Nothing like having a 1.7% chance of drawing the #1 pick and then getting it. Now please do the right thing, John Paxson and draft hometown hero Derrick Rose. Pretty please?
I was watching the lottery absent-mindedly thinking how it would be cool to see the Bulls get a impact player. NO WAY I expected them to win the frigging lottery, when they came to their slot and it was clear that they were in the top 3 I figured it was a sure thing that they were the 3rd pick in a draft with 2 elite players. That’s just the way things work for the Bulls. Getting the #1 overall pick is insane.
I hope Mike D’Antoni was busy kicking himself when that was announced and I hope Schanwald made a point of pointing and laughing at him, reminding him that he gets to coach Stephon Marbury this year for his extra loot.
I’m torn on who the Bulls should draft here. Michael Beasley is the perfect fit for them and everyone has been saying how they desperately needed a guy who can get his own shot at any point. He’ll slide in wonderfully. However, Derrick Rose is a local guy and the best PG available. Recent history indicates that having a first-class PG is the key to winning and advancing and Rose could be a guy to build a franchise around like Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Getting Rose would mean they are giving up on Kirk Heinrich, getting Beasley would make Deng somewhat redundant. Either way I think this is going to spur a sea change in the Bulls roster and gameplan. Better get a good coach…
…and this just a year removed from a team winning the lottery with a 5% chance! I bet this system starts getting a serious looking at now.
Rose is the right choice for the Bulls future, Heinrich isn’t good or big enough to play PG in today’s NBA. Heinrich has a great contract that we can package with some combination of Deng/Gordon/Thomas. This team needs a major shake-up, so I hope Pax uses our leverage wisely.
I like Rose better, and I agree with Omniscient that a PG is what is really needed to take a team far, even though I don’t personally like that type of basketball. Deng would go to the bench, and Heinrich would go to the 2-G. Gordan would have to be a G/F (small), and the Bulls would have to, in my mind, adopt a 3-2 motion offense, or dare I say, a triangle of some sort. It should be pretty exciting basketball to watch, as you would have three people potentially to drive, and Heinrich would be the lone kick out (typically, assuming that option, which is the one I’m the most familiar with).
I was just happy Miami didn’t get it.
Re: Chicago,
This is a tough pick. First of all, it’s hard to turn down a guy who’s going to be 20 points/ 10 boards for the rest of his career, which is what Beasley will be. He’s a definite upgrade at Power forward (over Gooden and Thomas).
At the same time, a year ago I would have told you that Chicago is locked at the guard position, but Hinrich had a pretty off year last year and even at Hinrich’s best, Rose is an upgrade and they have a very solid backup in Duhon (if they decide to trade Hinrich).
It’s a coin toss, but I’d probably go with the guard. If there was a center worthy of a number one pick, I’d recommend that.
Hinrich would be TERRIBLE at the 2. He can’t shoot, can’t make his own shot. If we take Rose we have to trade him.
I had a really good feeling about the lottery last night. I’ve been pulling for the Bulls to get the top pick for the last few years, but last night I felt pretty sure about it - not that that stopped me from yelling my head off about it.
I’m torn about the pick, too. They’ve needed a big guy who can score for years, since they kept stockpiling guys who can’t and that’s Beasley. But it’s hard not to be excited about Rose too. I’m just concerned that the trade made too big a mess of the roster. They still have all the young players (except Chandler, which was always a dumb trade), but with Hughes and Gooden, I’m worried their mix just doesn’t make sense. There’s already been some talk of dealing Hinrich, and Gordon is always the center of trade talks. They have to pick a direction here.
Hinrich was good in 2006, hopefully what was lacking that year will be found this year. Besides, he still plays D. Gordon is not a 2. Deng might be good at the 2, but I’d rather see him play back up to Rose because I like balance. This will be Gordon’s year to pick up some consistency and prove he’s worth the $10M he was asking for when he rejected the last contract extension (I think that was him). Besides, he takes it the hole which is what this offense need. Yeah, I know Thomas can, too, but he needs time to develop other aspects of the game. Thebo needs time to develop, too. While we’re at it, they should send Gray to athletic camp and learn him some coordination and athleticism.
Why would Deng be backing up Rose? Deng is a small forward and Rose is a guard. If you’re trying to choose between Deng and Gordon it’s not even close, to me. And both players are free agents. I think they keep Deng and probably let Gordon go.
