In the 60 seasons of the Chicago Bulls franchise history, the Bulls have selected fourth overall four times in the NBA draft, with mostly disappointing results.
Tom Boerwinkle was the cream-of-the-crop in terms of Bulls’ NBA draft fourth picks, selected in the 1968 NBA draft. From there, three names likely trigger some level of unpleasant feelings in Bulls fans: Marcus Fizer, Eddy Curry, and Patrick Williams.
The hope for Bulls fans is that the fourth pick of the 2026 NBA draft changes the Bulls’ franchise legacy of players selected fourth overall. The stories that lie in that legacy are worth revisiting.
The Bulls first great center: Tom Boerwinkle
Tom Boerwinkle was a stalwart of the Bulls' first successful franchise era of the early to mid-1970s, and spent his entire 10-year NBA career in a Chicago Bulls uniform. Boerwinkle complemented a tenacious Bulls core of Jerry Sloan, Chet Walker, Bob Love, and Norm Van Lier throughout a run that culminated with back-to-back NBA Western Conference Finals appearances in 1974 and 1975.
Rebounding and passing are the enduring contributions for which Boerwinkle is remembered in his prime Bulls years, with a career rebounding average of 9.0 rebounds per game, while ascending to a passing peak, averaging 4.8 assists per game in 80 games of the 1970-71 NBA season.
Unmet expectations and an ACL tear: Marcus Fizer
Riding the wave of an All-American collegiate career at Iowa State University, with career averages of 18.9 points and 7.4 rebounds for the Cyclones, Marcus Fizer joined the Chicago Bulls as the fourth overall pick of the 2000 NBA draft.
Fizer’s NBA career was marked by immediate struggle that never resolved in his four Bulls seasons. An ACL tear in the 2002-03 NBA season ended Fizer’s season at 38 games and turned out to be a definitive decline in Fizer’s nascent NBA career.
Marcus Fizer appeared in 46 games in his final Bulls season, the 2023-04 NBA season, and subsequently was selected by the expansion Charlotte Bobcats in the 2004 NBA expansion draft.
A lowkey franchise bright spot: Eddy Curry
Selected fourth overall in the 2001 NBA draft, Eddy Curry was an Illinois high school basketball phenom from the south Chicago suburb of South Holland, IL. Bulls fans expected Curry to be a dominant big man for the Bulls, but he averaged 4.9 rebounds per game in four seasons with the Bulls.
Curry was traded to the New York Knicks via a sign-and-trade transaction in 2005 that famously returned the Bulls a first-round draft pick that eventually became franchise legend, Joakim Noah.
Underwhelming willpower: Patrick Williams
Selected fourth overall in the 2020 NBA draft, Patrick Williams was intended to be former Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas’ franchise cornerstone. However, Williams has sadly turned into a Bulls fan punchline and lightning rod for criticism as he is due $54M in salary from the Bulls through 2029.
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