The Bulls now have the 11th selection in next month’s NBA draft, and perhaps the biggest question facing the organization given its mandate for change is whether to pursue a draft pick based on a makeover or to use the selection to enhance its veteran base with a trade.
The current management pursued its personnel catharsis with free agency and trades. And it was working until free agent Lonzo Ball was injured.
Though the franchise’s history has mostly been about using the draft for ultimate success.
The draft path takes longer, requires patience and doesn’t guarantee success as Jerry Krause discovered with the post-1998 rebuild and John Paxson and Gar Forman in the 2017 teardown.
But the draft and top-10 or lottery selections was the midwife of the franchise’s greatest achievements, including the six-time champions run of the 1990s with that No. 3 selection from the 1984 draft, Michael Jordan.
The Bulls current iteration was stymied by Ball’s multiple knee surgeries. The only other time the franchise profited from the acquisition of veterans, then before free agency, was the 1970’s Bulls who averaged more than 50 wins for five consecutive seasons through their 1975 appearance in the conference finals. Chet Walker, Norm Van Lier and Bob Love from that team all were acquired in trades and Jerry Sloan in the expansion draft.
But since then the franchise formula, both before the sale to the Jerry Reinsdorf group in 1985 and since, has been through liberal use of the collegiate draft to create a significant competitive foundation.
Will the Bulls return to that prescription for its ills by using the current pick and trying to perhaps trade for more draft picks? Several teams do have multiple first round picks both this season and next.
Or maybe use this 2024 draft pick to bolster its veteran base by trading it to a rebuilding team? Or just add another young player to merge with its bicameral leadership of veterans led by DeMar DeRozan and youth featuring Coby White?
It’s perhaps the Bulls Dickensian fork in the road for the path that best leads out of the current play-in tournament conditions.
Here’s a look at how the draft worked for the franchise in the post-Sloan/Van Lier/Walker era.
—— Rod Thorn’s post-Dick Motta era.
Thorn became Bulls general manager in 1978 and had a brief run of short term success with the acquisition of center Artis Gilmore from the ABA dispersal draft in 1976. That Bulls group did win a playoff series in 1981, though its best chance was in a daunting 1977 first round loss to eventual champion Portland in a deciding overtime game. That series and Bulls fan reaction famously earned the Chicago Stadium the nickname, Madhouse on Madison Street. Thorn did hit in his first draft with future All-Star Reggie Theus at No. 9. The Bulls lost the 1979 lottery drawing for Magic Johnson and selected David Greenwood at No. 2 just ahead of Bill Cartwright. And then had a brutal run of selections in the top 10 with Ronnie Lester, Orlando Woolridge, Quintin Dailey and Sidney Green, five consecutive top-10 picks for a team missing the playoff each season. Thorn hit — fell into? — Jordan at No. 3 in 1984 when the Bulls and the other losing teams were trying to get in position to select Hakeem Olajuwon. Thorn was dismissed after the 1984-85 season when ownership changed.
—— Jerry Krause’s first run to the championships.
It’s true Krause, who was the first basketball hire of the Reinsdorf group, inherited Michael Jordan. But Krause deftly used the draft to build one of the great dynasties in NBA history. Krause’s first draft selection was the draft day flip to obtain Charles Oakley, who eventually was traded for the so-called final championship piece, center Cartwright. Krause much to the dismay of Jordan scarificed a few seasons of being a .500 or slightly better type team to accumulate draft picks while Jordan was establishing himself as the game’s greatest scorer and attraction, though without any playoff success. Then with two top-10 selections in the 1987 draft, Krause chose Scottie Pippen, after trading up from No. 8 to No. 5, and Horace Grant at No. 10. Support players like B.J. Armstrong, Will Perdue and Stacey King came from the 1988 and 1989 drafts to fill out a young core that matured together. And then in 1990 Krause again in the draft was ahead of the curve in attracting a top European talent, Toni Kukoč in the second round, who played a major role in the second three peat of 1996-98
—— Krause’s post dynasty rebuild ends his Bulls tenure.
Krause was convinced he could return to the draft and create another Bulls winner, and perhaps with some patience and luck it might have proved better than the results. Krause again dealt veterans for draft picks, previously the likes of Orlando Woolridge and Juwan Oldham and this time Kukoč and Elton Brand, the latter being the Bulls No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 draft. Which is the biggest issue with complete rebuild projects in major markets. While the tear dow draft strategy often sounds good to fans and media, it requires patience without a superstar selection like Tim Duncan or LeBron James. Krause parlayed his draft picks in 2001 for baby seven-footers Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry. Though elsewhere, Chandler became an All-Star and Curry produced big numbers also after leaving the Bulls. With all-time Sixth Man Jamal Crawford from the 2001 draft, the possibility was there for a talented core if not for Jay Williams’ career-ending motorcycle accident after the 2002-03 season. But the community could not endure the massive losing and Krause was replaced by John Paxson in 2003.
—— Paxson’s speedy turnaround in 2003-04.
Paxson dove into the draft with top-10 picks for Kirk Hinrich in 2003 and Ben Gordon and Luol Deng in 2004, the latter when the Bulls purchased the No. 7 selection from the Phoenix Suns, and quickly became a 47-win playoff team. By Paxson’s fourth season the Bulls, with a likable hard playing group, were a 49-win team with a first round sweep of the defending champion Miami Heat. Another complication with draft pick rebuilds, however, is the players tend to reach contract paydays about the same time. Contract issues resulted in a one-year setback for that Bulls team, which proved fortunate when the Bulls with the ninth best odds in the 2008 lottery drew the lucky No. 1 ping pong balls and were able to select Derrick Rose. With Joakim Noah from the 2007 draft, with the draft pick from the Curry trade to the Knicks and the draft pick for Taj Gibson from a previous trade of Thabo Sefolosha, the Bulls suddenly were on the verge of another dynasty through the draft. They led the league in wins in consecutive seasons and Rose was named league MVP before his devastating knee injury in the 2012 playoffs sent the Bulls stumbling toward the middle of the conference and first or second round eliminations.
—— Paxson’s truncated rebuild attempt in 2017.
Similar to the path selected by Krause after the decay of the dynasty team, Paxson chose the draft lottery route again with the trade of Jimmy Butler for draft picks. Though again like with Krause, those rebuilds require community patience if the lottery balls don’t fall your way. Which they didn’t for the likes of future All-Stars like Luka Dončić, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson. Could the Bulls have kept a team together from their draft picks of Coby White, Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter, Bobby Portis and Daniel Gafford? How good could it have been? Would it have been worth it?
The White/Gafford draft in 2019 was Paxson’s last with just the second Bulls management change since 1985. The new group opted for trades and free agency while providing draft support with the likes of Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu. And who knows what would have been if Ball had been able to play.
Now after successive losses in the play-in tournament, the message is that it’s time for a change and that this group no longer functions well together. So will it be through trades and free agency? Or starting with this draft lottery to cultivate draft picks to support a young core with the likes of White, Dosunmu and Williams? Will it be the draft or trades and free agency that provides the next Bulls iteration? This next month could be a seminal time for the franchise.
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