Okay so now that you have all had the weekend to mull over what transpired at Thursday night’s draft, let us talk about it.
First off, the obvious: Jan Vesely’s girlfriend or whatever she was. I’ll be a man and admit it, yeah she was really hot upon first seeing her, but after further review I’m going to have to go with giving her a 7. I think a lot of the hub-bub about her was centralized around the fact Jan looked about three seconds away from pulling the classic swipe everything off the table and make sweet, sweet love move. How much of a motivating factor the fact he was the 6th overall selection in the draft was, I’m not sure. But a lot more interesting things happened Thursday, like the Bulls making two moves I really like and you should too.
First off, Chicago drafted Real Madrid’s Nikola Mirotic — well, they technically did anyway. Chicago actually drafted Norris Cole at the 28th position, but traded him to Minnesota for the rights to Mirotic. It was just one of the billion trades David Kahn and the Timberwolves made because the Wolves didn’t even draft Mirotic themselves, the Rockets did. Mirotic was getting passed around the draft like he was what the kids in That ’70s Show got in “The Circle” for. But Chicago ended up with him and gave up the 28th pick (Cole) and the 43rd pick to get him. Trading for Mirotic has it’s pluses and minuses and they all make sense.
For starters, Mirotic is 6’10” depending on who you ask, and will possibly serve as a replacement plan for Carlos Boozer should he disappoint again in next season’s playoffs. The catch is Mirotic isn’t going to play in the NBA
next year, or even the next. This is just fine and dandy with the Bulls as the reason he was traded for was that exact reason. Chicago doesn’t want to have two contracts to worry about going into the labor dispute. Mirotic returning to Europe works best for both parties involved, especially when considering Omer Asik returned to the Turkish League for two years before joining the Bulls this year.
And look how that turned out.
The real catch, and perhaps the reason Mirotic was tossed around like a beach ball, is he may never play in the NBA. He is a superstar for Real Madrid and he also has a contract through 2016. Chicago isn’t all too entirely concerned with building up rookies; a championship caliber team like Chicago is looking for the here and now, they’re done rebuilding via the draft. Letting Mirotic go to Europe to marinate is the best plan.
Speaking of not being concerned with rookies, the Bulls did make one actual selection on Thursday and that was Jimmy Butler out of Marquette with the 30th overall pick. Butler may be a rookie, but he actually fits right into the Bulls plans. He fits so much so, that it is being reported that he will be inserted right into the rotation. Being that the Bulls don’t want to build up rookies, Butler is the type of guy Tom Thibodeau was looking for. He has the four year college experience the Bulls like because he is seasoned and he’s intelligent. Butler was a three year starter at Marquette and although he is a sort of low key guy, due to his intelligence and his college experience, he will work well in Thibdeau’s system of hard work.
It also doesn’t hurt that one of the first things Butler mentioned upon being drafted was how he was going to stop LeBron James, something the Bulls had in mind when they picked him.
“They just need somebody to go out there and guard,” Butler said. “I’m telling you I’m going to make , work for every dribble, for every shot, for every step that they take. I’m gonna try to make it my hardest on them.”
Now I don’t know about you, but having anybody wearing Bulls uniform say that gets me excited, and having a rookie say that makes me like him that much more. Butler, if he works hard like he did at Marquette, will be in the Bulls rotation making an impact very quickly a la Omer Asik last season and Taj Gibson the season prior to that.
The Bulls 2011 draft was exactly what they needed it to be. It was short, sweet and ready to defend against LeBron and D-Wade. Nikola Mirotic going to Europe gets the Bulls out of a contract so they can pursue a shooting guard via free agency or a trade when the new CBA is done and it allows them to give Derrick Rose a maximum contract. Jimmy Butler is going to be an immediate impact guy for Chicago and could continue a fine run they have had in first year guys making plays. All in all, if the 2011 Draft is any indication on how Gar Forman and the Bulls will run things next season then Bulls fans are in for another great ride.
Josh Hill is the Editor and Lead Writer at PIPPEN AIN’T EASY. You can follow him on TWITTER as well as PIPPEN AIN’T EASY to stay up to date on all the Bulls offseason happenings.