Here's what he said:

"I was a little bit surprised in the preseason at where a lot of people picked them. I did not feel that way. When you watch film and you watch tape on them, I don't know if Pritchard and Derrick White and some of these guys get enough respect for how good they are as players."

"I made the comment, I think when we were in Boston, Brown's been playing at an incredible level. He's been at almost an MVP level. So you have him there, and they have hard-playing, high-IQ basketball players. And then they have a lot of championship DNA that's still a part of that team. Hauser has been a really important guy on their team. White is incredibly versatile. Same thing with Pritchard, Brown. They've gotten great productivity at the center spot with Garza coming off the bench, Queta has been really good. They've added some guys that are tough and physical and high-IQ players."

"The core of those guys, when you watch them on film, I have great respect for the way they play the game and the way they physically compete, and just their IQ all the way around. These guys have made deep, deep playoff runs, not just one year. They've done it for a long time. So I didn't think that there would be this huge drop-off, in my opinion. Are they a better team with Tatum? Absolutely, there's no question about that. But I thought they were going to be a very, very good team. How good or where they finish, I don't know, but I thought they were going to be very good."