Chicago Bulls: Who Could Be Taken at No. 14?

Many sports sites have already posted their NBA mock drafts assigning their projected players for the Chicago Bulls and the 14th pick. The Chicago Tribune even made a complete rundown of the most popular sports sites picks and similar sites choosing the same player for the Bulls. Let’s look at what’s looking good out there.

With the 2016 NBA Draft just over a month away, we’ll take a look at some mock drafts around the web and who the Bulls could take with the 14th pick (if they keep it) next month.

Sam Smith of Bulls.com called for Dejounte Murray, a 6’5″, 175-pound scoring point guard from Washington.

“My view remains the Bulls most need shooting and athleticism, and he’s got a lot of both, though he is thin. There are comparisons to a young Jamal Crawford and not just because they come from the same area.”

Smith’s choice was echoed by another sports site mock draft, Metro.us. The only similarity I see in Jamal Crawford and Dejounte Murray is his gait while dribbling and his sweet floater, but I see more of Russell Westbrook and Allen Iverson in Murray; especially the playground moves on his shifty handle which allows him to be slippery around any defender. He loves to drive to the hoop and score through contact like Westbrook.

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If you loved Iverson playing horse with any defender with ankle breaking crossovers, you will love Dejounte Murray weave through traffic to get past his mark and evade even the help defense on his way to the rim. Murray can replace either Jimmy Butler or Derrick Rose if either are on the market this summer for the Chicago Bulls.

At the NBA Draft Combine, CBS Chicago reported that the Bulls front office along with Fred Hoiberg sat in on a team interview with Murray’s teammate, 6’10” Marquese Chriss.

“It was really good,” Chriss said. “I just enjoyed talking to them. It was funny, they knew a lot about me that I didn’t know they knew. They knew my best friend’s name and stuff like that.”

The Bulls also interviewed consensus top-5 guard prospect Kris Dunn and projected second-round sleeper scoring playmaker, Isaiah Whitehead. Chriss was selected by Vavel and Walterfootball.com for the Bulls. If GarPax want him, they might need to trade up the draft to enter the top 10 to grab him before someone like the Milwaukee Bucks, whose success with Giannis Antetokounmpo may inspire Jason Kidd and crew to get the best high risk-high reward, freak athlete in each draft. Dejounte Murray’s fastbreak buddy may be a bonus recruit if the Bulls trade up the draft or get extra picks off any player exchanges.

Baketball Insiders, DraftExpress, and Yahoo Sports chose Timothe Luwawu for the Bulls at the 14th. DraftExpress has a penchant for choosing players who fill a team need and also takes into consideration the best available player at the spot who fits that need. Anticipating some trade that gets Jimmy Butler out for assets may be why the other sites chose Luwawu for the Bulls.

Luwawu is a great two-way playmaker who can assume the lead guard role or a lockdown defender wing with long range sniping on the second unit. If Butler goes, Luwawu replaces him on the roster.

CBS Sports chose Denzel Valentine for the Bulls. He used to be a consensus pick for Chicago by other NBA draft sites, but his glaring inability to defend athletic players at the NBA level has pulled down his stock in favor of other guards available. Valentine can create and pass over the defense to fit Hoiball, but having a big guard who cannot defend opposing All-Star guards might not be on GarPax’s list of wants for their team.

At 14, the Bulls can still grab plenty of good playmakers like Wade Baldwin IV and Tyler Ulis, so risking a pick on an older college star might not cut it.

ESPN NBA Draft insider Chad Ford, Sports Illustrated, and the Sporting News all choose 6’10” big man Deyonta Davis for Chicago in their mocks. The sites like Davis as a project, who may evolve into one of the better shot-blockers and post defenders in the league, who may even get a mid-range or post game together.

Unfortunately, as good as Davis looks among same-size bigs as a primary defender, his offense is still underdeveloped, unlike Bobby Portis, who is much more developed offensively. If the Bulls lose Noah and Gasol, they can still bid for a free agent mobile center like Meyers Leonard. There are defensive specialists in the lower half of the first round and even going into the second round whom the Bulls can pick up if they needed a shot-blocking center.

SB Nation and USA Today picked Notre Dame’s Demetrius Jackson for the Bulls. If the Bulls can’t get a back-up guard through free agency, it makes sense that they grab the best power guard they can get and Jackson still makes the grade. I’d choose any guard prospect over Valentine if the Bulls have to choose the best guard prospect in the draft at 14. A passing playmaker and pesky defender like Jackson fits the bill for Hoiball.

Past Two Years in the Draft

In the 2014 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls traded their two first round picks and the lesser of two second round picks they had in exchange for Doug McDermott in a surprising (yet actually, unsurprising move), who was drafted by the Denver Nuggets at No. 11.

More bulls: 2016 NBA Draft: Providence's Kris Dunn

In the 2015 NBA Draft, the Bulls picked Bobby Portis after all their point guard prospects got picked ahead of the 22nd spot. The Bulls saw Portis available as a steal, so the front office grabbed him quickly.

In Portis’ draft year, the undrafted Cristiano Felicio caught the eye of the Bulls scouting team and Gar Forman liked what he saw from the Brazil team highlights, so the Bulls signed him after a decent Summer League tryout. Both Felicio and Portis played strong together at times and looked like a potential backup frontcourt duo off the bench.

GarPax have made some interesting draft night moves, so they might keep everything under wraps until June 23 and go relatively off the mainstream grid and look elsewhere.

Next: Examining the Bulls' point guard situation and how things can be fixed

Who would you agree with as 14th pick or would you choose another available player?

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Spanning the Web for the Chicago Bulls Mock Picks for 2016 NBA Draft

By Michael RENE KANOY | May 21, 2016

Past Two Years in the Draft