The Chicago Bulls have made a number of bad draft picks in recent years, but since the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler, have Gar Forman and John Paxson done a better job?
The Chicago Bulls were once a team that drafted extremely well. They made numerous good selections, including, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic, Jimmy Butler, and Derrick Rose. However, that all changed after Derrick Rose’s ACL injury in 2012. The Bulls went from a great team in the draft, to one of the worst.
If you look back at the selections they made, a majority of them ended up being busts. Here is the list of players they have selected since 2012.
Bulls draft picks since 2012
2012: Marquis Teague
2013: Tony Snell and Erik Murphy
2014: Doug McDermott and Cameron Bairstow
2015: Bobby Portis
2016: Denzel Valentine and Paul Zipser
2017: Lauri Markkanen
2018: Wendell Carter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison
The beginning of the list isn’t pretty, but do you see the pattern of how well the Bulls drafted since the start of the 2017 season?
When the Jimmy Butler situation didn’t work, the front office made the decision to rebuild and since then, they have been drafting extremely well. Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., and Chandler Hutchinson have all showed promise in their development.
Even though the Bulls haven’t been winning as many games as they would like, the recent draft picks have shown strong improvement and development. Now to be fair, it’s only the start of the season and things are bound to change, but you have to like what you have seen so far from them.
That brings up the question of whether or not it’s time to forgive Gar Forman and John Paxson for their horrendous draft mistakes in the past. Do you believe they deserve forgiveness?
I don’t think they do… yet.
Until I see consistently strong drafts be put together, I’m not ready to forget some of the bad decisions they’ve made.
The front office has mismanaged so many drafts in recent years, so history really isn’t on their side. However, if they continue to show improvement in their upcoming drafts, then you can start to wonder if it’s time to forgive and forget. If the Bulls have another strong draft next year, that will continue to put the rebuilding effort in a good place.
For the Bulls to have a successful draft, they will need to draft someone that’s a strong defender. The Bulls have shown already that they are capable of scoring a ton of points, even without Lauri Markkanen, Bobby Portis, and Kris Dunn. Their biggest issue has been defense.
It’s early, but the best option for the Bulls in the 2019 draft is looking like Zion Williamson from Duke. Inserting Zion at small forward would add another defensive and athletic freak to the already strong young core.
It takes time to rebuild a team. The Bulls are on the right track.