Breaking Down The Bulls Draft Picks, A Big Cat Thought Piece

Time for a little Bulls Draft Review. What we like, what we don’t like, thoughts, concerns, non sequiturs, you name it. Let’s hop right in.

Doug McDermott – Forward, Creighton

What do we like?

Well for one thing, shooting, and lot’s of it. If you watched the 2013-14 Chicago Bulls you know the one thing they were pretty bad at was shooting. Kind of an important skill you want your team to have. Following the Magic Johnson school of basketball, if you shoot well you’ll score points and if you score points you’ll have a better chance of scoring more points than the other team aka winning.

Oh and this isn’t just College shooting, if you watched McDermott play in college you know he has range.

The Bulls needed a shooter, they needed a guy who can space the floor and play off what hopefully will be a healthy Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony. Doug McDermott is that guy.

But Big Cat, if he was drafted at 11 how did we get him?

Great question, we traded picks 16 and 19 for him. At first I thought this was to cut more Melo salary, cheaper to pay 1 draft pick than 2. But Denver made us take Anthony Randolph and his expiring contract in the deal. And when I say made us take I literally mean made us take. Anthony Randolph is not good at basketball, he’s a contract. Just look at the last line of his wikipedia page.

Anyway, the point of this mini rant is the Bulls added contract money last night, which is the opposite direction. BUT, they also added a piece in Doug McDermott who makes Mike Dunleavy Jr. expendable. So if the Bulls maneuver correctly they could have potentially put themselves in a position to shed more than just Boozer’s salary

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Is Doug McDermott also an Insurance Salesman?

Yes, he definitely is

So what’s not to like here because right now I’m thinking this guy is the best player ever?

Well for 1 his Defense. That has been the biggest knock on McDermott, that he defensively won’t be able to hang at the next level. There have also been questions about his athleticism (newsflash, he’s white) and whether the NBA game will move too fast for him on both sides of the ball. I understand these concerns and I don’t disagree. But I will say this. The Bulls didn’t need another athlete. They have athletes (Rose, Butler, Gibson). They needed a guy who can hit shots and space the floor. Will he be a defensive liability? Maybe, but I also know that Thibs is as close to a defensive genius as it gets and as long as you have a guy who can buy in and play his assignment he won’t be that bad. Not to mention Thibs, Gar and Pax have had their eye on McDermott for quite some time now. They’ve spoken glowingly about his Team USA workouts last summer. This wasn’t a rash decision to a poor playoff performance. They’re sold, I’m sold, let’s do it.

Cameron Bairstow – Forward, New Mexico

Look into the Bulls War Room these past 2 season. The secret sauce Checklist for any potential player.

Who the fuck is Cameron Bairstow?

Great question, he’s a 6’9” forward out of New Mexico by way of Australia.

Whoa, whoa, did you say a big white boy from Australia? I did, remind you of anyone?

What’s more impressive? That someone made a Luc Longley mix tape or that it’s been watched 62 thousand times?

So what does Bairstow give us? For one, a cheap big. And yes he’s slightly undersized at 6’9” but he makes up for his height in his weight and strength aka he’s strong as fuck and won’t get pushed around. He also made a pretty big leap between his junior and senior season. From 10 and 6 shooting .450 to 20 and 7.5, shooting .550. And the shooting is the big sticking point here. He can play in the post but he also has a mid range jumper that is wet. This point is important because you have 2 current bigs, Noah and Gibson, that need to be around the rim to be at their most effective. Bairstow could fit into that Boozer type mid range jumper role, not to say he will be Carlos Boozer because with all of Boozer’s warts he’s still a high level offensive big man, but he can be similar and add more Defense than Boozer did. Second round picks aren’t known to be make or break but I like this one. He won’t be a starter or All-Star or anything like that, but he can absolutely be a 15-20 minute guy that adds value on both ends. Good pick Bulls.

And with that, we wait. Real fun starts now. Melo? Lebron? Extend Boozer? (half joking, half because you never know with this front office). The one thing we do know is that this man is staying here and he clearly has been bench pressing non stop since Game 5 against Washington