Chicago Bulls: Analyzing the Player Acquisition Pipelines in Franchise History

Every NBA franchise or sports franchise has created a track record in their history of player acquisitions. Teams are shaped by the success or failure of the front office in this component of hopefully building a winner.

Some teams luck out finding that special talent that is so great or dominant that he carries all affiliated with him to the top of the sport. Such is the case with Michael Jordan in Chicago, Tim Duncan in San Antonio, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in Los Angeles.

Here, I took a look at the Bulls' player acquisition history in the past 30 years. There are some interesting trends, success and failure stories. Here is how the Bulls have fared in seven of the most common player transaction types.

Free Agency Has Not Been Kind to the Bulls

Many Bulls fans can't wait for the lockout to end so free agency can commence. Then the Bulls can acquire that shooting guard they need so much. Well, this may or may not be the best route to take if you look at the history of Bulls' free-agent acquisitions.

Since the 1981-1982 season, the Bulls have attempted to add to their roster through free agency with mixed reviews. Take a look at these names:

John Paxson

Steve Kerr

Ron Harper

Ron Mercer

Brad Miller

Eddie Robinson

Donyell Marshall

Andres Nocioni

Ben Wallace

Keith Bogans

Carlos Boozer

Ronnie Brewer

Kyle Korver

None of these acquisitions made a huge splash. At best, the likes of John Paxson, Steve Kerr and Ron Harper were valuable role players on championship teams. Ron Mercer averaged just over 17 points per game for a season-and-a-half of United Center purgatory during the Tim Floyd years.

Eddie Robinson is probably the worst signing on this list. He was billed as an up-and-coming young star, but he refused to put in the effort to become anything more than a bench player collecting a phat check.

Donyell Marshall had his moments for a mediocre Bulls team coached by Bill Cartwright.

Ben Wallace was a huge disappointment and the closest thing to Robinson in that category. For what was expected of him, which was ridiculous in its own right, Wallace delivered on little as his athleticism had begun to erode. Though still a solid player, the Bulls paid him to be much more than that and it didn't work out.

Along with Paxson and Harper, Andres Nocioni is probably the best signing of the group. It's not that he was the best player; he wasn't the best player, but as an undrafted free agent, he was a great find in Argentina by the Bulls organization.

The verdict is still out on this past offseason's free-agent acquisitions (Bogans, Korver, Brewer and Boozer) one good thing is that they all played significant roles in a successful and encouraging season.

Lottery Picks Have Been Great

Lottery picks are a layup, right? Not at all.

There are some franchises that have had horribly bad luck in the lottery. Take the Los Angeles Clippers. From 1998 to 2007, their nearly annual trip to the lottery yielded the following players: Al Thornton, Yaroslav Korolev, Shaun Livingston, Chris Kaman, Chris Wilcox, Darius Miles, Michael Olowokandi, Lamar Odom and Tyson Chandler (traded for Elton Brand).

Though there are three good players in the bunch, only one is still with the Clippers (Kaman). He is also the only one who played for the franchise more than four years.

That said, the lottery is not a gimme by any stretch. The Bulls have had great luck while selecting in the top 16. Take a look at this list:

Artis Gilmore (selected No. 1 overall out of college and then again in the ABA dispersal draft)

David Greenwood

Reggie Theus

Orlando Woolridge

Quentin Dailey

Sidney Green

Michael Jordan

Brad Sellers

Horace Grant

Ron Artest

Elton Brand

Eddy Curry

Jay Williams

Marcus Fizer

Kirk Hinrich

Luol Deng

Ben Gordon

Joakim Noah

Derrick Rose

That is a pretty impressive list of players. The disappointments are few considering the length of the list.

Quentin Dailey was a great scorer for the Bulls in the early '80s but substance-abuse issues curtailed what would've been a good NBA career. Sidney Green was injured more than not during his brief stay and far less than spectacular in his one healthy season.

Brad Sellers was one of the most ineffective of all the Bulls lottery selections. He may have been ahead of his time. The league was not yet accepting of 7'0" jump shooters yet. Had his style been embraced, maybe things could've been different.

Eddy Curry definitely showed flashes while he was a Bull, but a poor work ethic, weight issues and a remarkably cured heart condition got him out of town. It seems like the Bulls just wanted to dump him.

Marcus Fizer also showed flashes as a scoring tweener forward, but a knee injury stole the momentum he was building in his final season. For me, he represents the guy the Bulls could've traded for Jermaine O'Neal in his prime.

The most tragic and unfortunate lottery pick situation is undoubtedly Jay Williams. The Bulls took him second overall in the 2002 NBA draft behind Yao Ming. Williams had an up-and-down but promising rookie year before pretty much ending his career in an ill-advised motorcycle accident in the summer of 2003.

The effective but not spectacular group of lottery picks for the Bulls in the last 30 years includes David Greenwood. Greenwood could've been included in the previous section. He was selected second overall out of UCLA, but he did have six productive seasons in Chicago, his rookie year being his best when he averaged 16 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Reggie Theus was the Bulls best player in the late '70s and early '80s. Orlando Woolridge was a stout scorer and nightly candidate for the highlight reel as O was one of the Bulls' leading scorers during his tenure.

Horace Grant was a key cog in three of the Bulls' six championships. Elton Brand was the best player on two horrible Bulls teams and an NBA Rookie Of The Year.

A young Ron Artest showed great promise in Chicago before being shipped to Indiana to be forever changed by "The Malice in The Palace."

Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon were both a part of the Bulls' resurgence until being dealt and or lost to free agency. Derrick Rose, the reigning MVP, and Joakim Noah led this young Bulls nucleus back into the NBA's elite.

