Chicago Bulls: Mock draft has Killian Hayes picked fourth

On the night of the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery, the Chicago Bulls rebuild caught some much needed good fortune to give them the fourth pick in the first round.

The 2020 NBA Draft Lottery brought promising news for the future of the Chicago Bulls rebuild, soon to be heading into its fourth year. But the Bulls got a nice stroke of luck under the direction of their new front office regime on the night of Aug. 20, as they jumped up three spots in the odds to land the fourth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

This will be the first time since 2016 that the Bulls didn’t get the seventh overall pick in the first round of the NBA Draft. Last year, the Bulls snagged the former North Carolina Tar Heels 6-foot-5 point guard Coby White with the seventh pick. They also got the former Arkansas Razorbacks big man Daniel Gafford with the 38th overall pick in the second round of the 2019 draft.

Now the Bulls will have a shot in the top four at one of the premier talents in this draft class. They didn’t have quite an opportunity like this in a good while. This is the first time that the Bulls jumped lottery odds this much and landed in the top four since they really lucked out and got to pick point guard Derrick Rose with the first overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

However, with the Bulls catching that stroke of luck and landing in the top four where do they go from here?

Considering that there’s not much of a consensus in this draft class and that there’s a strong international pool of prospects, it’s hard to know where recently hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas will go with this pick. Former Philadelphia 76ers senior vice president of player personnel Marc Eversley should also have a major say in this pick, as he takes over for Gar Forman as the next general manager.

One of the initial 2020 NBA Mock Drafts that came out following the reveal of the lottery order came from Ricky O’Donnell of SB Nation. He released a full first round 2020 NBA Mock Draft on Aug. 20 after the lottery order was revealed.

This mock-up had the Bulls taking the 6-foot-4 and 215 pound French rationpharm ULM point guard Killian Hayes with the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft. Here’s more on what this mock draft SB Nation had to say on the Bulls picking Hayes fourth overall.

"After LaMelo Ball, Hayes feels like the next best bet in the draft to eventually turn into a high-level offensive initiator. While not the most explosive natural athlete, Hayes is a big 6’5 lefty guard who already understands the reads and rhythm of playing in the pick-and-roll. He answered questions about his outside shooting ability during his first season in the German league, showing an improved three-point stroke while hitting 87 percent of his free throws. As Ball and Edwards each struggled to score efficiently, Hayes finished his season with an impressive 59 percent true shooting. He should also be able to hold his own defensively after showing a knack for making plays off the ball.Despite just turning 19 years old, Hayes also feels like one of the most physically mature prospects in this draft class. He should have the strength to compete defensively early in his career, and has showed off impressive awareness and an ability to play the passing lanes. He’s already shown flashes of pull-up shooting off the dribble, and it feels like that’s the skill that could push him to become one of the best players in this class if he can consistently hit it with range. Questions about his raw athleticism might push him down the board further than this, but few prospects in this year class offer as many translatable skills as Hayes."

Hayes is certainly one of the best guard prospects in this draft class, and one that has to be considered with where the Bulls could go come Oct. 16. But this is a pretty good draft class to fill a number of positional needs the Bulls have on the current roster.

The top three picks that occur before the Bulls went to (in order from top-to-bottom) the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors, and Charlotte Hornets. The Bulls and Hornets were the two teams that caught some luck and made it through into the top four after jumping up in the lottery.