2024 NBA Draft - DA BULLS Edition Pick #11

[drosestruts]

I expect the draft in general to be pretty fun - lots of times it seems like there's a lot of consensus on where players will be getting drafted, but this draft seems wide open in regards to where players might be getting picked - not to mention could see people looking to trade out. Should be a fun one.

It makes it difficult to project out who will be available at our pick, could be a surprise drop or two.

I still remain interested in Tyler Smith.

He has holes in his game - but so does everyone in this draft. The #1 pick will likely have holes in their game this year.

You're telling me there's a 6'11" player in the draft who shot 36% from 3 on 4 attempts in just 22 minutes a night, while also adding 1 block and 1 steal a game. And since he was playing in the G-league those are NBA range 3's.

Can anyone explain to me why - based on the seasons they both just had - Matas Buzelis is projected to go top-6 and Tyler Smith is in some projections going in the 20's?

[Muzbar]

I expect the draft in general to be pretty fun - lots of times it seems like there's a lot of consensus on where players will be getting drafted, but this draft seems wide open in regards to where players might be getting picked - not to mention could see people looking to trade out. Should be a fun one.

It makes it difficult to project out who will be available at our pick, could be a surprise drop or two.

I still remain interested in Tyler Smith.

He has holes in his game - but so does everyone in this draft. The #1 pick will likely have holes in their game this year.

You're telling me there's a 6'11" player in the draft who shot 36% from 3 on 4 attempts in just 22 minutes a night, while also adding 1 block and 1 steal a game. And since he was playing in the G-league those are NBA range 3's.

Can anyone explain to me why - based on the seasons they both just had - Matas Buzelis is projected to go top-6 and Tyler Smith is in some projections going in the 20's?

Buzelis has a better all round game, Smith was pretty 1 dimensional in comparison.

That being said, I do really like Tyler Smith and would love to pick up a 2nd FRP later in the draft to pick him up.

[Andi Obst]

Collier would be a lot more interesting if he actually was 6'5. Gotta wait for the measurements of course, but that seems like quite a stretch. He's still a guy who I'd serioulsy consider taking at 11 if he's there. A guard with his speed and combination of rim pressure and passing is rare, especially in this draft.

Also, I'm starting to like Cody Williams a lot less after watching more of him. Still like him, but I get why this particular fanbase doesn't love a guy who is this raw.

Aaaand I'm really low on Dalton Knecht. Don't get the top 10 hype, don't really want him at 11.

[rosenthall]

Question for the board: where would Sarr get drafted in the previous 10 drafts?

I looked it over last night and I don't think he'd go top 3 in any recent draft except for 2013, which totally sucked at the top. Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, and Otto Porter in the top 3. Yuck!

He seems like a 4-8 guy to me in most drafts.

[boundbymusic]

Question for the board: where would Sarr get drafted in the previous 10 drafts?

I looked it over last night and I don't think he'd go top 3 in any recent draft except for 2013, which totally sucked at the top. Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, and Otto Porter in the top 3. Yuck!

He seems like a 4-8 guy to me in most drafts.

Vecenie from The Athletic "this class doesn’t have anyone I’d consider a top-three pick in a normal draft."

Most saying this is the worst draft since 2013 and could be even worse than that. Hollinger said he'd be surprised if there's even an Oladipo level guy to come out of this one.

[Jcool0]

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[moorhosj]

Most saying this is the worst draft since 2013 and could be even worse than that. Hollinger said he'd be surprised if there's even an Oladipo level guy to come out of this one.

As bad as that draft was, it still produced a 2-time MVP (Giannis #15) and a 4-time DPOY (Gobert #27) in the first round. CJ McCollum (#10) was also a first rounder that year.

[kodo]

Question for the board: where would Sarr get drafted in the previous 10 drafts?

I looked it over last night and I don't think he'd go top 3 in any recent draft except for 2013, which totally sucked at the top. Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, and Otto Porter in the top 3. Yuck!

He seems like a 4-8 guy to me in most drafts.

4th in 2023. Nobody takes him over Wemby, Scoot, or Miller.
But as a physical tools guy I can see someone taking him over the Thompson twins. But Cason Wallace might be better than any of them and he went #10.

