One of the biggest misses and what-ifs in Bulls draft history 10 years later

On June 26th, the Chicago Bulls selected Matas Buzelis with the 11th pick in the NBA Draft. Instantly, draft grades were given for the selection and predictions were made as how he will do as a Chicago Bull. After a strong Summer League, Buzelis seems like the potential steal of the draft.

The only true way to evaluate a draft is to allow father time to run its course. We can project, debate, and argue, but the only way to assess a selection is to allow it play out over time.  Ten years ago the Chicago Bulls were one of the elite teams in the league vying for an NBA championship. We can now objectively look back at the 2014 NBA draft and take an in-depth look on how it affected the Bulls in the short and long term.

State of the Chicacgo Bulls in 2013-14

Signs were already appearing that D-Rose era would not produce the coveted 7th NBA Championship for the Bulls. For how promising of a start Derrick Rose had to his career, he could not stay healthy. Even more problematic was the tension between Coach Tom Thibodeau and front office combination of Gar Forman and John Paxson had become publicly visible.

The Bulls had already made the controversial move in January of 2014 and flipped, fan favorite, Luol Deng for 2nd round draft picks. A move that opened up room for a young Jimmy Butler, but more importantly kept the Bulls away from paying the dreaded luxury tax, a repeated theme for the Bulls in the last 25 years.

It was becoming more evident the front office was greasing the wheels to move in a different direction. However, Tom Thibodeau’s style of hard nosed, compete every second, no fluff basketball was still the voice of the Bulls.

Not surprisingly Thibodeau galvanized the troops after the Deng trade (Bulls sat at .500 in early January). Joakim Noah had a career year that would have him finish 4th in MVP voting and the Defensive Player of the Year. The Bulls went on to finish 14 games above .500 with a 48-win mark in a turbulent year. The Bulls were back in the playoffs, but that appearance would be brief as the Bulls were upended by the Wizards in 5 games in the first round.

The front office was caught in between the wind much like the 2023-24 Bulls. They had draft capital, but not much cap space. They were entrenched in the Tom Thibodeau blue collar style led by Joakim Noah. The fanbase was still clinging to the hope that hometown hero Derrick Rose would return from injury and lead the Bulls to the franchise 7th Championship, but the reality is that he could no longer be counted on. The question that GarPax were grappling with is to keep this core together or begin towards moving to a post-Rose Chicago team that would most likely center around Jimmy Butler.

Now let's take a look at who they picked and the ripple effect it had on the Bulls future.