We know the best Bulls draft. It may have been the best draft anyone ever has had.
With the third pick in the 1984 draft, they reluctantly chose Michael Jordan.
Not that they weren’t pleased, but as general manager Rod Thorn said that June day as fans watched in the Hilton hotel ballroom, “We’ve taken a step in the right direction. Jordan isn’t going to turn this franchise around. I wouldn’t ask him to. I wouldn’t put that kind of pressure on him. He’s a very good offensive player, but not an overpowering offensive player.
“If we had our choice between [Sam] Bowie and Jordan, we still would have taken Jordan,” said Thorn, now the New Jersey Nets’ general manager. “But [Akeem] Olajuwon was the big prize. We need a center. There wasn’t one there.”
Jordan’s North Carolina coach, Dean Smith, likened Jordan to “more of a Sidney Moncrief type with outstanding defensive ability.”
And so the Bulls look Wednesday to find the next guy who they say won’t be turning around the franchise but are privately hoping he’s way better than they’re saying.
No, this NBA talent evaluation is not an easy business. If they couldn’t see it in Jordan, how are they supposed to see it in anyone? Yet, it is what everyone expects. Be right.
Olajuwon, as Thorn said, was the prize of that draft and the Bulls did their part to get him, losing 14 of their last 15 games to try to get the worst record in the league.
A tie got you a coin flip for a 50-50 chance at the top pick.
Not that the Bulls were very good at it, with 1979 perhaps being their worst draft. They lost the coin flip to the Lakers, who chose Magic Johnson, and the Bulls were left with David Greenwood.
Greenwood had a decent career, but how would NBA history have changed? One of the reasons Johnson elected to leave Michigan State after his sophomore year was a chance to play in the Midwest and with a veteran center like the Bulls’ Artis Gilmore.
He had to settle for L.A. and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Apparently, the Bulls weren’t the only team trying to lose during that 1983-84 season.
Houston closed with 14 losses in its last 17, and that was with a healthy Ralph Sampson. The farce led to the establishment of the draft lottery the next year.
Patrick Ewing going to the Knicks in 1985 is another story.
So though the Bulls didn’t quite recognize it at the time, their 1984 draft was the best in team history and the one that put them on the path to greatness.
It also may have been the first truly good draft by the Bulls, as the team’s draft history ranked as one of the poorest in league annals until then.
How do you like some of these No. 1 picks?
Dave Schellhase, Jimmy Collins, Kennedy McIntosh, Kevin Kunnert and Cliff Pondexter. Most were out of basketball within a few seasons.
Reggie Theus in 1978 was likely the best first-round pick since the franchise started with Schellhase in 1966.
Then there was a dry spell, until they stumbled onto Jordan.
Jerry Krause did the best job in 1987 with Scottie Pippen (obtained in a trade for draft pick Olden Polynice) and Horace Grant and in 1985 with Charles Oakley.
Even though Karl Malone went at No. 13 in 1985, Oakley was a solid choice and enabled the Bulls to deal him for the final championship piece, Bill Cartwright.
After the 1984 and 1987 drafts, the best was probably 1999.
With the first pick in a wide-open draft much like this season’s, the Bulls made the right choice by taking Elton Brand over Steve Francis, Baron Davis and Lamar Odom. But trading Brand for the rights to Tyson Chandler led to Krause’s eventual dismissal.
It’s hard to rate the drafts of the 1990s. The Bulls had such a good record that they had a low pick almost every season.
Though the Bulls had scouted Europe for years and came up with a coup in Toni Kukoc in the second round in 1990, it was the Spurs who scooped the NBA with international successes, despite low draft picks.
The Bulls’ best draft picks since then have been those under GM John Paxson–Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng.
Paxson is on the clock again with two No. 1 picks in this draft, one that carries perhaps as much uncertainty as any in the last 20 years, with up to six players being considered for the top pick.
This year’s draft is reminiscent of 1989, when the Bulls had three No. 1 picks. Stacey King, who was rumored to be going No. 1 to Sacramento–Pervis Ellison did–fell to the Bulls at No. 6 in one of the poorest drafts in NBA history.