[MrSparkle]

Question for the board: where would Sarr get drafted in the previous 10 drafts?

I looked it over last night and I don't think he'd go top 3 in any recent draft except for 2013, which totally sucked at the top. Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, and Otto Porter in the top 3. Yuck!

He seems like a 4-8 guy to me in most drafts.

Vecenie from The Athletic "this class doesn’t have anyone I’d consider a top-three pick in a normal draft."

Most saying this is the worst draft since 2013 and could be even worse than that. Hollinger said he'd be surprised if there's even an Oladipo level guy to come out of this one.

Well, Giannis, Gobert, McCollum, Oladipo along with some role-players (Adams, Olynyk, Otto, Plumlee, KCP, Schroder) did come out of that draft... So, the rule of thumb is that even the worst draft has atleast 5 good players scattered throughout the first round.

I think that scouting has dramatically improved since last decade... but it doesn't matter at all, because you're drafting more wild cards than ever. Most teens don't have it figured out, and these days, 20yos don't either. I think that having kids split their decisions between NCAA, G-League (though this variable's going out the window), Overtime, Australia and Europe... It's pretty hard to keep up with varying levels of competition, reading stats on very small sample sizes, considering transfer portals and all this crap...

Patrick #4 (reach and 75% bust... post-lottery in re-draft)
Marko #44 (100% bust ... undrafted in re-draft)
Ayo #43 (steal, but "didn't expect him to drop" ... should've been lotto)
Terry #18 (reach and 75% bust... should've been 2nd round or bottom of 1st)
Phillips #35 (TBD - essentially looking like a proper 2nd round prospect, not a steal)

For the record, I don't think any of these were bad picks on draft night. I saw the logic; rooted for the kids. But whatever's the case, this FO is not drafting extremely competitive and talented prospects. They are perhaps ignoring personality attributes, figuring they could improve shooting in the gym with time, and for whatever reason undervaluing elite attributes (strength, ball-handling and athleticism) in favor of all-around metrics (OK reach, OK handles, OK hops, OK strength), which has traditionally not panned as well in lotto picks. Like, if you're gonna get the low-% shooter, make sure he has 3 eyes and can out-run a Cheetah, and wants to eat their opponent's heart out. In hindsight, Pat, Marko, Terry, Ayo and Phillips - neither of them has a single elite strength, and are we surprised that none of them have all-star potential? I mean, I'd put 10 cents on Ayo maybe developing into a fringe star, but that's pretty sad. He's clearly/probably a Terance Mann / Hinrich caliber role-player, at best, which is what you get when you pick a guy with zero elite attributes.

Anyway this draft is hard to read, but I see talented prospects across the board. It's time to circle elite strengths in prospects and work from there. It could be anything: strength/size (Clingan/Edey), athleticism+wingspan (the French twigs), shooting (Knecht, Reed, Dillingham, Walton), passing (Topic, Collier), height/handles (Matas, Castle, Holland)... Beyond that, there are other factors.

But geez is it going to suck if AKME bring in another rookie with 200 MP. Hopefully this is the draft where a higher-ceiling Ayo slips into their lap and pans out.

I'm personally unimpressed by Collier, Holland, Dalton, Cody W., Castle at the NBA level, but there's talent to comb through. I do think Sarr, Topic, Clingan, Matas (Deni?) and Dillingham at the very least play some NBA minutes their rookie years, with strong ceilings. If Castle's shooting pans out and he can be a primary ball handler, all of a sudden he looks like one of the better prospects.

Expectations for Reed, Edey, Dalton should probably come down. Very rare that Redick/Beasley/McDermott/Hansbrough style college prospects come in and storm the NBA. But 3Ps and gargantuan size are elite attributes, so who knows.

[drosestruts]

I expect the draft in general to be pretty fun - lots of times it seems like there's a lot of consensus on where players will be getting drafted, but this draft seems wide open in regards to where players might be getting picked - not to mention could see people looking to trade out. Should be a fun one.

It makes it difficult to project out who will be available at our pick, could be a surprise drop or two.

