A PASS-FIRST POINT GUARD, ENNIS LOOKS TO LEAD As a freshman point guard, Tyler Ennis led Syracuse to a 25-0 start last season. And though Ennis didn’t close out his collegiate career as he would have liked—the Orangemen lost six of their last nine games—the 6-3, 182-pound Canadian native believes it is his time to move on to the NBA. “I think I’m ready for the next level,” said Ennis, 19, at last month’s NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. “I wouldn’t have made the jump if I didn’t think I was ready. Along with us playing so well at Syracuse, I think I opened a lot of eyes. I just want to get to the next level, develop, and play as well as possible.” Ennis averaged 12.9 points, 5.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 34 collegiate contests. He was named to the USA Today All-America Second Team and one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy for Men’s College Player of the Year. Projected to be a mid-first round pick, Ennis could be available when the Bulls make their selections. He feels he could fit right in should Chicago decide to add to its point guard depth. “That’s a team that has so much chemistry,” said Ennis of the Bulls. “They have a bunch of guys who have been through it all and as a young point guard it would be good to go there. I’d be able to learn from Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah and those types of guys. But also to get a chance to play against Derrick Rose every day in practice, I don’t think you can get much better than that.” As Ennis, who describes himself as a “pass-first point guard,” transitions to the professional ranks and visits with teams leading up to the draft, he acknowledges that questions about his defensive abilities are common. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim employs a zone defense, thus players like Ennis don’t play a lot of 1-on-1 defense, which is common in the NBA. “A few of them kind of see that I can defend and through workouts I think I’ll be able to prove that I can defend point guards,” said Ennis, citing the success enjoyed by 2013-14 NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, a former standout for the Orangemen. “Syracuse kind of has a bad reputation in the defensive area so Mike going in and doing what he was asked to do helped turn that around. I’m hoping I’m the next in line to do that as well.” See more at http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/pass-first-point-guard-ennis-looks-lead
Re: A PASS-FIRST POINT GUARD, ENNIS LOOKS TO LEAD At the beginning of the draft process Tyler Ennis was at the very back of my mind when it came to potential Bulls' picks. Now I'm much more inclined to think of him as a major possibility. Why? 1). He was highly regarded coming out of high school, was the best player on a team that won its first 25 games, candidate for player of the year, and was typically ranked much higher on draft boards towards the beginning of the year. There's a very good chance the Bulls could consider him BPA at #16. 2). Small PG's are very important for our system, and he seems like the kind of guard that's well equipped to do well on our team. Makes good decisions, is comfortable with the ball in his hands a lot, and is very good in the high pick n' roll. It's easy to imagine him in the John Lucas/CJ Watson/DJ role and handling it well. 3). You could say that having Derrick back makes him redundant, but history suggests that's not the case. CJ and Lucas were very important bench players when Derrick was healthy, and you have to plan for minute restrictions and time off for him and Kirk. 4). It seems easy to get guys like Ennis for the vet min, but I think one of the big value plays front offices can make these days is discerning when a guy adds additional value that can't be replicated with available replacements. The Bulls' system amplifies the playmaking abilities of ball dominant point guards, which might be even more reason to draft him if you think he has certain talents that other guys in the FA pool don't have. At the very least he has very good size for his position, so maybe you don't have the same problems you do with DJ Augustin in the playoffs. 5). AFAIK he was the first prospect they brought in when teams began workouts. This could mean nothing, but the Bulls MO is to key in on the prospects they like right away and put them through an intense evaluation process, so this might signal he's one of "their guys." I'm not predicting Tyler Ennis @ 16, but I won't be surprised at all if we pick him.
I think Jerami Grant is much closer to Taj Gibson than Adreian Payne. [video=youtube;774jUVaivtY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=774jUVaivtY[/video] Similar length, build, instincts, and springiness. I don't see Payne as a similar athlete. Athletic in his own right but I don't think he reacts or covers ground on defense the same way Taj does.
