1) Chicago Bulls draft targets to replace Valentine
Although the former Vanderbilt Commodores potent and talented 6-foot-6 and 215 pound shooting guard/small forward and sophomore former four-star recruit Aaron Nesmith is not the youngest prospect in this class, he has a lot of room to grow still. Nesmith is yet another Vanderbilt draft prospect that could fall in the lottery that has a lot of question marks due to missing the bulk of the past season with an injury.
That sounds very similar to that of fellow former Commodore and the Cleveland Cavaliers second-year point guard Darius Garland.
However, Nesmith is a more intriguing draft prospect for the Bulls to replace Valentine if they were to move down in the first round, or somehow have him slide to them in the second round. He fits a lot of the needs that the Bulls are looking for, if he can stay healthy in the early stages of his NBA career.
During the shortened 2019-20 regular season with Vanderbilt, Nesmith played in 14 games (all of which he started in). And Nesmith had one of the most impressive stat lines of the early part of the college hoops season before getting injured. He averaged a whopping 23.0 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.9 blocks. And Nesmith shot 51.2 percent from the field, 52.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 82.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Nesmith is a really good shooter, lengthy and fluid athlete, and has a lot of potential as a one-on-one defender on the perimeter or solely on the wing. The health concerns are valid, as are the transition points from college to the NBA. He also has the tendency to force turnovers (1.0-1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio last season). He’s still an ample replacement if the Bulls don’t get Valentine back (or even if they do).