With the Chicago Bulls back in the NBA Draft Lottery for the first time in eight years, we’ll take a look at one of their more infamous draft-related moments and that came two years prior in the 2006 NBA Draft. Tyrus Thomas for LaMarcus Aldridge, eh?
In October 2005, the Bulls parted ways with Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis and sent them both to the New York Knicks for a 2006 first-round draft pick, an option to exchange 2007 first-round draft picks, 2007 and 2009 second-round draft picks, Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney and Jermaine Jackson.
(2005 was weird, I know.)
Why is this important?
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Because this is how the Bulls were able to draft LaMarcus Aldridge … and then trade him to the Portland Trail Blazers for their fourth overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, otherwise known as Tyrus Thomas.
Once again, why is this important?
Well, this is key for two reasons:
- LaMarcus Aldridge is a five-time All-Star who has averaged 19.2 points per game in his career and just signed an $80 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs last summer to be a part of their future nucleus.
- Tyrus Thomas, although he was promising at times in his NBA career for three different teams, just finished a one-year deal in Germany for Eisbaren Bremerhaven of the Basketball Bundesliga this year.
Yeah, I know what some are thinking.
“If the Bulls would have kept LaMarcus Aldridge, there’s no way they could have drafted Derrick Rose with the top overall pick two years later!”
That might have been true, but let’s look at that 2007-08 season for the Bulls. They had three different head coaches that season — Scott Skiles, Pete Myers and Jim Boylan (no, not current Bulls assistant coach Jim Boylen) — and finished 16 games under .500.
After sweeping the defending NBA champs out of the postseason the year prior (the Shaq-Wade Miami Heat), the Bulls finished 11th in the Eastern Conference.
Does LaMarcus Aldridge change all of that as a second-year big man? It wouldn’t have been likely, but Aldridge definitely would’ve made matters interesting. In the 2007-08 campaign, Aldridge averaged 17.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and shot 48.4 percent from the field for Portland.
The issue would’ve obviously been the draft lottery odds if Aldridge was on board with the Bulls. The Bulls finished 33-49 that season. He’s not a 16-win swing, but it’s likely that the Bulls would’ve had a better record that season, which would’ve made things even tougher to get the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.
It’s a curious topic because of what the Bulls could’ve had back then. A starting five of rookie (and healthy) Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon (or swap for a younger Kirk Hinrich for Gordon’s bench scoring ability), Luol Deng (without a faulty spinal tap and numerous other injuries), LaMarcus Aldridge and a youthful (and crazier) Joakim Noah sounds like some fun.
(And I refuse to forget that Brad Miller — the man who a prime Shaquille O’Neal tried to fight one time — was on the bench.)
Now granted, the Bulls were still a part of arguably the greatest playoff series in the last 20 years in their first-round series with the Boston Celtics in 2009 (Rose’s rookie year) without Aldridge, but the Bulls with him would have been something to see.
As for Thomas, I know what the Bulls were thinking when they swapped Aldridge for Thomas (along with Viktor Khyrapa and a 2007 second-round pick). Thomas was coming off an improbable Final Four run with LSU in his lone college season and looking more and more like a hot commodity come draft time.
Next: Can the Bulls steal another high lottery pick?
Executives don’t always make the best decisions (as we’ve seen over time with the Bulls) and this one came back to bite them a bit with Aldridge’s stability over his NBA career.