How would the Chicago Bulls fit into a picture of re-drafting the 2017 NBA Draft, and where would power forward Lauri Markkanen land?
The 2017 NBA Draft yielded mostly promising guards and wings up to this point. But the Chicago Bulls did look to have one of the few solid big man grabs in that 2017 draft of all the teams picking in the lottery.
With their first round pick in the 2017 draft, the Bulls took a flier out on the former Arizona Wildcats seven-footer and center Lauri Markkanen. But that Bulls pick actually started with the Minnesota Timberwolves. That Timberwolves pick was sent to the Bulls in that blockbuster trade that saw former Bulls star small forward Jimmy Butler land in Minnesota.
The other pieces the Bulls nabbed in that elusive trade to sent Butler out of the Windy City included shooting guard Zach LaVine and point guard Kris Dunn. And Markkanen was the last piece of this trade deal, as he was the seventh overall pick in the 2017 draft.
But what would the Bulls, and the other NBA teams picking in the top seven in the 2017 draft, do if they could do it all over again?
Would the Bulls still elect to begin their rebuild with Markkanen, or would they go elsewhere?
This re-draft takes two major factors into consideration. Team need at the time and potential that certain players still have to tap into will play a role in this re-draft. But the value each draftee brought to the table since the summer of 2017 will obviously be the main factor.
Here’s a look into how a 2017 NBA Draft re-draft up to the Chicago Bulls pick in the first round, along with other solid picks that stuck out up to this point of the 2019-20 regular season.