I still remain interested in Tyler Smith.

He has holes in his game - but so does everyone in this draft. The #1 pick will likely have holes in their game this year.

You're telling me there's a 6'11" player in the draft who shot 36% from 3 on 4 attempts in just 22 minutes a night, while also adding 1 block and 1 steal a game. And since he was playing in the G-league those are NBA range 3's.

Can anyone explain to me why - based on the seasons they both just had - Matas Buzelis is projected to go top-6 and Tyler Smith is in some projections going in the 20's?

Buzelis has a better all round game, Smith was pretty 1 dimensional in comparison.

That being said, I do really like Tyler Smith and would love to pick up a 2nd FRP later in the draft to pick him up.

I am admittingly not regularly watching G-league games so a lot of my understanding of these players is from scouting videos, stats, and stuff like that.

When I look at their Per 36 numbers:

Smith: 22 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.5 blocks, 1.3 steals, 36% 3P%, and 61% TS%

Buzelis: 16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2.3 blocks, 1 steal, 26% 3P%, and 55% TS%

They're both rather skinny 6'11" players and it sounds like the whole Ignite program was a bit of a mess so maybe it's hard to pull too much from their shared year there.

But the numbers don't scream "better all around player" to me

In fact the numbers suggest Buzelis might struggle to score or contribute in any sort of meaningful way. At least with Smith you'd expect him to offer floor-spacing day 1.

I think both will take some time to develop

[ChiTownHero1992]

Question for the board: where would Sarr get drafted in the previous 10 drafts?

I looked it over last night and I don't think he'd go top 3 in any recent draft except for 2013, which totally sucked at the top. Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, and Otto Porter in the top 3. Yuck!

He seems like a 4-8 guy to me in most drafts.

Patrick #4 (reach and 75% bust... post-lottery in re-draft)
Marko #44 (100% bust ... undrafted in re-draft)
Ayo #43 (steal, but "didn't expect him to drop" ... should've been lotto)
Terry #18 (reach and 75% bust... should've been 2nd round or bottom of 1st)
Phillips #35 (TBD - essentially looking like a proper 2nd round prospect, not a steal)

This right here is exactly why I am "about done" with AKME...they can't draft for s***....say what you want about GarPax, they were atleast both good scouts for the most part.

Williams was like a mid-teens/early 20's projected player at best and still thought that was a reach for a 6TH MAN!
Marko was considered a "steal" at the time but never panned out, much like many Euros that need an "extra year overseas"
Ayo should've been a late lotto/late teen's pick, never understood it he was projected lotto 3 straight years in college, they just lucked into this!
Terry, i watched/watch a ton of college basketball and in that draft, I had him as a LATE 2nd round prospect at the absolute best
Phillips like you said, about even on where he is/where he was picked but time will tell

Now we have another late lotto pick that they are very likely to utilize taking a "project" player like Terry or Phillips and have no idea how to develop or deal with. I dont trust them, and honeslty if Wemby was available the 11th pick this year i'd expect AKME to F*** it up and either not draft him or draft him and not play him...so at this point the first step is getting rid of this s*** front office if we want to see the Bulls ever be worth a damn again!

[Jcool0]

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[kodo]

Most saying this is the worst draft since 2013 and could be even worse than that. Hollinger said he'd be surprised if there's even an Oladipo level guy to come out of this one.

As bad as that draft was, it still produced a 2-time MVP (Giannis #15) and a 4-time DPOY (Gobert #27) in the first round. CJ McCollum (#10) was also a first rounder that year.

2013 is a weird benchmark for bad drafts, for the reasons you mentioned.

2021 seems like it's worse and we're past the critical season 3 for everyone.

Cade: possibly never an all-star
Jalen Green: possibly never an all-star
Evan Mobley: possibly never an all-star
Scottie Barnes: 1x all star, likely more
Suggs: most likely never an all-star
Giddey: most likely never an all-star
Kuminga: most likely never an all-star
Franz Wagner: hard to say
Davion Mitchell, Ziaire Williams, Bouknight, Primo, Duarte, Kispet...NBA regular guys
Sengun: possible all-star

[MrSparkle]

Most saying this is the worst draft since 2013 and could be even worse than that. Hollinger said he'd be surprised if there's even an Oladipo level guy to come out of this one.

