In the last 10 years (2013-2023), the Bulls draft capital has rarely turned anyone who has positively contributed to the team or improved WHILE on the team. Just a summary of players drafted by the Bulls and had played on the team.

 

Year Player
2013 Erik Murphy
2013 Tony Snell
2014 Cameron Bairstow
2015 Bobby Portis
2016 Paul Zipster
2016 Denzel Valentine
2016 Kris Dunn
2017 Lauri Markannen
2018 Chandler Huchison
2018 Wendell Carter Jr
2019 Coby White
2019 Daniel Gafford
2020 Marko Simonovic
2020 Patrick Williams
2021 Ayo Dosunmu
2022 Dalen Terry
2023 Julian Phillips

 

Now the Bulls haven’t had a first round pick since the 2020 draft but it seems like anyone picked really hasn’t delivered in the ways that benefit the team by much. Is it a lack of player fit in the coaching scheme? Subpar scouting? Failure of coaching staff on player development? Just sucks to see players who didn’t live up to expectation on the Bulls suddenly become at a key contributor (Lauri) or good role players for their next squads (Wendell Carter Jr/Daniel Gafford come to mind).

  • wjbcBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Some of those players weren’t bad but because the Bulls were bad they weren’t patient with them. Then when the front office was replaced they decided to get rid of all but two of the players they inherited. That said, Lauri’s the only genuine star and he was a late bloomer not just with us but with the Cavs as well.

    Part of the problem was we didn’t get lucky in the lottery like we did when we picked Derrick Rose. Another problem was we didn’t get lucky with late draft picks like we did with Jimmy Butler.

    And make no mistake, a lot of it is luck. If it wasn’t a crapshoot, players wouldn’t drop in the draft. Look at Denver, they definitely would have picked Jokic much higher if they had any idea how he would develop.

    Finally, the Bulls gambled on Zach LaVine as a franchise player and he just isn’t. We would have been better off building around Jimmy Butler, who never asked to leave.