Draymond Green’s Rise Makes 2012 Draft Look Much Worse for Bulls

With the 29th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls had a chance at all-everything forward Draymond Green. Instead, they took Kentucky point guard and current D-Leaguer Marquis Teague.

Draymond Green has three triple-doubles in the last three games for the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

Marquis Teague hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2013-14 season.

The understatement of the century for the Chicago Bulls would be that the front office should have listened to former assistant coach Ron Adams and the Tom Thibodeau-led coaching staff during the 2012 draft.

Teague was selected 29th overall in the draft after Derrick Rose tore the ACL in his left knee during the playoffs. Green (and current Golden State Warriors big man Festus Ezeli) were taken within the first six picks after the Bulls took Teague.

After Zach Lowe’s piece dropped during the 2015 NBA Finals in the final months of Grantland, which included how Adams insisted the Bulls take Green, it was clear that the Bulls and Thibodeau’s staff struggled to get on the same page throughout Thibodeau’s tenure.

To be fair, the selection of Teague didn’t appear to be a bad one.

Also, the Bulls front office does deserves some credit for their other work late in recent drafts. (See Butler, Jimmy and Portis, Bobby.)

Along with the top two picks in the 2012 draft—the freakish Anthony Davis and lockdown defender Michael Kidd-Gilchrist—Teague was coming off a national title with the Kentucky Wildcats. Teague’s stock rose during the tournament and with the uncertainty of Derrick Rose’s return to action, the Bulls felt finding a suitable young floor general was the best option.

The Bulls were also one of the deepest teams in the NBA at the time, so taking Ezeli would’ve crowded the front court rotation even more. (And this was before the cries for Taj Gibson to play over Carlos Boozer really got loud.)

Related Story: Ron Adams Wanted Draymond Green While in Chicago

Plus, there was no guarantee that former Bulls big man and current New Orleans Pelicans center Omer Asik was leaving town. (Of course, he bolted for Houston later in the summer.)

But, Green would have been intriguing under Thibodeau and Adams, being that he’s become the most versatile player in the NBA today.

Green won the NABC Player of the Year Award in his senior season at Michigan State; the only player of the year award that Anthony Davis didn’t win during his lone year at Kentucky.

Skipping ahead to Green’s fourth season and he’s arguably one of the 10 best players in the NBA today. Does playing with reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson help? Of course.

But, Green’s versatility is unmatched.

It helps when the guy who wanted you over three years prior gets to see you everyday.

When the Warriors put him as their center in their “Lineup of Death“, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that your chances of winning have ended.

Green’s arguably the best defender in the game today and can guard any position on the floor at a high level.

It’s a curious topic of debate when it comes to Green.

Would he have flourished under Thibodeau and Adams? Thibodeau wasn’t too keen on utilizing his youth during his time in Chicago and that included 2011 draft steals Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic.

Butler would become Thibodeau’s work horse on the perimeter with his defensive presence, but that wasn’t until Butler’s third season (2013-14).

Next: Film Room: How Jimmy Butler Torched Toronto for 40 Points in a Half

However, a lineup of a healthy Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah could have been fun to see, right?