History of the Chicago Bulls of being in the NBA Draft Lottery

With the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery approaching quickly, here’s a look at the all-time history of the Chicago Bulls participating in the lottery.

Prior to the 1985 season, there was no NBA Draft Lottery.

In the year prior that brought Michael Jeffrey Jordan to the city of Chicago, the Bulls finished 27-55 and had the third overall pick via their record (similarly to what you see with the NFL’s draft process.)

The Houston Rockets won a coin flip — yes, they flipped a coin to see who would win the top pick in the draft — over the Portland Trail Blazers. Houston took Hakeem Olajuwon, Portland passed on Jordan and took Kentucky’s Sam Bowie and the rest was history. Literally.

During the weighted lottery system used for the NBA Draft Lottery that was instituted in 1990, the Chicago Bulls have been a part of the lottery on 11 different occasions.

Before the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery takes place on Tuesday night, we take a stroll down memory lane to glance at the nine picks the Bulls made in those years, starting with a familiar face to Bulls fans today.

1989: Bulls projected to pick fifth, pick sixth and take Oklahoma’s Stacey King

Stacey King is currently the color commentator for Comcast SportsNet Chicago for Bulls games along with Neil Funk. During his playing days, King played for five times in 10 NBA seasons, winning three titles with the Michael Jordan-led Bulls in the early 1990s.

1999: Bulls projected to pick third, pick first overall and take Duke’s Elton Brand

The 1999 Duke Blue Devils are easily one of the greatest college basketball teams to not win the national title and Elton Brand was arguably the team’s best player. The Bulls were slated to pick third that year, but jumped up two spots in the lottery and took the former national player of the year with the top pick.

Brand only played two seasons with the Bulls before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, but he had a solid 16-year career in the NBA, making two All-Star Games and averaging 15.9 points per game.

2000: Bulls projected to pick second, pick fourth and take Iowa State’s Marcus Fizer

These days, the Bulls are considered to be running the #AmesMafia, due to their weird connection with Iowa State University over the years. Tim Floyd, Gar Forman, Fred Hoiberg … you get the idea, right? Marcus Fizer is included in this group. The fourth overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft played four seasons with the Bulls and is relatively known as an NBA bust during his six seasons.

2001: Bulls projected to pick first, pick fourth and take Eddy Curry

The infamous 2001 NBA Draft was supposed to most likely land the Bulls a big man by the name of Kwame Brown. Instead, the Bulls picked three spots lower than their projection and took another high school prospect: Illinois’ own Eddy Curry.

(They didn’t draft him, but the Bulls acquired second overall pick Tyson Chandler from the Clippers on draft night in exchange for Elton Brand.)

Like Fizer, Curry played four seasons with the Bulls, encountering an irregular heartbeat and later being traded to the New York Knicks after the Bulls requested him to take further testing about his heart situation.

2002: Bulls projected to pick second, pick second and take Duke’s Jay Williams

Jay Williams, one of the best players in Duke history, had his pro playing days cut tragically short in 2003 with the Bulls after a motorcycle accident almost costed him his leg and more importantly, his life. Thankfully, Williams is still around the game today as one of the more popular college basketball analysts on ESPN.

2003: Bulls projected to pick seventh, pick seventh and take Kansas’ Kirk Hinrich

If Williams’ motorcycle accident doesn’t happen, does Kirk Hinrich become one of the longest-tenured Bulls in franchise history? The former Kansas guard became a fan favorite over two separate stints with the Bulls, scoring over 8,500 points as a Bull and almost getting into an actual fight with current Bulls guard Rajon Rondo.

2004: Bulls projected to pick second, pick third and take Connecticut’s Ben Gordon

Death. Taxes. Ben Gordon getting all of the buckets available. The former NCAA Champion at UConn became a human microwave during his five seasons with the Bulls, winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award in the 2004-05 season. If you need a bucket, call Ben.

(The Bulls would later acquire fellow lottery pick and eventual Bulls great Luol Deng from the Phoenix Suns at No. 9 as well.)

2006: Bulls projected to pick fourth (via the Knicks pick in the Curry trade), pick second and take LaMarcus Aldridge (then trade him for No. 4 pick Tyrus Thomas)

This has been pretty well-documented over time, too. The Bulls, who didn’t have a lottery pick, found themselves with two by the end of the night after trading multiple second-round picks for the No. 13 pick. The Bulls landed LaMarcus Aldridge at No. 2 and then Thabo Sefolosha at No. 13.

Of course, the Bulls traded Aldridge to the Portland Trail Blazers for Tyrus Thomas, a raw athlete from a LSU bunch that unexpectedly made the Final Four with Glen “Big Baby” Davis as well. Although Thomas’ NBA career was underwhelming while Aldridge flourished with the Blazers, he still had a few flashes of the promising athlete the Bulls saw on draft night.

2007: Bulls projected to pick ninth, pick ninth and take Florida’s Joakim Noah

Also in the Eddy Curry trade was the rights to swap first-round picks in the 2007 lottery with the Knicks that landed the Bulls one of the franchise’s most popular players: Joakim Noah.

(It’s kinda hilarious that Noah ended a Knick anyway in the end.)

It was a struggle early on in Noah’s career with the Bulls, finding himself in the doghouse in more ways than one. But, what would become a Joakim Noah-like play turned his entire NBA career in the middle of one of the greatest playoff series in NBA history in 2009.

Noah’s strip and steal not only sparked what would become a fantastic stretch of seasons for him in Chicago, it sent the series with the defending champion Boston Celtics to a seventh game.

He became the heart and soul of the Bulls franchise and although he’s gone these days, his presence is still felt among Bulls fans everywhere.

2008: Bulls projected to pick ninth, pick first overall and take Memphis’ Derrick Rose

You know this story by now. The Bulls had a 1.7 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick in 2008. So naturally, the Bulls jump up eight spots from their projection, take Simeon Academy’s own Derrick Rose and the rest unfortunately, didn’t go so well.

Rose made Chicago Bulls basketball relevant again by making a couple All-Star Games, dazzling fans nightly with his rim attacks and becoming the league’s youngest MVP ever in 2010-11. But, injury after injury cut Rose’s time in Chicago short and left so many questions.

Rose was traded last summer to the Knicks and his destination next year is TBD.

2016: Bulls projected to pick 14th, pick 14th and take Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine

During the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League last year, rookie Denzel Valentine became Captain Clutch with his play during the Bulls’ title victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite the promise he showed, Valentine is still a question mark for the Bulls moving forward.

To be fair, he didn’t really receive a true chance to show what he can do this past season, but he’s already 23 years old after a wonderful four-year career at Michigan State.

Next: NBA Draft Lottery: Start time, live stream, TV info and more

Will he pan out? It remains to be seen.