Crazy to say this, right? But, if you're the Bulls, you really should want to lose. The Bulls aren't winning a championship this season. Or next. Let's take a look at the Bulls real quick. They just fired their head coach not too long ago and have named Jim Boylen as head coach. The Bulls are currently 10-27 with the third worst record in the Eastern Conference, but the fourth worst in all the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks all have worse records than the Chicago Bulls. As it stands, the Bulls would have a small (but still good) chance of getting lucky and getting into the lottery. I can't stress enough how important this lottery will be for the teams who don't have franchise players. Of the bottom four teams, the Bulls are in the worst position of all.
How is that you might ask? The Suns have scored single digit quarters multiple times this year. Yeah ... they also have two young studs in Devin Booker and DeAndre' Ayton. What about the Cavaliers? At least they have Kevin Love and a promising young point guard in Collin Sexton. Well, the Knicks are horrible, but what do they have? Kristaps Porzingis, Frank Ntlikinia, and Kevin Knox, that is who. What do all these teams have that the Bulls don't? Franchise players. The Bulls have no one on their roster that is a true franchise player. Zach LaVine is not a franchise player; I will say he has improved, but he is not their savior. I'm sure anyone with a little bit of professional basketball skill can look the same as him, but the Bulls are horrible. What about Lauri Markkanen? Oh hell yeah, he is good. I love seeing Euro-League players succeed, and he is doing exactly that. Lauri Markkanen in all his glory, though, is not a franchise player. In his career he has averaged 15.5 ppg. I know this is only his second year; I understand his ppg will only get better. But, you can't build and base your franchise around a guy who averages 15.5 ppg. The Bulls need a true franchise player, a guy who can come in and score and, most importantly, STAY HEALTHY. HOLY COW, NO ONE ON THE BULLS CAN STAY HEALTHY. That's the big thing, health.
Bulls fans should know that their front office will not sign free agents going into next season; they never do. So how do you fix the Bulls without a free agent? Lose this season, get into the lottery and draft one of Duke's Big Three. Which one? It depends on where the Bulls fall in the lottery that matters. If the Bulls end up with the No. 1 overall pick, I think it would be dumb of them to pass up Zion Williamson. If you have the No. 1 overall pick he might be too valuable to pass up, especially for a team like the Bulls that do not have that go to player. They could change that with Zion Williamson, who is a great rebounder, dunker and is pretty unselfish. He is not the best shooter, but that will come in time. His sheer size and athleticism, though, is what would drive NBA defenses crazy. Even when he is playing defense, working around that huge frame would be difficult. Having a guy like Zion on the team would then make Zach LaVine make sense because when LaVine misses a shot, Zion would be there to rebound. Or, on the flip side, if Lauri misses, huge framed Zion is in the paint waiting to rebound. He could really help shift the arc. If they landed in the 2 spot, I would go with RJ Barrett. There is little down side to him; he is a dynamic player. The only thing you would have to worry about is him getting trigger happy and missing shots, which he has done. That is something, though, he will have to learn that at the next level you can't do. If they got stuck with the third pick, I wouldn't draft Cam Reddish. Not that he is a bad player, but the Bulls have other needs. I would probably go with Ja Morant from Murray State. I don't know much about him, but he is one of the top point guard prospects in the 2019 NBA draft. The Bulls needs a point guard.
Now, I'm not saying that there isn't talent outside of Duke's Big Three in this draft. I know I have been hyping the Duke Big Three in a lot of my blogs. In fact, there is an abundance of talent outside of them. There is center Bol Bol from Oregon, G/F Keldon Johnson from Kentucky, SF Nassir Little from North Carolina, SG Kevin Porter from USC and SG Romeo Langford from Indiana. Even Missouri center Jontay Porter, who is Michael Porter Jr.'s brother, could headline this draft. This draft has a lot of talent outside the lottery; there will be stars in this draft outside of Duke's Big Three. But, as for the Bulls, they need to be in the lottery; they need to have options. The Bulls can't afford to draft their second choice in the first round. The Bulls need their guy; they need their franchise guy. I think he can be found in this draft, but I really think they need to be in the lottery.
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