I don't expect us to get franchise changing talent with the 16th or 19th pick. I don't think adding a bunch of Taj caliber players translates to playoffs success. But adding Hinrich caliber players to LeBron, Wade, and Bosh wins championships. I think you need the big 3 first, though. The rest are much easier to come by.
I agree, but would a few additional clarifications. While a guy like Taj is not the key to winning championships, he's good and unique enough that having guys like him on the roster are often the difference between being a good and very good team. We all know having a generational talent is priority #1 when it comes to winning a championship. But I think priority #2 is having the right mix of really good role players......and in this domain Taj is exceptionally important. I classify role players into three categories: #1 - Guys who really aren't very good and mostly eat up minutes because you don't want your best players playing too many minutes. Under different circumstances they can easily be DNP-CD kinda guys. Tony Snell is in this category (for now). #2 - Regular rotation players who fill a role capably but don't really do anything above replacement level. You can pencil them in for 15 minutes a night and they won't screw things up, but they certainly don't move the needle very much either. Francisco Garcia and Kirk Hinrich fall into this category. #3 - Uber role players that have limitations to their games that prohibit them from being stars, but have unique attributes to their game that make them genuinely hard to replace and are often as important as low-level stars. Taj is squarely in this category. He plays All-NBA level defense in a way that's uniquely well suited for Thibs' defensive schemes and is now a genuine two-way player. Once you have the star players you need to try and get some Taj Gibsons to separate yourself from the pack.
All we've had is a really good mix of role players. SST's thread about us maybe having a shot at the #1 pick to get Embid would be a bold move, and the kind that gets us a shot at a generational talent. At some point, you have to realize you can lose with a certain guy, or you can lose without him. Then the question becomes what the opportunity cost is. If you keep the guy because you're afraid of getting worse, you're going to lose - that's the proposition. If you lose the guy and take a big swing for the fences with the draft pick, you may still lose. Or you may have a real contender. Lose vs. Lose vs. Lose vs. LoseOrMaybeContender I take the latter option. It's not like we have a 6 time championship team coming off a championship that we're talking about breaking up here. I won't fuss about them taking the big swing and striking out. Unless they trade LMA for Tyrus again.
Re: A PASS-FIRST POINT GUARD, ENNIS LOOKS TO LEAD The more I have read about him, the more I think it could happen. This is not the first article linking him to possibly being drafted by the Bulls.
Bulls eyeing #11 with Denver The Bulls have been trying to move up in the draft to get an elite shooter. Their target has been Denver with an offer of the 16th and 19th pick for 11. If they get there, Gary Harris or Nik Stauskas will be the guy with them, likely leaning toward Stauskas. Source: Chad Ford Insider
Re: Bulls eyeing #11 with Denver This makes sense. Both figure to fit in very well with the Bulls and chances are neither will be available when the Bulls pick (although there's a possibility). I'd be very happy For now I'm calling Tyler Ennis and Jarnell Stokes with our picks if we end up keeping them both.
I would love to get Nik but we need a scoring guard AND a PF if we aren't going to lay down and settle on Boozer clogging up our spave for another year. Please God No. Amnesty. Amnesty. Only hope for victory!
There was speculation that the Bulls were looking to use their Nos. 16 and 19 first-round picks to trade up in the draft, but one NBA source said the team is having trouble finding a partner. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/bask...on-from-spurs-kawhi-leonard.html#.U5meTfldWSq
I have mixed feelings about this. If you set aside how draft picks affect cap space for FA, there's a lot of fluidity in the 10-25 spots in this draft. I think nbadraft.net's latest mock is a good example of that. People are calling it a travesty, but really they're just shuffling people towards the edges of where they could be drafted. On the whole it looks wacky, but pick by pick nothing strikes me as ridiculous. Is it really that outrageous to think that Rodney Hood is a better draft prospect than Doug McDermott? Kristaps Porzingis over James Young? The mock as a whole seems very unorthodox, but when I go through things pick by pick I don't see anything that seems too wacky. I think it's more plausible than people give it credit for.