As bad as that draft was, it still produced a 2-time MVP (Giannis #15) and a 4-time DPOY (Gobert #27) in the first round. CJ McCollum (#10) was also a first rounder that year.

2013 is a weird benchmark for bad drafts, for the reasons you mentioned.

2021 seems like it's worse and we're past the critical season 3 for everyone.

Cade: possibly never an all-star
Jalen Green: possibly never an all-star
Evan Mobley: possibly never an all-star
Scottie Barnes: 1x all star, likely more
Suggs: most likely never an all-star
Giddey: most likely never an all-star
Kuminga: most likely never an all-star
Franz Wagner: hard to say
Davion Mitchell, Ziaire Williams, Bouknight, Primo, Duarte, Kispet...NBA regular guys
Sengun: possible all-star

And that was supposed to be a great draft! Lot of folks want to tank command.

But also, I'd argue that atleast 5 of those guys have all-star potential. We're 3-5 years from their primes, and atleast 7 have made big steps in the last year.

[Jcool0]

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[DuckIII]

I know a lot of you will understandably disagree due to fit and shooting, but the more recent mocks have me drooling for Castle.

If it holds that he ends up projected around 8/9/10 I’d really like to see AK trade up to secure him.

But I’m intrigued by a lot of these guys.

[Jcool0]

Not ideal

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[Jcool0]

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[MrSparkle]

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Wonder if Missi moves on up in the draft. That’s a tall fella for that vert.

[RastaBull]

Fascinated by this draft. Basically picks 2-11 seem like they could fall in an infinite number of ways. Portland fascinates me the most. At #7 and at #14. I feel like they could be a trade partner in a whole bunch of ways ... especially with us owning that future pick (yeah, there's a world where it's nothing but a 2nd round down road; but it's also acting as a hold on their picks for other trades).

Given the supposed toss up with a lot of guys in that 5-12 range, I wonder if Portland (depending on who is/isn't there at #7 for them) would listen to #11+Portland pick back to Portland for #7?

Who in this draft, if they drop to #7, would YOU (as Bulls fan) want to make that trade for to guarantee our selection instead of seeing who shakes out at #11. My thought was if Clingan fell the #7, and that's your guy, then you offer that trade (Clingan won't fall past Memphis at 9). But maybe there's a another guy you like that much (I could be convinced about Reed if Lavine is getting traded also).

What if Portland at #7 sees Clingan and wants to take him. Maybe then Ayton is even more on trade block (who had a pretty good final 2 months as a scoring bigman again).

Ayton+2nd (+14?) for Vuc+Ball+Portland Pick (+AC?)

- Ayton is not a scrub. He ave 23/12 in March and April. He's got two more year at 35 mil (lotta money). If we are separately able to send out Zach then Ayton could be a scoring/stable piece on a tear down with a youth build up (I like Ayo+White at guard spots with decent other pieces). Also could work on a 2-year timeline deal with DDR if the FO is itching to bring him back (I like that, I know many don't)
- Vuc is 20 mil, also on 2 more years, so would save 15 mil on books going into FA next year. Ball 21 mil contract helps match/make salaries work, but comes off books next year for them (maybe this isn't value at all to them though).
- If they draft Clingan, Vuc would be a good vet on a short contract to balance and bring along Clingan. Vuc has tremendous post footwork, and Clingan is potential defensive powerhouse. Vuc is getting to end of career so easier perhaps to get Clingan minutes than a 25yo Ayton taking a hit on minutes
- As mentioned, the Port Pick we own is at least some value. If Port gets Scoot/Sharpe/Simmons clicking, and their 2024 pick has a good Rookie year, Port could want to make moves for vets or other pieces but ultimately be unable because we hold that pick hostage until it's conveyed. If we included it in this trade maybe we could get a second rounder back right now.
- Maybe Ball is not value in trade match; what if we sent AC instead and also requested the 14 pick back?