King wasn’t what the Bulls expected and Tim Hardaway at No. 14 and Shawn Kemp at No. 17 were probably the best players. B.J. Armstrong, at No. 18, and King contributed to three Bulls titles.
The 1995 draft was similar and the effective beginning of the high school era. Joe Smith went No. 1, followed by Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, with Kevin Garnett at No. 5. It wasn’t a particularly good day for the Bulls either.
They selected Jason Caffey at No. 20 and the Suns followed at No. 21 with Proviso East’s Michael Finley.
Finley would never be able to shoot, we were assured, of the player who annually ranks among the leaders in three-point shooting and has averaged more than 40 percent the last three seasons combined.
Bulls blunders
So if 1984 and Jordan was the best draft, Sam Smith knows what the worst were, and 2001 tops the list:
2001
Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry
Custer had a good plan too. The trading of Brand and the selection of the high school kids sent the team into a spiral they’ve only recently begun to recover from. Curry finally was dispatched amid the medical issues of a year ago, and trade talk has swirled around Chandler in this draft in what may be more of a symbolic break from the past and the way the Bulls once went awry.
1970
Jimmy Collins
It was not like the Bulls were the only ones having problems as the likes of Al Henry, John Valleley, John Hummer and Gary Freeman helped fill out the first round after Collins. But Collins had a tough time with coach Dick Motta, and Hall of Famers Calvin Murphy and Nate “Tiny” Archibald went at the top of the second round with the first round then 17 picks. Krause was then a Bulls scout and Motta used to yell, “That’s the guy who talked me out of Tiny Archibald” whenever he saw Krause, but Motta was in charge.
1980
Ronnie Lester
This pick came after he blew out his knee in the NCAA tournament. He probably would have been special but was never the same. The Bulls with the No. 4 pick took Kelvin Ransey and traded down, a Thorn specialty, to No. 10 for Lester and a future No. 1 the Bulls used the next season to trade up for Orlando Woolridge, who had a high scoring though troubled time in Chicago. He was let go for the draft pick the Bulls would use for Stacey King.
1982
Quintin Dailey
Some decent players went after him, such as Fat Lever, Sleepy Floyd, Paul Pressey and Ricky Pierce. But it was the public relations disaster of the era. Dailey had admitted to a rape in college and came to his opening news conference essentially unrepentant and then soon entered drug rehabilitation.
1983
Sidney Green, Ennis Whatley
You’re getting the idea why things were so bad when Jordan came. Green had a competent career and was a solid pro, though they passed on Dale Ellis, Jeff Malone and Derek Harper. And then they traded Mark Olberding for the rights to Whatley, who joined the drug group quickly, and went one pick ahead of Clyde Drexler. Of course, Portland passed on Jordan in 1984 because they had Drexler.
1977
The astronaut draft
Tate Armstrong in the first round, and in the second round Mike Glenn and Steve Sheppard. Armstrong barely played in two seasons and was out of the NBA. Right after him came Tree Rollins, Brad Davis and Rickey Green, and right before Glenn came Norm Nixon.
1976
Scott May
Picked No. 2 overall after John Lucas went No. 1 in a weak draft-though Adrian Dantley and Robert Parish were first-rounders and Alex English went in the second round.
2000
Marcus Fizer, Jamal Crawford, Dalibor Bagaric
This was to be the turnaround season from the championship conclusion. They traded Toni Kukoc for the No. 1 that was used for Chris Mihm in a swap for Crawford. It wasn’t a great draft with Kenyon Martin and Stromile Swift, both available now, on top. The Bulls also used three second-round picks and were routinely ignored in free agency to make it the summer disaster of franchise history.
1973
Kevin Kunnert
He was right before Illinois’ Nick Weatherspoon. It was the midst of another bizarre draft with the Bulls set to grab Illinois State’s Doug Collins in a trade with the 76ers for Cliff Ray and Bob Weiss. But Ray’s surgery killed the deal and Kunnert never played for the Bulls.
1972
Ralph Simpson
Picked right before Julius Erving. The Bulls had problems outbidding the ABA as it was signing underclassmen (1974 pick Maurice Lucas and 1969 selection Larry Cannon) and the NBA was waiting, and the Bulls were being outbid for the top players.
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sasmith@tribune.com
