I'm inclined to think he is. I'd say that given the known risks with taking him and the level of preparation they did beforehand they've never been so "off" on a prospect. Although what's funny is that he's struggling with basically the same issues he had in college too. The three other choices are Tyrus Thomas, Marquis Teague and James Johnson. I'm not going to count 2nd round picks since those are basically a crap shoot and every team does poorly when judged for accuracy by that point. Tyrus is tempting, except the risk with Tyrus was well identified and everyone knew going into it that he was going to be a binary boom/bust type of pick. Unfortunately he busted. I think the Bulls were basically right about his talent since, even though he was a lazy ass-hat he was still a productive player while in the league. But it was a calculated coin flip that didn't go their way. James Johnson is next but he basically turned into the player they envisioned, he just had to get on another team to find his groove. I don't think that's all that unusual in the league, and practically every player without superstar talent needs a decent roster fit to make it. So to me the James Johnson pick gets a "Pass" on their report card, even though they don't get any bonus points for it. It doesn't hurt that he was traded for the pick that eventually became Niko. Then you have Marquis Teague who was terrible, but was basically a flyer taken by the team since they weren't crazy about anyone else. The big "what if" of course is Draymond Green, but Golden State themselves passed on him the first time to take.......Festus Ezeli. No one expected him to be that good. Snell, however, was a very deliberate pick by the Bulls and it seems clear they've felt highly enough about him to bank on his contributions when building the team. You can't blame fit, organizational patience, or lack of opportunity for his failures either. Given his draft position and skill set he's practically had the red carpet rolled out for him. Vet team, starting role, 3 years to grow into his game.......and it still hasn't happened. And he wasn't exactly a high ceiling player either. His allure at draft time was that he had a game he could easily bring to the pros. So I'm not sure if there's a player in GarPax's draft history that's less excusable as a pick. Thoughts?
He's in the running. But he was only the 21st pick in the 1st. Plenty of guys drafted there don't pan out. The Tyrus pick has to be on the table since it was such a high pick. And they traded Aldridge for him. And he's out of the league at this point. That's a bust. McDermott at 11 has to be in the running as well. He currently is sporting a PER of 10.8 and his game is pretty much purely offense. If that keeps up, it doesn't bode well. There are not many older rookies that join the NBA and put up PERs of 6.8 and 10.8 in their 1st two seasons and end up having great careers. 11th pick in the draft is much higher than 21st.
I think the conversation stops at Tyrus. That was back when the Bulls were still trying to establish a culture; and instead of picking Roy or Aldridge who already had pro abilities you went with a guy who had no position and very few skills. At the end of the day, I have a hard time seeing how Snell can be the guy. I think he has the chance of sticking on rosters and making a career of it. He's the definition of a three-and-d guy and doesn't get you in a ton of trouble.
Teague is the biggest bust. He ain't in the league and he ain't lighting it up in the D-league. He never even showed a significant flash. A complete whiff. Thomas however, was easily the biggest mistake. They had the 2nd pick and got nothing useful. The fact that they could have had Aldridge doesn't help. As mentioned, Snell was the 21st overall selection so the stakes are lower. Unlike Teague, Snell has shown flashes...he's probably had about a dozen very nice games over his 2+ seasons here. He's averaged about 10 points per 36 mins on very low usage. I agree with SST that there's a decent chance that he'll stick in the league as a journeyman 3 & D guy.