Okay, so a few more thoughts so far about this draft. Zach Lavine I was never on the Zach Lavine bandwagon, but now I'm even further off it than when this process began. Why? Because he doesn't play with nearly as much explosiveness as his athleticism would lead you to believe. He shot less than 2 FTA/game. My subjective observations from watching him are that he's a great athlete when no one's guarding him but he doesn't have the ability to finish in traffic, which really puts a cap on how useful your athleticism can be, especially if you're weak and bad on defense. And he has the kind of frame that makes me think he's always going to be weak and bad on defense. Jamal Crawford/Jeremy Lamb is the best comparison for him, and I'm not even sure we can expect him to become Jamal Crawford. Jamal has a lot of wiggle to his game that I've never seen from Lavine. He doesn't seem like a GarPax guy so I'm not worried about it, but I hope we don't draft him. Doug McDermott I've gone on record as being really down on McDermott and thinking he's going to wash out of the league because of his lack of athleticism. I've softened that stance a little bit, because I've come around to the fact that Doug does most of his work off the ball, and this should translate well enough to the NBA. So he won't be completely like Adam Morrison. I still think he has no position on defense and will be the kind of guy that you have to hide in the playoffs and maybe even make disappear, so I'm glad so many other teams are considering picking him before we're on the clock. But now I can see a possibility of him sticking in the league, even though I still don't think he'll be very good. Kyle Anderson Boris Diaw in this year's playoffs seems to be helping Kyle Anderson's draft stock. However, I'm not sure Kyle Anderson is exactly like Boris Diaw. Young Diaw was a good athlete and the kind of guy that could finish at the rim. He's always been an explosive athlete. I'm thinking Kyle Anderson is going to be some funky Andre Miller/Boris Diaw/Sam Perkins hybrid. I think he'll make it because his playmaking instincts are so good for someone his size and it looks like he can eventually play PF, but I'd be surprised if the Bulls pick him. Glenn Robinson III He doesn't seem to be getting any draft hype whatsoever, but he looks like the kind of guy who ends up being a better pro than college player. He has the best tools of any wing player besides Andrew Wiggins and he played on a college team that probably deflated his production. He's one of my sleeper picks at #19. As far as wings go, I'm ranking them like this (excluding guys who are obviously out of our range): Stauskas Harris GRIII/McDaniels Anderson/Hood/Young/TJ Warren PJ Hairston Doug McDermott Zach Lavine I'll be happy with anyone from Stauskas-Warren with one of our picks. I like Hairston's talent but he seems like he has the types of social networks that will ruin you no matter how talented you are, and I'm not sure he's worth the risk considering the collateral damage that could create even if he could be a good player. I see Lavine and McDermott as being borderline NBA players and am quite happy to see them being projected as being picked ahead of #16 and #19, leaving better players in our range.
Thanks rosenthall. You're analysis of draft prospects is impressive and the posts are great reads. Diaw is a 5 position player. He came in the league as a PG and he'll go out as starting C for the NBA champs.
Rosenthal, I may have asked this sort of question before, but I'm old and forget shit. How many hours have you spent studying each of these college players?
Chicago Bulls: 2014 NBA Draft: Recent Prospect Workouts: Chicago Bulls worked out Louisville Cardinals 2014 NBA Draft Prospect G/F Chane Behanan on June 13. He also worked out for Bulls on May 28. Chicago Bulls worked out Colorado Buffaloes 2014 NBA Draft Prospect SG Spencer Dinwiddie on June 13. Chicago Bulls have reportedly scheduled a 3rd workout with P.J. Hairston sometime before the draft. Chicago Bulls have scheduled a workout with Oakland Golden Grizzlies 2014 NBA Draft Prospect G Travis Bader. Specific workout date unknown. Chicago Bulls have already worked out Nevada Wolf Pack 2014 NBA Draft Prospect G Deonte Burton Source: https://www.facebook.com/chicagobullsrumors?fref=nf
