While I previously agreed with Bleacher Report’s take on re-drafting the 2018 NBA Draft class, they’ve gone ahead and ruined what little goodwill they’d built up. Their 2021 re-draft is not only laughably awful, but it’s also just straight-up disrespectful to Chicago Bulls rookie Ayo Dosunmu.
At face value, leaping 22 spots in this re-draft should be seen as an absolute success. After all, not often do second-round picks manage to see a second contract with their team, let alone secure a big role in the rotation.
However, Dosunmu has already proven just how badly scouts misjudged him with his play last year. If you compare him to his peers by way of his actual play, and not his draft position, placing him 16th on this list is just disrespectful. Considering Ayo was voted into the All-Rookie Team, it’s odd for him to not even be close to the top 10 where actual NBA head coaches believe he belonged.
Even worse, B/R’s ‘analysis’ is as sparse as it gets, offering very little more than a glance at Dosunmu’s box score statistics.
"“On a team with as much veteran talent as the Chicago Bulls, second-round pick Ayo Dosunmu wasn’t expected to play or contribute much. He wound up posting one of this group’s more intriguing stat lines.In 77 games (including 40 starts), the 6’5″ Dosunmu put up a well-rounded 8.8 points, 3.3 assists, 0.9 threes and 0.8 steals in 27.4 minutes while shooting 37.6 percent from deep.”"
Even after an All-Rookie Team selection and a promising season for the Chicago Bulls, Ayo Dosunmu still isn’t getting the respect he deserves.
I could perhaps get on board with this if it was a simple evaluation of long-term potential instead of single-year success, as I do realize Ayo’s age was seen as detrimental by many scouts, but even that argument falls apart when you look at the players B/R has placed ahead of Dosunmu.
For example, Indiana’s Isaiah Jackson and New York’s Quentin Grimes place 15th and 14th on this list, respectively. While they had fine rookies seasons, anyone who managed to catch even a few games of each of these three players would be able to instantly recognize a clear talent discrepancy.
Other players like Jalen Suggs and Davion Mitchell also rank ahead of Dosunmu, which I’m willing to give a pass for since each player was a lottery pick and still has high hopes of reaching their ceiling. However, Chris Duarte is already a quarter of the way to 26 years old and ranks 12th on the list — despite being worse than Ayo in virtually every advanced stat and only edging Dosunmu out in counting stats due to a much higher usage rate.
The eye test and the stats back up that Dosunmu was just as good, if not better than Bones Hyland last year; yet, Hyland ranks 8th on this list. The contradictions are just all over the place, and the only logical explanation I can reach here is that B/R’s Andy Bailey just didn’t watch the Bulls in action last season.
Lists like these only serve to hurt Dosunmu’s image around the league, which will be vitally in contract negotiations when he becomes a free agent this summer. Dosunmu should be livid about this shade and the risk it poses to his wallet. Let’s just hope this energy manifests itself into a breakout sophomore season as Dosunmu looks to secure a well-deserved payday.