Who the Bulls Should Target in the 2015 NBA Draft

With an untimely playoff exit, the Chicago Bulls can now turn their attention to personnel matters—the 2015 NBA Draft being the most immediate. This club had a very balanced 2014-15 roster, but it was still evident that there were gaps to fill at the power forward, center and point guard positions.

The scoring regression of Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson and the aging of third-string reserve Nazr Mohammed makes a pretty strong case for taking an offensively inclined big man. Pau Gasol had a very good campaign, but his age also merits having someone younger waiting in the wings.

There are also issues with the backcourt that lend weight to drafting a guard. Aaron Brooks’ size proved to be a liability in the postseason. Kirk Hinrich posted career lows in points, assists, field-goal percentage and free-throw accuracy. His defense was not as effective as it was in years past. At 34-years-old, his days as a meaningful contributor are over.

Chicago has the 22nd pick, and they must choose wisely since they have no second-round selections. General manager Gar Forman has done a solid a job with choosing or dealing for quality talent with late-round picks. Gibson was his first-draft selection in 2009. He has also picked up Jimmy Butler and dealt for Nikola Mirotic in 2011, so recent history bodes well here.

Gauging the front-office’s mindset is tricky as the franchise is in a quasi-transitional period. Tensions with head coach Tom Thibodeau have supposedly reached critical mass, fueling the belief of an inevitable parting of ways. Butler will be a restricted free agent, and his retention is critical if this team wants to remain even a remote title contender.

There are definitely enough variables to keep management busy.

Using mock drafts from various outlets to gauge the availability of certain prospects, a small grouping of athletes who fit the aforementioned needs will be presented and analyzed, culminating with an ultimate selection. A lot can change with these would-be professionals by the time the draft arrives, but the needs of the team will likely be the same.

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Early Mock Drafts

The official draft order was complete on June 19 when the sequence of the lottery teams was determined. With that came a bevy of mock drafts by sports media giving their best guesses as to where each candidate would land. The following table is a sampling of which player some pundits believe the Bulls will pick:

Outlet	Player	School	Position
DrafExpress.com	Justin Anderson	Univ. of Virginia	SF
CBSSports.com:
Sam Vecenie	Sam Dekker	Univ. of Wisconsin	SF
Gary Parrish	Christian Wood	UNLV	PF
Zach Harper	Rondae Hollis-Jefferson	Univ. of Arizona	SF
SI.com (Chris Mannix)	Christian Wood	UNLV	PF
NBA.com (Scott Howard-Cooper)	Bobby Portis	Univ. of Arkansas	PF

Jonathan Wasserman, NBA Lead writer for B/R, believes Chicago will go the delayed gratification route and take Cedi Osman of Anadolu Efes Istanbul. The angle here is that Osman will be allowed to stay in Europe and develop but add depth on the wing once he is brought over. Here is his complete take on how the draft will pan out.

Some of these choices don’t match what the team has shown to be lacking, but that’s not meant to disparage the choices of these professionals. The lottery teams have the best shot at drafting for need. Once the later choices come around, most teams are taking the best available player. These projections are based on who each journalist thinks that person will be by time the Bulls choose.

Who might be available

Using those same forecasts, four players stand out as filling a need and possibly being on the board when Forman has to make a decision—Christian Wood of the University of Nevada at Las, Robert Upshaw of the University of Washington, Delon Wright of the University of Utah and Andrew Harrison of the University of Kentucky.

DraftExpress.com has some very insightful profiles of these athletes; each of those breakdowns shows how these players’ strengths give the Bulls what they are lacking.

Both Wood and Upshaw are credited with having solid offensive skill sets, though very distinct from one another.

Wood uses his quickness, agility and explosiveness to blow by slower defenders and has a solid jump shot that helps space the floor. He’s even a decent free-throw shooter, hitting 73 percent from the charity stripe.

Upshaw has an NBA-ready frame and used it well during his run with the Washington Huskies. He was a legitimate post-up player on offense who also held his own on the defensive end.

Wright is a point guard offensively. He stands at 6’6”, has great court vision and is an excellent passer. His size also allows him to guard either backcourt player—a task of which he totally capable given his great lateral movement.

Harrison is also a big point guard who has a little more scoring aptitude than Wright. His bigger frame enables him to finish in the paint, an attribute that translates well at the professional level.

Each of these young men has something positive to offer the Bulls; however, the franchise has only one pick. Whoever is chosen needs to fit into the long-term plan.

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The new addition

Upshaw needs to be Forman’s choice if he is available. The 21-year-old center’s positives are too much to pass up.

First, there’s his previously noted build. At 7’ and 258 pounds, his makeup is comparable with many of the league’s established centers. Size is definitely a premium in the NBA, and Upshaw has it in spades.

Looking at the current frontcourt collective, a change definitely needs to be made. Chicago has been getting by with Mohammed as their third-string center for the past two seasons. Thankfully, he did not have to play much, but it is not fun to imagine what might have happened if he was needed more.

Sure, Upshaw has some character red flags. He was dismissed from the Fresno State and Washington programs; it just seemed like he was starting to turn things around under Huskies head coach Lorenzo Romar.

On January 12, Percy Allen of the Seattle Times wrote a piece about Upshaw’s positive turnaround on, and two weeks later, Lindsay Schnell of Sports Illustrated was reporting on his dismissal from the program for unspecified team rules violations.

Still, it’s hard to imagine that Upshaw’s flaws would persist if surrounded by the Gasol’s championship pedigree and Noah and Gibson’s no-nonsense ethic. Plus, the kid would be learning so much from this collective, and that would mean a great deal in helping establish a future frontcourt core centered around Upshaw and Nikola Mirotic.

Draft Express lauds the seven-footer’s great hands and efficiency around the rim. He is also a fantastic rebounder and shot blocker. His post-up moves may be limited for now, but that’s nothing a little tutelage from his colleagues wouldn’t fix.

Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Tony Snell are all youthful enough to keep the guard positions thriving for years to come. This team has to start getting younger at up front. Upshaw has all of the tools to be a solid contributor on offense and another formidable rim protector.

Any pick this late in the first round is going to be a gamble. Forman might as well use it to address a glaring void in the middle.