Does anybody in this year's NBA draft excite you?
The one position of need for the Bulls is the one position not represented by a top-five pick — a center.
LaMarcus Aldridge or Tyrus Thomas? I guess, but Bulls fans better hope Tyson Chandler is so good next season that he won't be sharing much time with a rookie.
Brandon Roy? Sure, but what do you do with Ben Gordon?
The Italian guy, Andrea Bargnani? Who knows how good he is?
The biggest reason for optimism for Bulls fans is John Paxson is an excellent evaluator of talent and character. That's the only sure thing.
By the numbers:
If the Bulls think that Tyrus Thomas could be a guy who will be a good rebounder, shot blocker and COULD be a potential lockdown defender ala Bruce Bowen or Ron Artest, I'd say he's the pick.
As far as Aldridge, I really don't believe that they need to go for a center with the #2 pick.
Bargnani is intriguing. If the Bulls believe that he has a good shot at being another Dirk, even if it takes a couple of years, I'd be willing to take the chance. But, remember Skita and Darko.
Personally, I lean toward Roy or Gay, assuming that Paxson and Skiles were satisfied with their analysis of Gay's personality and work ethic.
Far and away, most of the enjoyable NBA games I watched this year involved the Phoenix Suns so I am not as concerned with the Bulls lack of a low post presence.
I'm more concerned with them getting more FTs and allowing their opponents fewer.
If they could manage that while adding another legitimate inside/outside scoring threat, I wouldn't worry about whether he seemingly plays the same position as Nocioni and Deng or Hinrich and Gordon.
If they went with Roy or Gay at #2, they can still get a big guy at 16. If they go with Thomas, Aldridge or Bargnani at #2, they will be able to get Brewer or Sefolosha at 16.
Or, of course, they may pull off a trade that renders all above, moot.
My opinion is that the bulls should trade the #2 pick and Duhon for a big name post player like KG or hmmm....ELTON BRAND. Now knowing this will not happen iguess you take the most NBA ready player and that is Andrea Bargani. Wether he is there or not remains to be seen but this i know, we can't take projects anymore i.e., CURRY,CHANDLER. I have faith in this organization for first time in GO BULLS! p.s. PLEASE TRY TO GET KG!
From purely the standpoint of, "What do the Bulls need?", I believe they are lacking in the following:
True Shooting guard that is big/strong enough to guard the taller shooting guards in the NBA. Of course he has to have offensive skills, one thing that hurt the BUlls last year was that they lacked a scoring threat on the outside when Ben Gordon was erratic.
and # 2 - Scoring/defensive/Height help at the center position. Pretty self explanatory, Chandler played ok defense, but was non-existant from the offensive side.
As I look at the draft in terms of shooting guards, I see the following...Branden Roy is the closest thing to a player that has pretty good defensive/offensive skills. His biggest problem being, can he shoot consistantly (atleast thats what Paxson commented on). If you're willing to trade off defense, then you would go Adam Morrison. He can play shooting guard cause he has the height and is good enough at creating his own shot. A possible go-to guy that the Bulls really need to help out Gordon.
As far as center, it would come down to three...Aldridge, Thomas, or Bryant. I don't see the Bulls taking a chance at Bryant that high unless they trade down. It's unfortunate, cause I thought he played very well in the tournament. Aldridge has the height and a very decent mid range shot for his size, but I question his strength, I see lots of players at his body wieght simply get pushed out of the way, he'll have a tough time no doubt. As far as Thomas, I'm not convinced he has any offensive game. He averaged around 10 points a game in college, is only 6'8 (6'9 tops) and is really an athletic 4. The Bulls already have him in Chandler!
If it were up to me, you take either Roy or Morrison, set up a trade for 7 - 8 so they can take Bryant or maybe 8-12 so that they can take that Senne guy from Senegal. If only to groom him cause he is as raw as it gets. In any case, I like the picks that Paxson has made so far and hope his track record continues.
Can any big man in this draft carry Eddy Curry's jock?I would ike to see Aldridge and Thomas If they draft either, play against a quality center.They are slim,and really have no post up game.Thomas cant shoot any better than Chandler.So he is fast and can jump out of the gym.The playgrounds are full of guys like that.
They might a well draft Roy.Maybe thay can get a free agent big man who can play a little.Good luck Bulls!
Frank
Tyrus Thomas will take 2-3 years to develop post moves and enough strength to play power forward in the Eastern Confrence. I don't have the patience to wait for that to happen, assuming it ever will. The Bulls would be playing 3-on-5 offense with Tyrus and Tyson together. I hope the Bulls draft Brandon Roy who adds the slashing two guard wqith size that the Bulls lack. Roy and Hinrich can start as a defensive oriented backcourt with Gordon coming off the bench as an explosive 6th man. Draft Sene, the seven footer from Senegal with the 16th pick.
the Bulls "projects"that many fans talk about is overrated because we are dealing with human beings not robots and alot of factors are introduced in the equation due to what I call "the human factor"sometimes pure luck comes into play when dealing with the development of younger prospects,some flourish in the pros some dont.The solution is not always "trade Tyson Chandler"by the way who wants A Dirk Nowitski who along with his team commited the biggest choke job in NBA history.I saw it coming with Jay Mariotti crowning Dirk as the next coming of Larry Bird and Rich tellanger forgeting that Wade(miami Heat)had come to play basketball not Qualify for a spelling bee,its no wonder someone finaly called Mariotti on some of his ridiculous comments.Yeah Ozzie was angry and used the wrong word but everything else was 100% correct about Jay.Hope fully the Bulls wont get a "bad draft pick"but remember these are young men whos lives are important also and they are not just pieces of meat.
I heard a rumor that the bulls would trade Ben Gordon, Tyson Chandler, and the #2 pick for Kevin Garnett or Jermaine Oneal I think that would be a great idea except they should try to trade the # 16 pick instead so that they could draft Brandon Roy at #2 either Garnett or Oneal would make up for gordon's scoring and Chandler's rebounding easily, and brandon Roy would add size at guard and make up for gordon's weakness on defense also almost any center can be some what successful with Garnett or O'neal drawing most of the attention in the post, and Brandon Roy is no chump on offense
The Bulls should draft Brandon Roy. Thomas and Aldridge won't be able to guard any NBA power forwards or centers. If the Bulls pick either of them, it will blow up in their face. Roy is needed because the Bulls don't have anyone who can guard against the bigger guards in the East like Wade and Kidd. This Bulls fan is asking the Bulls to pick Brandon Roy.
who cares about the bulls? lets go bears!
Who cares about the Bears???...Let's go SOX!!!
We can't lose Gordan until he's replaced by an equally adept scorer. You can love all the defense, you can love Hinrich's consistency, but if we get rid of Gordan, no one on the team can create his own shot. Hinrich can't even finish when given the lane by teams. All the pick and rolls, back screens, etc. work for the first 3 1/2 quarters, but to win games in this league you need a finisher. The Lakers had Kobe. The Spurs had Ginobili. The Bulls had MJ. The Pistons had Zeke or Chauncey. How far do you want to go back? I'm tired of watching Hinrich dribble for 15 seconds waiting for someone to set the right screen since he's not quick enough to get by anyone, then I have to hear about how great he is and how we need to ship Gordan. He may not play defense, but you can't win 0-0.