1) Biggest draft mistakes Chicago Bulls VP of basketball ops Karnisovas made: Passing up on Pascal Siakam multiple times
There’s no way that every team can find the raw amount of draft gems and overall success through this path of developing talent as the Toronto Raptors have in the last five years. The Raptors are really the gold standard around the NBA at the moment in terms of finding value NBA talent and developing it to fit their system well.
One of the best examples of a gem find later in the draft for the Raptors in recent years was the selection of the former New Mexico State Aggies 6-foot-9 and 230 pound forward Pascal Siakam 27th overall in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft. Siakam is now one of the bona fide stars in the Eastern Conference, getting his first career NBA All-Star selection and a All-NBA Second-Team nod last season.
While Karnisovas had a solid draft overall in 2016, including the picks of Murray and Malik Beasley, he did miss on Siakam a few times. There’s a really good chance that Siakam will wind up as a top two player from this draft class, alongside the Philadelphia 76ers star point guard and former LSU Tiger Ben Simmons. He’s second in win shares already from this draft class.
And Siakam wasn’t the only miss in the late first/early second round of this draft for Karnisovas. He could’ve gone with the likes of former Milwaukee Bucks and current Indiana Pacers point guard Malcolm Brogdon (originally picked 36th overall in the second round) and/or the Brooklyn Nets shooting guard/wing Caris LeVert (20th overall).