I’m not sure if waking up this morning felt like:
(1) When you get up on your last full day of vacation thinking “please don’t let this be over!”
OR
(2) When you’re two minutes into a conversation about asphalt with your civil engineering friend thinking “yeah, so this could be over now.”
Part of me wants to stay in this sweet, innocent state of the pre-draft conversation. The other part of me wants to get this entire thing over with so I know what the Bulls are getting themselves into for next season. Notice how neither feeling actually wants the draft to happen.
Sure, I’m excited, and I probably will be full-on excited once the Pelicans start off the night by picking Zion. Although, for now, the utter mystery that surrounds the Bulls draft night decision will continue to make me queasy.
The Bulls will have a huge decision to make tomorrow night (terrifying right?). When the 2019 NBA Draft kicks off at 6:00 p.m. CT, Chicago is either choosing a player with the No. 7 overall pick… or they’re not. The No. 4 pick in this year’s draft is up for grabs, and the Bulls have been right in the middle of all the noise. Trading up will, most likely, cost teams a decent package, especially when considering how desirable the pick has become in the marketplace. However, as The Athletic’s Stephen Noh points out in his latest piece, trading up for the Bulls makes no sense.
I’m not necessarily taking sides (yet), but I will say trading up to the No. 4 pick could be a bit overly aggressive. The only reason for the Bulls to make a move up the draft board would be to ensure the franchise gets a point guard, most likely No. 2-ranked point guard Darius Garland. Noh makes an effort to remind all of us how unproven Garland is after only playing five college basketball games. Not to mention, the guy might only be ranked this high because of how underwhelming a lot of the other players were this year. I fully believe Garland has a set of skills that can translate nicely to today’s NBA, but it’s totally fair to ask will they?
Noh also writes about how he looked at over 20-years of trading up or down in the NBA Draft, and the teams who traded up won said trade only 27 percent of the time (compared to 43 for trading down). Ouch. I can be talked into the Bulls making an aggressive move this offseason, but trading up in what has been argued as a three-player draft just doesn’t feel right. The Bulls are in no place to be losing assets, and if the pick means losing the No. 7 and a protected first-round pick next year… sign me up for the best player available at No. 7!
All this aggressive move talk relates well to what the Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson wrote about in one of today’s article.
One of the more reasonable “aggressive” moves that can be made in this draft would be taking a wing player or big man over a point guard. I certainly believe taking Garland or White if they’re available at No. 7 is the way to go, but I wouldn’t necessarily freak the freak out if the team opted for grabbing Cam Reddish or Jarrett Culver because they see more potential. Sekou Doumbouya, whom we discussed the other day when he came in for a workout with the Bulls, has also been rumored to be on the Bulls list. He feels like a bit of a stretch at No. 7, but again, if the Bulls see more upside there is a case to be made. If anything, as of late, the one area we can somewhat-comfortably trust the front office is in the draft.
Oh, the whole Jaxson Hayes thing isn’t going away either, apparently. NBC Chicago Sports’ Mark Schanowski breaks down his film for you but also tweets that this doesn’t feel like the smartest fit with Wendell Carter Jr. on the roster. #Agreed
THE RISE OF THE GOAT
https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/1141354979732709376?s=20
Schanowski also released his final mock draft yesterday, and he has the Bulls making one of those “aggressive” moves we talked about, so make sure to give it a look.
Remember how Zach LaVine was working on getting swole a couple of weeks ago, yeah well he is blessing out timelines with the grind once again.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1141115120774520832?s=20
All right, well this video will not stop appearing in my life, so I guess I have to put in bullets. Honestly, I think this argument is always unnecessary, but Shaq obviously made the right choice.
HAHAHAHAAHAHAH. *wipes tears away* Yeah, okay, I’m sure Paul, Harden and Butler will all get along.
https://twitter.com/YahooSports/status/1141342046671777792?s=20
NEWSLETTER
