Chicago Bulls: 4 biggest draft mistakes ever by John Paxson

Denzel Valentine, Chicago Bulls (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Denzel Valentine, Chicago Bulls (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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Denzel Valentine, Chicago Bulls
Denzel Valentine, Chicago Bulls (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

With all of the front office changes the Chicago Bulls made so far this offseason, we should look back on what the previous regime did in the NBA Draft.

Now that we’ve looked back at what the biggest draft mistakes were from the former Denver Nuggets general manager and the Chicago Bulls recently hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, let’s dive more into this franchise’s history. The Bulls draft history is somewhat of a roller coaster ride.

Few big market storied franchises around the NBA have rode development through the draft to legitimate postseason success as the Bulls have over the course of the last three or four decades. The Bulls have never really been a free agent destination, and pretty much all of the greatest players in the history of this franchise were drafted by Chicago.

The likes of all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan, forward Scottie Pippen, big man Artis Gilmore, point guard Derrick Rose, shooting guard/small forward Jimmy Butler, etc. were all drafted and developed by the Bulls. It was really only the likes of Jerry Sloan, Dennis Rodman, and Chet Walker, were all-time Bulls greats that weren’t originally drafted by this franchise.

Under the direction of former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman, the Bulls had a lot of mixed results in the draft. They got highs from hits on draft night like D-Rose, Butler, shooting guard Ben Gordon, center Joakim Noah, power forward Taj Gibson, etc., under the guide of GarPax in the front office. There were also big misses with the likes of a number of mid-to-late first round picks in the early-to-mid 2010’s, and making some poor draft night trades.

With all of this in mind, here’s a look back at the four biggest mistakes that Paxson made in the draft for the Bulls that Karnisovas can learn from this year.

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