1. Daniel Gafford, Center
Finally former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman made the right move with a second round pick. Gafford was a gem find in the second round last year out of the Arkansas basketball program. Right away, when current Bulls head coach Jim Boylen gave him the chance Gafford excelled.
Moving forward, the Bulls should get a lot of big time contributions out of Gafford. He seems to have a limited ceiling, but he can be a force to be reckoned with down low on both ends of the floor. He’s a very solid rim-running center that can also be an effective rim protector and dominate the glass.
Gafford played in 43 games in the season that was for the Bulls (starting in seven of them). He averaged 5.1 points per game, 2.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks. Gafford also shot 70.1 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from the free-throw line.
That helped Gafford amount a box plus/minus rating of -1.3, a 0.1 value over replacement player rating, 124 offensive rating/109 defensive rating, .146 win shares per 48 minutes, 1.8 total win shares, and a 68.6 true shooting percentage. The player efficiency rating does paint a different picture, where he posted at 16.2 during his rookie campaign.