Pippen Ain't Easy
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If Bulls trade Jimmy Butler to lottery team, they should consider Frank Ntilikina

By Michael RENE KANOY

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks before the start of the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks before the start of the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /
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If the Bulls get that offer they can’t refuse and do decide to trade Jimmy Butler, the best pick among the top six picks may be Frank Ntilikina, the defense-oriented playmaker.

We’ve discussed Jimmy Butler trade possibilities already and although Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson made a disclaimer about not actively looking to trade Jimmy, he and Bulls general manager Gar Forman would still listen to trade offers “out of due diligence”, according to the Chicago Tribune‘s K.C. Johnson.

Butler apparently was satisfied with this fair treatment and will be waiting to see if anything really happens. In any case, if the Bulls were actually going to trade Butler for a top prospect, my personal choice would be Frank Ntilikina, the defensive specialist and pass-first point guard from France who plays for Strasbourg.

Ntilikina has some scouts touting him as having a game similar to current Bulls guard Rajon Rondo. NBAdraft.net says he has a high upside as a future lockdown defender who can guard multiple positions and that he is a very methodical, pass-first point guard who looks for open teammates in the half-court set or on the fast break.

Ntilikina is a 6-foot-5, 190-pound playmaker for the French National basketball team and had a stat line of 21.8 points, 6.7 assists and 3.1 assists per 40 minutes, per Draft Express.  From watching his highlight reel, Ntilikina has the same long, loping strides of Rondo, with excellent body control and a variety of looping floaters as part of his arsenal attacking the rim.

The French point guard is an active defender from all over the court, which explains why his steals marker ranks among the top guards in the draft class. He covers passing lanes, blocks shots from behind, uses his long reach to disrupt passes into the lane and he can stay in the face of opposing guards to disrupt their flow and dribble enough to force bad passes or get a steal.

If you would assess his fit with the Chicago Bulls, he is a playmaker with strong fundamentals and physical tools on the defensive end. His offensive game is decent enough to avoid another Euro player situation like Ricky Rubio, who can’t shoot from long range consistently. If Jerian Grant, Cameron Payne or Isaiah Canaan don’t work out, Ntilikina could be the future after Rondo without the chip on his shoulder and that would be perfectly OK forthe Bulls.

As a playmaker, it is good to note that he always looks to pass to the open shooter first and only attacks the rim or shoots when the ball swings back and there are no options available for the pass-first play.

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The Bulls already have a core rotation among their bigs that getting a rookie forward for development may not be a real priority in this draft. Remember that they’ve got Nikola Mirotic, Cristiano Felicio, Robin Lopez and Bobby Portis, plus the surprise of last year in Paul Zipser.  That is a deep young core that can get better with development minutes next year. Adding one more guy to that lineup won’t help both the pick they choose, nor the real problems of the team at playmaker.

The Bulls can still grab the a solid big with the 38th overall pick, but for the mere chance that any of the lottery teams offer the moon for Jimmy Butler and GarPax considers a trade to be the Bulls’ best bet, I hope they give a good look at Frank Ntilikina from France as a future Rajon Rondo-type with a Luol Deng work ethic.

He’s still learning the game and if he learns it under the wing of Rajon Rondo himself, having two of them on the same team won’t be such a bad idea as push the ball, pace-and-space playmakers who can defend opponents well.

Next: Jimmy Butler meets with the Bulls on Monday about his future in Chicago

This only happens of course if any of the top lottery teams wants Jimmy Butler enough to offer the Bulls a free pick off their team roster plus their top-6 lottery pick; a trade offer that GarPax could grab for the team’s future.

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