Kirk Hinrich PG 27 6-3 190 Kansas $11,250,000
Chris Duhon PG 25 6-1 185 Duke $3,248,000
Ben Gordon SG 25 6-3 200 Connecticut $4,881,669
Larry Hughes SG 29 6-5 184 Saint Louis $12,000,084
Thabo Sefolosha SG 24 6-7 215 $1,805,160
Shannon Brown SG 22 6-4 205 Michigan State $1,044,120
JamesOn Curry SG 22 6-3 190 Oklahoma State $427,163
Luol Deng SF 23 6-9 220 Duke $3,320,339
Andres Nocioni SF 28 6-7 225 $8,500,000
Demetris NicholsSF 23 6-8 216 Syracuse $427,163
Drew Gooden PF 26 6-10 250 Kansas $6,453,416
Tyrus Thomas PF 21 6-9 215 LSU $3,505,320
Cedric Simmons PF 22 6-9 235 NC State $1,629,120
Joakim Noah C 23 6-11 232 Florida $2,135,400
Aaron Gray C 23 7-0 270 Pittsburgh $427,163
Here’s what the Bulls roster looks like right now. They are seriously bloated at the SG position. Chris Duhon’s contract is up and he’s going to be gone, no question about it. Nocioni’s contract is also up and I wouldn’t mind hanging onto him but I think it’s more likely that he’s gone too.
If we draft Rose he’ll take Duhon’s position and start out as the backup to Hinrich for his rookie season. Gordon and Hughes can compete at the SG position. Deng and Nocioni would be the 3s and if we draft Beasley he replaces Nocioni. Gooden, Thomas and Noah at the 4 and 5 spots.
All things considered both guys probably fill a need and I don’t think redundancy is that much of an issue based on our contracts. So, they can sit back and really figure out which guy is the best player and the best fit.
Deng, Hinrich and Gordon are all juicy trade bait and I wouldn’t mind moving any of them, but they all struggled last season and they can probably be signed to moderate contracts which is a silver lining to the crappy season we just had. If we did decide to trade them it leads to the question of for whom? There isn’t a Pau Gasol/Kevin Garnett out there that I know of and there’s no reason to trade these just for the sake of it so long as they don’t have crippling contracts. Maybe they can bundle one of those guys in order to dump the Hughes contract, which would be a decent move, but I’m not sure it’s time to give up on any of these guys.
I really wish we’d gotten D’Antoni. Combining him and Rose with the rest of this athletic roster could have really been something special. I hope they get themselves an offensive minded coach who can make the right call.
Sorry Gordon. I got all forward thinking and placing players at developed positions. As Omniscient points out, who would the Bulls trade for? I’m mostly content with the team that’s here now, barring another repeat performance of 2007.
Hinrich was good under the old hand-check rules, he is done as a near-top-tier PG unless they change the rules back. It wasn’t two down years for him, he just can’t compete anymore in this league. I was a huge fan of Hinrich before they changed the rules too.
Beasley is a true 4 I think, I would hate to see him try to play swing with his rebounding ability. I’m happy with either Rose or Beasley, but either way we need to take the team in a different direction with trades.
Maybe Denver will take Deng, Hinrich, and Ty Thomas for Carmelo. 
I’m not convinced that having him at the 3 wastes his rebounding abilities. The best 4s are back-to-the-basket guys like Dirk and Duncan and that’s not really Beasley’s game. He’s more of a face-up guy like Garnett, Josh Smith or Odom based on what little I saw of him. I think he’d get pushed around as a 4 and it’d hurt his ability to slash and attack the rim more than being a 3 hurts his rebounding.
Which guy is more of a unique talent? Beasley or Rose? We’ve seen a pretty regular procession of franchise PGs coming out of college over the last 3 or 4 years, colleges seem to be getting good at finding and developing them. SF/PFs who can score at will have been pretty rare, many teams have reached for projects at that position (Ty Thomas/Marcus Williams) and they have failed more often than they’ve succeeded.
If he can rebound at the 3, I’m all for it. Beasley will be bigger than all the guys guarding him and probably just as fast in most cases.
It will depend what his jump shot is like. If he can shoot the 18 footer he can play the 3 and dominate. If he can I’d take him over Rose in a heartbeat, there aren’t many tall guys who can handle the ball and shoot. Those guys tend to end up the the Hall of Fame.
Pax has drafted a power forward the past two years, with little success. (Tyrus Thomas in 06 and Joaquim Noah in 07.) A third straight power forward is NOT what they need. We were talking about this at school today and every single person strongly favors selecting Derrick Rose, who is the next coming of Chris Paul. Nuff said.
Yeah, but the big caveat is that they didn’t draft scoring power forwards (I don’t think anyone projected Noah as a PF but instead a C, but thats beside the point). Thomas was supposed to be a athletic, above the rim energy type guy that people hoped would learn and develop an offensive game and rebound. Noah was a intangibles guy who was supposed to rebound and play defense and scape out 10 second chance points. Nothing about either of those guys’ college careers indicated that they would be scorers. Pax has placed too much emphasis on defense and rebounding and that’s why we have the roster we have now, with too many tweeners and energy guys that can’t get their own shot.
Still, if you think Beasley is going to be a 30-10 guy in the pros you take him and get a point guard later, maybe through a trade. If you think Beasley is going to be another 15-10 guy then you take Rose.
Right, sort of like that Tyson Chandler guy who plays for New Orleans.
:smack:
Yeah, I think that after a decade or so of drafting at the bottom of the first round the Bulls brass have become clueless about the process.