One of the best questions on the thead. Absent some blockbuster deal to move up to mid lotto we have 2 picks solidly in the BPA zone. Focusing on the top prospects is interesting from an overall fan perspective but not really germane to the Bulls' draft and I peronally don't see the next Air apparent, Glide or Dream to sell the farm to get from team fool8sh enough to trade the pick of such a lofty prospect for. Fortunately there seems to be a fair number of quality 2 and 3 wing players who may end up filling needs AND being BPA. Stauskas could be one of them. hopefully a heathy Rose Donnie Darko Noah a scorer picked up JB and the gang will have us back in the draft position of what I used to call BDSA (best Dickie Simpkins available).
DraftExpress.com, the best of the draft sites IMO, has Stauskas going at #17...immediately after they have the Bulls using the Charlotte pick to take Duke's Rodney Hood. So yeah, I'd say there's a chance.
What do you guys think about the guys in the championship game? I respect the hell out of the things Shabazz Napier does on the court but how good would DJ Augustin be if he couldn't shoot? Probably out of the league by now . . . I think UConn's DeAndre Daniels might be a decent candidate for the Bulls' second pick this draft. He's UConn's small forward putting up solid numbers on small minutes (28.5 mpg): 13.0 ppg (47.1 fg%, 44.0 3P%, 78.6 FT%), 5.8 reb (1.5 + 4.3), 0.5 a, 0.7 s, 1.4 blocks. Daniels has the same length measurements as Luol Deng, maybe a half inch taller; decent athlete; can handle a little bit; can shoot a little bit. DraftExpress has him at 29, coming out in 2015. I wouldn't be shocked if he plays himself into a first round guarantee and leaves this year.
Fwiw, I always thought Trevor Ariza would have been an ideal replacement for Lu. Similar size and stats. Ariza didn't stick with one team tho. The point being we might aim higher than a role player, and sign guys like Ariza if we want that kind of player.
Wings have gotten taller and PFs have gotten shorter the last few years, to the point where lots of wings are taller than the "bigs". But the bigs are still bigs and the wings are still wings. And I guess we just disagree on the skillset, because I actually do see above average perimeter skills from Randolph. His skillset right now is similar to Griffin and hes way ahead of where Griffin was at the same age. He'll face up and drive on his man pretty frequently, to good success, just like you see from Blake and David Lee. But he can also back guys down, he'll be one of the strongest PFs right off the bat, and hes proving in the NCAA tourney that he's pretty tough. Yes, he will have to develop a jump shot, but that's something you should expect to improve. He's not as gifted of a natural passer as Griffin, Love, etc. but his passing out of a double has improved a lot, and I don't think its a weakness. Dunno what else to say. I believe he'll do fine in the NBA. Said the same thing about Kevin Love, Big Baby, Sullinger, when people were saying they would never stick in the league too. Time will tell.
This thread started with who DraftExpress.com projects the Bulls to select. Their projections have changed: 16th pick (from Charlotte) - Nik Stauskas SG Michigan 19th pick - Montrezl Harrell PF/C Louisville I'd be very pleased with this.
So would I. We're lucky in that this seems to be one of the best drafts to have a couple of middling 1st round picks.
This is a great post. Almost enough to change my mind. What prevents me is that over the years I've started to put less emphasis on anthropometric measurements. If you disregard his wingspan Randle has everything you'd look for in a top prospect. That to me is enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, based on this post I will be paying more attention to him this year, because his success (or lack of it) will be a very useful data point about the marginal importance of length for an NBA big man.
Some guards can score at the rim, some can't. I don't think it's all about length all the time. If a guy knows how to score, he's going to do it with short arms or long ones. The bit about guards scoring at the rim is about ability, not about the players in question.
