Mar 23, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Creighton Bluejays forward Doug McDermott (3) shoots against the Baylor Bears in the first half of a men
Well Pippen Peoples, how did you enjoy the event that was the Chicago Bulls NBA Draft? Was it exciting? Was it exhilarating? Well to some of you, it was infuriating! More on that in a moment. Well it looks like a rumor can come to fruition sometimes.
As reported by Pippen Ain’t Easy’s super sleuth staff writer Michael Rosenfeld two weeks ago, the Chicago Bulls and the Denver Nuggets were discussing trading picks. Two weeks ago, the consensus was the Bulls were going to trade up to get either Nik Stauskas or Gary Harris. As we all know now, the Sacramento Kings threw a monkey wrench in those plans by drafting Stauskas with their eighth pick. Now I still believe that Stauskas was the intended target, but the Chicago Bulls front office of John Paxson and Gar Forman did the next best thing. They drafted the next best shooter in the draft, Doug McDermott. They did good everybody! Didn’t they do good?
To catch everyone up. The Chicago Bulls traded their 16th and 19th picks that I think everyone knew they didn’t want for Denver’s 11th pick which turned out to be Doug McDermott. The Nuggets also get a future second round pick. The Bulls also had to take back Anthony Randolph, who has the journeyman status in the NBA down to a science at this point in his career. The Denver Nuggets took those selections and drafted Bosnian center Jusuf Nurkic with the 16th pick and with the 19th pick took Gary Harris. OH BOY!
I’m not going to go into the financial aspect of this deal, because that is another part of Pippen Ain’t Easy complete coverage of the Chicago Bulls NBA Draft Aftermath. What we are going to delve into first is what Doug McDermott brings to the Bulls which makes me wonder? What is wrong with some of you Chicago Bulls fans? I’m being serious.
Let’s go over a few things about the Chicago Bulls offense. If I go into a rant, you must excuse me. The Chicago Bulls have the absolute worst offense in the NBA. Period. Next point of emphasis. This team cannot shoot. They have problems scoring. They stink from the three-point line. I mean the term offensive used in the context of the Chicago Bulls was the odor that resonated from the 69 points the Bulls scored in their last NBA game of the season.
As a team, the Chicago Bulls shot 42 percent from the field overall. They shot 33 percent from the land of three. They happened to be the lowest scoring team in the NBA. Let’s break that down shall we?
The Philadelphia 76ers scored more points than the Bulls.
The Milwaukee Bucks scored more points than the Bulls.
The Cleveland Cavaliers scored more points than the Bulls.
Basically, I’m saying the lottery teams in the NBA Draft can score easier than the Chicago Bulls. With that being said, Doug McDermott is a GREAT selection by the Bulls front office…for a change.
Breaking News to Pippen Ain’t Easy: Editor Ronald Agers actually agrees with the Chicago Bulls for once. More at 11. To all the McDermott haters out there…HELLO! What else do you want? The Bulls can’t score in an empty gym and the Bulls get a guy that can score the basketball. Imagine that! In McDermott’s four years at Creighton, he ranks fifth on the points list in NCAA Division I history. I have done some research and a lot of players have participated in that span of time. Here’s your top five.
Pete Maravich- 3,667 points.
Freeman Williams- 3,249 points.
Lionel Simmons- 3,217 points.
Alphonso Ford- 3,165 points.
Doug McDermott- 3,150 points.
Doug McDermott was the consensus player of the year during his senior season, putting up 26.7 points while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 45 percent from three-point range. Man if ANYONE had done that for the Bulls last year, the franchise would be sculpting a statue to put next to Michael Jordan’s in front of the United Center. I mean the Bulls were that bad! How bad? Let’s take a look at the Chicago Bulls backcourt.
Kirk Hinrich
Man! All of this after Ashley Wijangco basically provided full coverage of the NBA Draft on Twitter, Facebook and the website. Now I got to talk about her favorite player. Sorry Ashley, we peoples though! Kirk Hinrich shot less than 40 percent last year. He was bad. Bricks a plenty. Washington actually used the “Hinrich Maneuver.” Okay everybody we let Kirk Hinrich dribble and shoot and we’ll stop everyone else. The Jordan Rules was called propaganda. The “Hinrich Maneuver” was a tactic that let everyone know that there was no fear of Hinrich doing any damage.
Jimmy Butler
I will preface this by saying that Jimmy Butler is my favorite Bulls player. But the man couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean 10,000 leagues under the sea. Butler also shot less than 40 percent from the field. Let’s include the fact he shot less than 30 percent from the land of the extra point. Butler can’t shoot. Someone needs to pass this fact on to Jimmy because it was reported that Butler was upset that he was excluded from the offense in the latter part of the playoffs. No Jimmy, Carlos Boozer was excluded from the offense. You, Jimmy can’t shoot.
Okay that’s just outside shooting. It looks like Doug McDermott has a post game too? Oh my God, outside of Boston, the Chicago Bulls might have had the best draft of the night.
Okay, does anyone wants to point out any player on the Bulls that has a consistent post game? I’ll wait. Don’t say Joakim Noah. Don’t say Taj Gibson. Your Bulls player with the best post moves is…Carlos Boozer! Yep, the same Carlos Boozer you guys want out-of-town. The same Carlos Boozer the Bulls can’t trade for a box of Newport’s and Puma sweats. The same Boozer that everyone wants amnestied (except for maybe Jerry Reinsdorf who has to write the check.) Doug McDermott seems to have what ails the Bulls. SCORING!
Look, Pippen Peoples, if Gar Forman and Tom Thibodeau can sit next to each other in the same room without having a bitter beer face for five minutes talking about this guy, why not be patient?
Doug McDermott is one of the NBA Draft winners of the night. The Bulls for one night looked like a functional front office with a clue. Enjoy the moment. You’re going to need it if Carmelo Anthony decides to stay in the Big Apple. Just sayin!