O Bulls no Draft 2008

[linelson]

30 Teams, 30 Days: Chicago Draft Preview
Authored by Jason M. Williams - 27th May, 2008 - 8:22 pm

Current Featured Columns
Win, Place And Show Options For The Lottery Teams
Picking either Rose or Beasley should be an easy decision for the winner of Tuesday's lottery, but who do you pick with the 3rd selection?
Christopher Reina. 19th May, 2008.

'Improved' Wizards Defense Is A Fallacy
Read a mainstream media account about the Wizards, and you would think they were a significantly improved defensive team. The numbers tell a very different story.
Kevin Broom. 15th May, 2008.


RealGM Search
Search:

2007-2008 Finish: 33-49
2008 Draft Picks: 1st, 39th

Pre-Draft 2008-09 Projected Starters:
PG Kirk Hinrich
SG Larry Hughes
SF Luol Deng
PF Drew Gooden
C Joakim Noah
Key Reserves:
SG Ben Gordon
SF Andres Nocioni
PF Tyrus Thomas

What the Bulls Do Well:

The Bulls were one of the favorites to come out on top of the East at the onset of the 2007-08 season, but higher expectations and a breakdown in the locker room led to the demise of this ultra-talented squad. Now they find themselves in a period of transition. They have two major trade chips this offseason with ‘contract extension time’ coming up for emerging young stars Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. They have a glut of young talent on the roster, and will soon find themselves soaring above the salary cap if they don’t manage the cap with care over the next three years.

They are one of the most athletic teams in the East and feature plenty of outside shooters and energy big men who play solid defense and grab rebounds. They are a very young team that recently added veterans Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. Their frontcourt features two projects seeping with raw talent that could turn out to be future stars if the Bulls front office can find the proper coach to sculpt the young and energetic Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah.

The Bulls have one of the deepest rotations eight-deep in the league, and adding either Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose with the top pick will only strengthen their young core. Despite a down year overall last season, the Bulls are poised to make a quick return back into the upper echelon in the East, simply because they have too much talent for it not to translate into winning.

Greatest Areas of Improvement:

Interior Scoring
For the past couple of seasons, all the talk about improving this Bulls team has been centered around adding a quality big man who can give them interior scoring. At the trade deadline, they jettisoned the often redundant Ben Wallace and replaced him with Drew Gooden at the four position. That helped them gain offense from the power forward position, but often Gooden plays away from the hoop and isn’t really a true factor in the post. This is a great area of need for improvement for this team that loves to jack up shots from anywhere on the floor.

Upgrade at Point Guard
As mentioned earlier, this team loves to shoot from the outside. The two best ways to spread the floor are to add a scorer in the paint or add a playmaking point guard capable of breaking down the defense. If the Bulls choose to use this pick to upgrade over Kirk Hinrich, who is coming off a career lows in scoring (11.5 points) and assists (6.0), they have the perfect candidate to penetrate the paint and find the open man.

Who’s Gone Number 1 Recently?

As expected, those who have had the top overall selection have normally done better in the seasons following the selection…well, unless you are the Bucks, who passed on Deron Williams and Chris Paul in favor of the now-gone T.J. Ford and Maurice Williams.

2007
Greg Oden, Portland Trail Blazers

2006
Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors

2005
Andrew Bogut, Milwaukee Bucks

2004
Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic

2003
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

Who Should the Bulls Target?

For more in-depth analysis and background regarding the players that the Bulls should target in this year’s Draft, click on each player name to be redirected to Christopher Reina’s Prospect Report piece.

- Michael Beasley, PF – Kansas State:

Beasley is an absolute beast in the paint and from the outside. He is one of the more gifted scoring big men that we’ve seen in decades and can put the ball in the hoop from anywhere on the floor. He is also a monster on the boards and really presents himself as the ultimate package, who often has the mean streak that allows him to think he can carry his team to victory by himself on any given night. He followed up Kevin Durant’s stunning season at Texas a year ago by registering more points and gathering more rebounds than the 2006-07 consensus Player of the Year, and this year’s NBA Rookie of the Year. It will be nearly impossible for the Bulls to pass on the K-State product.

- Derrick Rose, PG – Memphis:

In the growing age where having an elite point guard has gone from being a luxury to becoming a necessity, this is where Derrick Rose raises his hand and says, “Hey, what about me?” Bulls fans will tell you that perhaps they are a bit weary of selection a strong and speedy point guard who loves to penetrate the paint and score in transition, reminding them of their selection of Jay Williams out of Duke with the second pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. However, passing on Rose, a Chicago native, with the potential of Chris Paul and Deron Williams could set a franchise back a few years…just ask the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks .

Who Do the Fans Want?

According to Andrew Perna’s Chicago Bulls Lottery Summit , an interactive column featuring the responses of true RealGM hoops fans hoping to add their two cents to the Bulls Draft discussion, the fans of Chicago have made it known that they would an upgrade at the point guard position. At the time of this column, the Bulls were sitting at the ninth overall pick with only a 1.7% chance of landing the top spot. Their answers requested Bulls management to pick Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, and DeAndre Jordan. However, since the consensus said Westbrook, it can only be assumed that they would prefer the top selection in the 2008 NBA Draft to be:

Derrick Rose, PG – Memphis

Picks Over the Past Five Years

Thanks largely to the Eddy Curry trade, the Bulls are seemingly always picking in the top 10. Do they have a single guy in their rotation that wasn’t a top-10 pick? (Answer: Not really – only Andres Nocioni, who was signed as a FA directly from Argentina).

2007
Joakim Noah, 9th
Aaron Gray, 49th
JamesOn Curry, 51st

2006
Tyrus Thomas, 4th
Thabo Sefolosha, 13th

2005
None

2004
Ben Gordon, 3rd
Luol Deng, 7th
Chris Duhon, 38th

2003
Kirk Hinrich, 7th
Mario Austin, 36th
Tommy Smith, 53rd

http://www.realgm.com/src_twoplusthefou ... t_preview/