Of course, there is Michael Jordan...nuff said.

Late First-Round and Second-Round Picks

Post-lottery picks are difficult to gauge. The Bulls have had their share of nondescript selections but most teams are in the same boat here. There have been some notable acquisitions.

The Bulls grabbed B.J. Armstrong with the 18th overall selection in the 1989 NBA draft. Chris Duhon was a solid second-round pick. Trenton Hassell was a fan favorite for those bad Tim Floyd teams and a second-round pick out of Austin Peay.

In 2009, the Bulls lucked out selecting Taj Gibson with 26th overall pick out of USC. Not only did Taj make the team, he started 70 games in his rookie season.

He struggled a bit in his second year playing with a new cast and backing up Carlos Boozer. He regained his rookie form later in the season, culminating in a thunderous postseason moment over Dwyane Wade.

The Bulls are hoping to strike it rich with versatile feel-good swingman Jimmy Butler. I believe he has an excellent chance to join the Duhon and Gibson group.

Draft-Day Trades: Up and Down

The draft-day deal has both bitten and kissed the Bulls. The Bulls dealt for Charles Oakley's draft rights from the Cleveland Cavaliers for Keith Lee. The Bulls definitely got the better of this deal, as Oakley would have a great run as a defender, rebounder and leader for the Bulls during his tenure.

He also provided the trade bait used to bring Bill Cartwright, one of the Bulls' final missing pieces in their initial championship run.

Scottie Pippen was acquired on draft day in 1987 in what is perhaps the most lopsided draft-day or any-other-day deal in NBA history. The Bulls plucked Pippen from the Seattle SuperSonics for future role-playing big man, Olden Polynice.

Somewhere in the middle of the good and bad draft-day trade meter is the Bulls' acquisition of Jamal Crawford. True enough, the Bulls dodged a Chris Mihm era by dealing for Crawford. Even still, beyond a 50-point performance on the last day of the season in a meaningless game against the Toronto Raptors, the Bulls didn't reap many benefits from Crawford's stay in Chicago.

The Bulls also parted with their best player and former Rookie Of The Year, Elton Brand, to acquire Tyson Chandler as part of their Prep Towers Project with Eddy Curry. That didn't work out; most fans spent this time wishing they could somehow combine the two and make one really good center.

In the "didn't matter either way" category is Thabo Sefolasha, who has had a slightly more successful career than Rodney Carney. The Bulls made out a bit better here, but they didn't retain Sefolasha.

The one huge miss for the Bulls in draft-day deals was in acquiring Tyrus Thomas, he of the smallest basketball IQ in America, for LaMarcus Aldridge, he of the nasty fadeaway and impressive future.

Tyrus is now in Charlotte for a draft pick Bulls fans are hoping amounts to something while Aldridge is one of the best young power forwards in the game. Hey, nobody is perfect.

The Windy City-Alamo Exchanges

The Bulls could always trade for that shooting guard. They have had some good luck with this; the aforementioned Cartwright-for-Oakley deal is one example.

Then there were deals like the mega Jalen Rose trade with the Indiana Pacers. Rose had a look on his face the entire time like a kid who has been temporarily placed in a remedial reading class when he thinks he should be in an honors course. Needless to say, this deal didn't do much for either party.

One team the Bulls have done a fair amount of deals with is the San Antonio Spurs. Most of these deals were done in the 1980s but they were pretty consistent for a stretch.

The Bulls acquired Dave Corzine from the Spurs for Artis Gilmore. Also arriving from San Antonio were Gene Banks, George Gervin and John Paxson was a free agent from San Antonio.

In the 1990s, Dennis Rodman was acquired from the Spurs for Will Perdue. That was a remarkable deal; it was a gamble because of Rodman's past antics but we know how that turned out in Chicago.

Dukies of Late

Recently, John Paxson has shown an affinity for Duke players. It's hard to argue with, as Blue Devil players have begun to experience a little better professional success than was the case in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Among the recently acquired Dukies are Luol Deng and Chris Duhon. Deng is a major part of the current Bulls roster and has had a good career with Chicago, no matter what happens from here on out. Duhon was a quality backup point guard during his time in Chicago. Last offseason, the Bulls threw mega dough at Carlos Boozer, another Duke alum.

Even before the more recent Bulls, the Bulls selected Jay Williams and Elton Brand, all former Mike Krzyzewski players. Even before Coach K, the Bulls traded for Gene Banks, a Dukie from another era.

Many Bulls fans were surprised this year when the Bulls didn't somehow end up with Kyle Singler because of their love for the Durham boys.

I guess there are worse programs with which to establish an unofficial pipeline.

Foreign Imports

Jerry Krause somewhat pioneered the courting and signing of foreign talent to play in the NBA with his successful recruitment of Toni Kukoc. "The Waiter's" arrival was followed by players like Dino Radja, Vlade Divac and Sarunas Marciulonis.

Kukoc was a very good player for the Bulls during his time. He played a major role for the Bulls' last three championships. He is still the only player to win the Sixth Man of The Year for a team that won the NBA championship.

The Bulls' foreign acquisitions haven't stopped there. There have been some misses, like Dalibor Bagaric and Martynas Andriuškevičius. There have been mediocre pick-ups as well, like the aforementioned Thabo Sefolasha, the NBA's first Swiss player. A bit above this status was Andres Nocioni.

Recently, the Bulls grabbed "The Turkish Hammer," Omer Asik, who has a fairly bright future and a good amount of trade value. Most recently, the Bulls maneuvered to acquire Nikola Mirotic in the 2011 NBA draft. Bulls fans hope he'll be more Kukoc and less Bagaric.