The Bulls winning the NBA Draft Lottery meant that I had to throw out my lotto tickets because all the luck in the universe last night had already been allocated for the Chicago Bulls.
There is simply no other way to put it, the Bulls struck oil. In a draft class where the Grand Canyon is between Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose and the rest of the class, there was no other place to be if any team was looking to make an overnight franchise changing pick.
With all do respect to some of the other writers on here, picking anyone other then Beasley or Rose with the number one pick is just plain old idiotic. If Bulls General Manager John Paxson picks anyone else, he should be fired on the spot.
Brook Lopez is a name I've seen floating around as a stretch for this pick. Picking Lopez first overall would be like taking Michael Olowakandi first overall (wait a second..).
Lopez cannot run the floor every night against NBA talent that would make him worthy of a top five overall selection let alone the first. Let it be known that anyone who suggests Brook Lopez to go first overall is on some sort of mentally debilitating drug.
As long as we are on the topic of wasting draft picks, I would like to draw another comparison to the past.
This comparison stars Michael Beasley as Sam Bowie and Derrick Rose as Michael Jordan. I would never ever compare anyone to Michael Jordan on the court but the situations on draft night will be alike.
Beasley, like Bowie, is the big man who has a scoring touch, can rebound, and has scouts drooling over his potential. However, Beasley is not 6'10. In the coming weeks everyone will find out that Beasley is actually a hair under 6'8 without shoes on. At least Bowie was a legit seven-footer.
Rose, like Jordan, is coming off of a solid NCAA tournament run where he led his team from the point guard position. Rose is right around the 6'5 mark and has incredibly quick hands and great length to defend like Jordan.
The difference between the two going into their respective draft nights is that Rose's jump shot is leaps and bounds better then Jordan's.
The thing with Beasley is that he did not exhibit the leadership skills when he needed to. He was the go to guy all the time on a Kansas St. team that seemed to be slightly above mediocre in a year where they had a chance to make some noise in a weaker Big 12 (outside of Kansas and Texas of course).
Rose seemingly stayed in the shadows and paid his dues as Memphis steamrolled through Conference USA and then delivered big time in the tournament when it mattered the most. Rose took Memphis within minutes of a national championship.
Besides his maturity and questionable size, another knock on Beasley is that he took a lot of shots from all over the floor. This is a problem because in the NBA the three point line moves back and his aforementioned lack of maturity might deter from him being a team player.
His ego could get in the way of passing up shots he can't make in the NBA. Not to mention his shot taking could pull him outside of the low post which is where he is going to have to earn his keep. He cannot think for a second he is Kevin Garnett or Dirk Nowitzki.
Plus the Bulls do not need another problem with a rookie and his ego (see Joakim Noah last season).
The fact that Rose is a Chicago product should have no bearing on making him the first overall selection because he is flat out the better player with a higher upside right away.
Beasley could very well be a better pro when its all said and done but the Bulls are looking to win now. This is not a bad team as it is and in a continually weak Eastern Conference, above average is all you need to really be.
Derrick Rose, you will be the number one pick. Welcome back home.
comments (2) write a comment »
write a new comment
4 months ago
Beasley has bust written all over him at only 6 feet 8 inches and the Bulls don't need another guard here. I don't get it! Why does everyone seem to overlook Brook Lopez for this pick. THe guy is a 7 footer and the Bulls desperately need a low post scoring machine, and Lopez proved he can score just about every time he touches the ball at Stanford. We don't need another Derreck Coleman with Beasley. LETS TAKE THE 7 FOOT SCORING MACHINE! (OUR BIGGEST NEED)
from 4 months ago
What I would do if I were John Paxson is trade Kirk Hinrich to the Trail Blazers for the 13th pick, and then package the number one and 13 to Minnesota for the third and Al Jefferson. However, this is about as unrealistic as Brook Lopez being a solid pro.
If either Lopez is going to be a good pro it's going to be Robin. Robin got his decent numbers but he did it against the oppositions best big men. That's the thing about the Lopez brothers that no one realizes. Robin drew the tougher matchups every night and did almost all the dirty work. Brook was there at the right time almost every time, which is not a bad thing but that will be exposed in the NBA.
write a new comment