Former Chicago Bulls draftees having success elsewhere in the NBA

1. LaMarcus Aldridge, Power Forward

Since this list does go in order of the biggest misses among former Bulls draft picks since the turn of the century for GarPax, the last slide does have to give a lot more attention to former Texas Longhorns power forward LaMarcus Aldridge. As the second overall pick of the Bulls in the 2006 NBA Draft that was quickly shipped elsewhere, the 6-foot-11 and 260 pound Aldridge was a clear miss for GarPax.

The Bulls invested a lot back in the day in landing and developing big man Tyrus Thomas. But that was definitely a mistaken move. All that the Bulls got in return for Aldridge was Thomas and Viktor Khryapa. The 6-foot-9 Ukrainian forward Khryapa only played in just over 40 games with the Bulls, and was promptly out of the NBA after that stint in Chicago.

Up to this point, Aldridge is still one of the more effective stars in the league. He is now in the latter portion of the more effective playing days of his career. But he’s still contributing at a very high level for the Spurs. He’s averaged 19.5 points per game, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists, while shooting 49.1 percent from the field, in slightly over 1,000 regular season games played in his career.

Aldridge is now a seven-time NBA All-Star selection, five-time All-NBA honoree, three-time MVP Award voting finalist, 2006-07 All-Rookie Team selection, and 10-time weekly award winner, and one-time monthly award winner. He’s spent the entirety of his 14 seasons in the NBA with the Spurs and Trail Blazers.