The top target that the Bulls should have on their draft board at the moment for the point guard position is the 18-year-old towering 6-foot-7 and 181 floor general LaMelo Ball. The Bulls could really bolster their backcourt rotation by building around a core like White and Ball. They would be able to play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses well by all considerations.
Ball elected to take his talents overseas last year and pass up the general college route. He could’ve been a one-and-done at a blue blood college hoops program, but he started to become one of the many five-star top prospects in the nation that went overseas to play for one year. A lot of prospects have taken to the G-League route now too instead of college.
In his one season playing overseas, Ball joined up with the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks in Australia. Before injuring himself and having to return to the states in the last few months, Ball played in a dozen games in the NBL. He averaged 17.0 points per game, 7.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1.6 steals, while shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from beyond the arc.
The hope is that if LaMelo’s older brother, Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball, can fix his shooting stroke with the right coaching and development that he can too early in his NBA career. Ball also brings a certain unique two-way skill set and insanely gifted physical tools to the table at the point guard position that makes him hard to ignore for a rebuilding team like the Bulls.