Chicago Bulls Draft Review

Current Roster
PG: Kris Dunn/Rajon Rondo/Cameron Payne/Jerian Grant/Isaiah Canaan
SG: Dwyane Wade/Zach LaVine/Denzel Valentine
SF: Paul Zipser
PF: Lauri Markkanen/Bobby Portis
C: Robin Lopez

2017 Free Agents
Unrestricted
G Anthony Morrow

Restricted
G Michael Carter-Williams
C Cristiano Felicio
F Nikola Mirotic
F Joffrey Lauvergne

Who They Drafted
1-7 Lauri Markkanen, PF/C Arizona
The Bulls used the pick they acquired in the Jimmy Butler swindle to draft a Lauri Markkanen, who finally seems like a player Fred Hoiberg might want to coach, unlike the previous players their front office has acquired. And he's not 23 years old! All kidding aside, and if you can get the bad taste of the Butler trade out of your mouth, Markkanen is the type of player you can get excited about in the (hypothetical) pace-and-space offense Hoiberg wants to run. At 7 feet tall, Markkanen will be one of the best shooters in the NBA from day one. He isn't just a spot-up guy either, Markkanen can even be run off of screens and will certainly be a pick-and-pop weapon from day one. Due to Kris Dunn's shooting woes, giving him the gravity of Markkanen to get just the extra bit of space will be huge, as will his ability to draw rim protectors out of the paint. It is quite uncertain whether or not Dunn can be anything but a defensive specialist at the next level but giving him space to operate and get to the rim will be critical. Defense is the question with Markkanen, and while I don't know if he'll be as bad as some think (he is a fairly mobile, fluid mover) but he'll certainly need to improve. Ideally, Markkanen would have a shot blocking big man that can cover a lot of ground defensively beside him, someone in the Nerlens Noel style of defender (or Jordan Bell...) but I'm not sure that Robin Lopez is that kind of player. Markkanen is a pick for the future however, and down the line they'll want to find a better fit.

What They Need Going Forward
Besides a new front office, the Bulls mostly need to get rid of the old, dead weight on their roster. It will cost them but Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade shouldn't be on the team by the time the season starts. As long as it doesn't cost them too much, Nikola Mirotic and Cristiano Felicio should be brought back, but Michael Carter-Williams would be beyond redundant at this point. Both Mirotic and Felicio are younger players that would fit the Bulls rebuild timeline better than some other free agents. All their other efforts should be spent trying to find long term talent and acquiring assets, even if it requires taking on a bad contract, it won't matter because they'll be off the books by the time the Bulls are ready to contend again. In the short term, unless Felicio comes back they'll need a center, while they also only have one true small forward on the roster, Paul Zipser. There are some younger forwards that they could look to sign cheaply, like KJ McDaniels, James Young, or Jerami Grant.

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