We held the 16th overall pick in FanSided’s 2017 NBA Mock Draft. With most of our targets off the board, we selected Australia’s Terrance Ferguson.
The entire FanSided NBA team family participated in a mock draft of the 2017 NBA Draft over the last few days and of course, we represented the Chicago Bulls at No. 16 overall.
In the process of picking players for our respective teams, some of the names that I had on the board for the Bulls came off before we even had a chance to make our selection at 16.
(Oh, no trading of picks were allowed to be made, so everyone had to stay in their respective spots on the draft board.)
With the 16th overall pick, as the representative of the Bulls, we selected Australia’s Terrance Ferguson.
A former five-star recruit of Sean Miller at the University of Arizona, Ferguson skipped his one season of amateur basketball to play professionally in the NBL in Australia before coming back to America to join the 2017 NBA Draft class.
Here’s our bit on Ferguson and why we took him at No. 16 (along with the rest of picks made in the mock draft here):
"When this draft came about, I had five names on the board for the Bulls to take: OG Anunoby, Donovan Mitchell, Justin Jackson, Terrance Ferguson and Luke Kennard.This board was assuming that the Bulls run this past season back like I did with the “DAMN” album from Kendrick Lamar and bring back Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade and Nikola Mirotic. Rondo and Wade will be unrestricted free agents in 2018 and the guards behind them really haven’t shown much in Chicago during their time with the Bulls and/or aren’t that good to begin with.So, I took to the draft. Anunoby would’ve been a top-10 pick if he hadn’t injured his knee. Mitchell soared up the draft board after his combine work. Jackson fits that Bulls mold of experienced college player and could probably take some of the offensive load off of Jimmy Butler. Ferguson is more of a project, but an explosive project that could be a gamble worth taking. Kennard made huge strides between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Duke.Four of those guys were gone before we went on the clock, so Terrance Ferguson was the move we made. We like Ferguson’s leaping ability, defensive potential and his shooting stroke makes you wonder if he can be a valuable weapon as a 3-and-D star someday. It’ll take some time, but thanks to the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, the Bulls aren’t in a hurry to try and win right away. That gives Ferguson some time to progress."
Hopefully, that answers the “What about Justin Jackson?” and “Why didn’t you take Donovan Mitchell?” questions that you probably had while reading on why we took Ferguson.
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So, what do you think, Bulls fans? Like the pick? Love the pick? Dislike the pick? Hate the pick?