The Bulls coming off a sub-.500 season and a knockout in the play-in tournament certainly could use a player like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Klay Thompson or Domantas Sabonis.
All of whom were selected with the No. 11 pick in the NBA draft.
Which is what the Bulls have for now, and probably still will during the new two-day June 26-27 NBA Draft in Brooklyn. Though that could change 2 PM CT on Sunday at McCormick Place when the NBA conducts its annual Draft Lottery. Rookie Julian Phillips will represent the Bulls on stage. The teams with the three worst regular season records will each have a 14 percent chance of winning the lottery.
Those teams this year are Detroit (again), Washington and Charlotte. The cursed Pistons last year also had the worst record, but fell the maximum four places to fifth in the lottery. The Spurs jumped from third—the same as they did in 1997 to land Tim Duncan—to first to get the right to select Victor Wembanyama.
The largest jump to No. 1 was in 1993 when Orlando moved from No. 11 to No. 1 the year after they got Shaquille O’Neal in the lottery and draft. Orlando in 1993 selected Chris Webber and immediately traded him for the rights to Anferenee Hardaway and future No 1 picks. It was the beginning of the greatest dynasty that never occurred because of injuries, free agency and the return of Michael Jordan. The two moves from No. 9 to No. 1 were the Bulls with Derrick Rose in 2008 and the Cavaliers in 2014. Andrew Wiggins was the No. 1 pick, but when LeBron James accounted a return to Cleveland the Cavaliers traded the pick for Kevin Love. The Charlotte Hornets had No. 13 in 1999 and moved to No. 3.
The Bulls have a two percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick and about a nine percent chance to move into the top four. This is not so much the weak draft that many have suggested, but it is one essentially without a standout and certain No. 1 selection. Like last year with Wembanyama or in 2008 when the Bulls selected Rose. Being able to draft a franchise player like the Cavaliers did with James in 2003 or the Minnesota Timberwolves with Anthony Edwards in 2020 can assure a team returning to a title contending timeline.
This is not that draft... with an array of athletic, young and many European prospects generally considered among the top picks in the draft.
If there is a consensus No. 1 pick in a draft perhaps the most uncertain since Anthony Bennett went first in 2013, it’s probably Alex Sarr, a 19-year-old skinny seven footer from France (sound familiar) who needs to develop. Three of the others mostly mentioned in the top five to eight in this draft include 6-6 Nikola Topić from Serbia, 6-11 Matas Buzelis from Lithuania and 6-9 Zaccharie Risacher from France. Having seen little of them is hardly reason to exclude any since NBA Most Valuable Players lately often come from overseas with the likes of Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo. And Dirk got one, also.
But they are, for now, project players. And it doesn’t seem like the Bulls are going that route. Nor probably should they. They need some ready-to-play draft selections, and if it were me, and even if the Bulls moved into the top four, I’d be interested in 6-6 Tennessee shooting guard Dalton Knecht.
This is such an uncertain draft that some of these early projections have him top five and others down in the 10 to 15 range. He’s a pure shooter and maybe not the greatest athlete, but good enough. The history of these draft lists of so called “best player available” are, let’s say, perhaps somewhat disingenuous. Because every draft redone five years later has maybe five lottery picks still in the top 14. So how can basically everyone have virtually similar identifications of the best players—and then select that “talent” in order—and then just a few years later there are eight guys in the top 15 who weren’t there on draft night?
Knecht may never connect or project as a star, but he meets the Bulls biggest need for shooting. He’s got good size and is a tough shot maker. He’s 23, which discourages many scouts on the notion he’s close to his ceiling. I say good because he’s ready to play in the NBA.
Another player like that at least seemingly ready to play if not a star projection is 7-2 Connecticut center Donovan Clingan. He’s a tough big guy. He may not have much offensive potential, but he moves well and would be good insurance and an eventual replacement for Nikola Vučević. Most early projections have him somewhere between No's. 5 and 15.
Then there’s a bunch of guards who have some possibilities, if not exactly. Like Connecticut’s Stephon Castle, whose shot isn’t great, and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard, whose shot is but he is smallish. And Kentucky’s Robert Dillingham, who also isn’t the biggest. And I guess we see why they were down on with John Calipari with all that talent.
So if the Bulls get lucky with the ping pong balls and move into the top four, they’ll have some big decisions to make. Ready to play? Hope he becomes a star?
If the Bulls remain at No. 11, history with the likes of Gilgeous-Alexander and Thompson shows you can hit big. Though recent history isn’t so promising.
The Bulls had No. 11 last year and it went to the Orlando Magic from the Vučević trade. Orlando selected Jett Howard, who rarely played this season. The No. 11 selections the previous two years were Ousmane Dieng, who doesn’t play for Oklahoma City, and James Bouknight, who doesn’t play for Charlotte. Though some of the previous No. 11 selections have included NBA stars or reliable regulars like Malik Monk, Myles Turner, Reggie Miller, Allan Houston, Derek Harper, Nick Anderson, Fat Lever, Kiki Vandeweghe and Robert Horry.
The Bulls, however, have generally not done so well when they had the No. 11 selection in the draft.
Perhaps their best was Will Perdue in 1988. The current Bulls TV analyst was a competent, hard working backup center on multiple title teams, but he perhaps contributed most when he was traded for Dennis Rodman in 1995. The Bulls in 2014 traded up with two lower No. 1 selections to No. 11 to select Doug McDermott. The Denver Nuggets used those selections for Gary Harris and their center of the future, Jusuf Nurkić at No. 16. Then at No. 41 in that draft the Nuggets took a flier on another European center, Nikola Jokić.
The Bulls did well in the 1985 draft, sort of, at No. 11 when they selected power forward Keith Lee. Then immediately traded him on draft night for No. 9 selection power forward Charles Oakley.
In the 1970s, the Bulls were having financial problems and lost most of their top draft picks to the ABA, including 1972 No. 11 pick Ralph Simpson from Michigan State, who became a five-time ABA All-Star. The Bulls had the No. 11 selection in 1970 and selected Jimmy Collins, who went on to a brilliant coaching career at the University of Illinois and Illinois/Chicago. But he was an NBA bust and subject of a famous Dick Motta story as then coach Motta was lobbying in that draft for a small New York guard who went in the second round (No. 19), Nate “Tiny” Archibald. Motta for years afterward would introduce then Bulls scout Jerry Krause as, "the man who talked me out of drafting Tiny Archibald.”
The process begins Sunday. Gentlemen, start your excuses.
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