The fourth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery offers the Chicago Bulls a world of possibilities to bolster the roster heading into next season.
The night of the 2020 NBA Draft is now officially one week ago. This will be the first time that the Chicago Bulls can make material adjustments to their roster construction, and move this rebuild forward heading into its fourth year, in more than eight months. The Bulls finished up the 2019-20 shortened regular season in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic with a record of 22-43, good for 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
That poor placement the Bulls had in the standings in the East last season came under the direction of former head coach Jim Boylen. Since the early call to the Bulls 2019-20 regular season, the Bulls have made a lot of material changes to the front office, scouting department, and coaching staff.
The Bulls hired the former Oklahoma City Thunder bench boss Billy Donovan to take over for Boylen as their next head coach back on Sep. 22. And back in spring, the Bulls hired former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas to be their next executive vice president of basketball operations. And former Philadelphia 76ers senior VP of player personnel Marc Eversley is set to take over as the Bulls next general manager.
Karnisovas is taking the place of John Paxson as the lead voice in the Bulls front office, and Eversley for Gar Forman.
There’s a lot of hope getting instilled into the Bulls rebuild heading into its fourth year this offseason. But they have to do well with the fourth overall pick in the 2020 draft lottery. They also hold the original Memphis Grizzlies 44th overall pick in the second round.
To help them get a nice boost heading into the 2020-21 season, and beyond, who could the Bulls draft in the first round to give them the best chance at winning immediately?
4) Chicago Bulls targets who can help them win immediately
A target that is getting less and less talk in connection with the Bulls with the fourth overall pick in the draft lottery is the former USC Trojans standout freshman 6-foot-9 and 250 pound power forward/center Onyeka Okongwu. This former highly touted five-star recruit and Chino Hills, CA, native had a sensational freshman campaign at USC.
During the shortened 2019-20 college hoops season, Okongwu played in 28 games with the Trojans (all of which he started in). He averaged 16.2 points per game, 8.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.2 steals, and a whopping 2.7 blocks. And Okongwu shot 61.6 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 72.0 percent from the free-throw line.
There’s a lot of growing that Okongwu has to do in his game, but he shows a lot of potential. And in terms of the value that he brings to the table out of the gates, he’s very polished with his skill set on both ends of the floor in the paint. Okongwu hits the glass hard as an excellent rebounder, protects the rim with the best of them, and is a fundamental scorer down low.
The nearly 10.0 block percentage, 12.4 offensive rebounding percentage, and 6.7 offensive box plus/minus rating were just astounding numbers that Okongwu posted in college. The thought of what he could do in a frontcourt rotation along with center Daniel Gafford, power forward Lauri Markkanen, and center Wendell Carter Jr., is very potent.
3) Chicago Bulls targets who can help them win immediately
This part of the list is one where the Bulls could have an intriguing possibility to trade down. If the Bulls can make a move to get down to the eight or 10 slot, and be in a position to pick the former Florida State Seminoles sophomore shooting guard Devin Vassell, it would largely be to the benefit of the rebuild.
Being able to pick a prospect as versatile and talented as Vassell later on in the lottery, while picking up additional future assets and/or draft capital could be a major win for this new front office regime.
The Bulls do have a major positional need to fill on the wing behind the likes of veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr. and third-year small forward Chandler Hutchison. Neither OPJ nor Hutch stayed healthy consistently enough over the course of the last two years to provide any level of confidence or certainty that Donovan will have a good wing rotation next season.
If the Bulls did land Vassell to add depth on the wing, or behind shooting guard Zach LaVine, they would be getting a tremendous boost to their rotation. Vassell is a very reliable shooter, good defender, and effective guard in transition. He averaged 12.7 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.0 blocks. And Vassell shot 49.0 percent from the field, 41.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 73.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Vassell showed a lot of capability to get to the free-throw line, and hit a high volume of three-point looks per game. He registered a free-throw attempt rate around 23.0 percent in the last two seasons with Florida State. And he shot just shy of 42.0 percent from downtown on more than six attempts per game.
2) Chicago Bulls targets who can help them win immediately
Although the former Memphis Tigers elite five-star recruit and freshman star center James Wiseman did play for head coach Penny Hardaway for a few games, he hasn’t had much relevant film in more than a year. Any team that picks Wiseman should heir on the side of caution in terms of how polished he will be out of the gate next season.
The good news in that regard is that the NBA is playing just 10 games shy of the usual load for a regular season schedule during the 2020-21 campaign. All things considered, Wiseman will have plenty of time to shake off the rust. And his skill set should be certain and polished enough that he can still make a big immediate impact for whatever team lands him in this draft lottery right away.
Wiseman is a very talented big man that should have one of the higher floors of any prospect in this draft class. He does almost everything well from within six-eight feet from the rim. And he’s a great rebounder, shot blocker, and gets to the free-throw line often. In the three games he did play at Memphis, he did shot just north of 70 percent from the charity stripe.
The real questions with Wiseman loom with his ability to expand his offensive game and contend outside the paint on the defensive end of the floor. His ability to run in transition will also be spotlighted depending on who picks him in the lottery. Landing with the Bulls would likely mean that Markkanen or WCJ is gone by the end of next season.
1) Chicago Bulls targets who can help them win immediately
There’s no doubt in my mind that the first overall pick in the 2020 draft will come down to either one of the trio of Wiseman, NBL Illawarra Hawks point guard LaMelo Ball, or former Georgia Bulldogs freshman star shooting guard Anthony Edwards. If it is Edwards that goes first, he would likely fall to the Minnesota Timberwolves (unless they trade out of the top spot).
During the shortened 2019-20 regular season with Georgia, Edwards played in 32 games (all of which he started in). And he averaged 19.1 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks. Edwards shot 40.2 percent from the field, 29.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 77.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Edwards does need to be more efficient as a primary ball handler, especially with his shot selection. He is very physically gifted and possesses more than enough quickness and strength to contend with just about any guard on both ends of the floor. The 6-foot-5 and 225 pound Edwards does have a lot of areas to improve, though.
Although the Bulls would have to be patient with Edwards over the long haul, he would provide their rotation a lot that they don’t have now. Outside of point guard Coby White and LaVine, the Bulls don’t really have anyone that can generate offense themselves. That’s exactly what Edwards could bring to the table for the Bulls out of the gates.