They have the best shooting guard ever to play pro basketball, but he may retire. They have one of the game’s best-ever small forwards, but he’s a free agent and said he may go to another team. They have the first center among their six championship teams to average double figures in a season. But he also is a free agent. Their power forward is the league’s best rebounder, but he’s a free agent as well and could return to Jupiter.
So what do the Bulls do Wednesday in the NBA draft?
“We’ve got to take the best player available at No. 28,” says Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause.
And forget position and potential. If not now, pretty soon the Bulls will need to fill just about every position.
So the guessing is the Bulls will go big, trying to get, yes, another power forward.
That’s sort of the unwritten rule in the NBA: If you make a mistake, make it big.
The thinking goes like this: It’s harder to find good big men, like centers and power forwards, than good small men, like guards and small forwards. In fact, this draft once again is strongest at the small forward and big guard positions.
One thought is that if Michael Jordan is to return, and Ron Harper and Toni Kukoc are under contract, what the Bulls need most is a quick point guard to, at least, defend the small, quick point guards who give the Bulls so much trouble during the regular season.
Bulls coach Phil Jackson always has been reluctant to play rookies, but with Jackson leaving soon, it’s likely a new coach would give rookies a better chance.
One guard the Bulls like is Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew, who is not exceptionally quick, but is a good shooter, smart and has leadership qualities. But it’s doubtful he’ll be available when the Bulls choose at No. 28.
Athletic-type point guards who could be available are Tyronn Lue of Nebraska and Corey Brewer of Oklahoma, as well as Marcus Saxon of Utah State. One guard who doesn’t fit the typical Bulls profile, but who is intriguing, is 5-foot-5-inch scorer Earl Boykins of Eastern Michigan.
It’s hard to make a judgment based on players the Bulls have worked out because team officials sometimes hold private workouts away from the Berto Center for prospects they’re truly interested in. One who fits that mystery mold is 6-9 forward Simon Dwight, a veteran of the Australian league who is considered a top shot-blocker.
Among the players the Bulls have seen in the short time since the Finals ended are high schooler Korleone Young, 6-11 center Casey Shaw of Toledo, Texas Tech guard Corey Carr, and 6-10 forward Brian Skinner of Baylor. Skinner could be selected among the top 20 players but given this draft’s uncertainty he could slip to the end of the first round.
It’s also not out of the question for the Bulls to be in position to get a player who could help them immediately, someone like deadeye shooter Pat Garrity of Notre Dame, big guard Bonzi Wells of Ball State, Purdue center Brad Miller, swingman Michael Dickerson of Arizona or forward Matt Harpring of Georgia Tech.
Two teams, Orlando and Houston, have three picks between Nos. 12 and 18, and neither team wants all three picks. Boston and Detroit, with the Nos. 10 and 11 picks, are looking to trade their picks.
And some teams don’t want much.
Why?
Because several teams are preparing for major free-agent acquisitions. So they cannot afford to draft rookies and have their guaranteed salaries on their salary cap.
A matter of even $1 million or $2 million sometimes could be the difference in attracting a top free agent.
So some of the teams not in the top eight or nine of this draft, which is generally considered the cutoff point for top players, may just want to get out of having to take a player.
Which could enable the Bulls to add a relatively high-quality player.
The Bulls did have the last selection of last year’s second round, taking 7-2 center Roberto Duenas, but concluded he is not ready for the NBA and will remain in Europe.
Also, the Bulls were hoping to bring over power forward Dragan Tarlac, but he was drafted in the second round. That means until the Bulls are under the salary cap, they can offer Tarlac only a minimum salary. So Tarlac, a rugged 6-10 player, re-signed in Greece with escape clauses after each season.
The Bulls have the fifth pick in the second round from the Jason Caffey trade–see, they could win another championship without Caffey–and the last pick in the second round.
Among other players who should be available to them are UCLA forward Jelani McCoy, St. John’s guard Felipe Lopez, Mississippi forward Ansu Sesay, Iowa’s athletic Ricky Davis, North Carolina-Charlotte forward DeMarco Johnson, Florida A&M center Jerome James (the nation’s top shot-blocker), Arizona guard Miles Simon, Cincinnati swingman Ruben Patterson and Minnesota swingman Sam Jacobson.
It’s the perfect draft for Krause. No pick is wrong, because the Bulls need just about everything, and nobody has any idea what the Bulls will do.
