To me, the first pick is a no brainer: Aldridge. He's got good footwork down low, his hands are quick & soft, he can step out and hit from 12-15 feet, he rebounds, he blocks shots, he runs the floor well. The only way for this to go wrong is the ping pong balls fucking over the Bulls. With NY finishing 2nd from the bottom, the worst case scenario is the Bulls getting the 5th pick. Aldridge won't be on the board at that point. Fortunately, the lottery is conducted about a month before the actual draft, so Pax will have time to come up with a plan B if the shit hits the fan. Perhaps that would mean giving up their other pick, which would be in the mid teens, to ensure they land LaMarcus.
I'm not sold on the other big men. Tyrus Thomas is a good looking prospect, but I don't see him as being the answer for the Bulls. In my opinion, he is Nocioni with a vertical and better wheels. A scrappy, ballsy, player that can block shots, rebound, and get out & run in transition. But I don't see him becoming a great scorer. I've heard people compare him to Marion. I think that's insane. Marion is a superbly well-rounded player. Tyrus Thomas has half of Marion's game. He does not compare when it comes to outside shooting, ballhandling, and guarding on the perimeter. I also think that all of this Joakim Noah hype is nonsense. Again, he is a decent prospect, but given the choice between Noah & Aldridge, you'd have to slip me a mickey before I even considered taking that French twig. He's a different player, but he has the same body type as Chandler. Basically, he is a more complete Chandler. Nowhere near as tough defensively, but much more competent with the ball in his hands. In any case, that's a "no thanks" in my opinion. Finally, the Italian job. Andrea Bargnani. The next Dirk, right? Well, eventually there will be another Dirk, but it's so hard to tell when these European kids are dominating against mediocre competition. He looks awfully good on film, but I might look good too if I were playing against Jerry's Kids. Again, I'll pass.
Moving on to the Bulls 2nd pick. It appears they may have played their way out of getting one of the top perimeter guys. Obviously, Adam Morrison & Rudy Gay will be long gone. But, with the Bulls now looking at the 15-17 pick, there's a good chance that Brandon Roy (Washington), Rodney Carney (Memphis), and Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas) will also be off the board. This concerns me a bit. I wish I could tell you there were other players that excited me outside of the top-15, but there really aren't (actually, there are a few decent point guards, but that doesn't do us much good). I wouldn't be disappointed if Pax tapped into the Duke well one more time. Sheldon Williams should have a nice 10 year career as a quality backup power forward and JJ Redick will likely be a poor man's Ben Gordon coming off somebody's bench, but I can't say that either of them really help the Bulls much. If Pax lands Aldridge, I wouldn't want to see him get another young big. JJ would obviously make the roster over Pargo, but the last thing this team needs to worry about is adding another guard that is under 6'4".
I'd guard next year's Knicks pick (the Bulls have the option to swap, thanks Isiah) like my sister's cherry. That's off limits. However, there might be a scenario in which the Bulls could trade a future number 1, perhaps the 2008 or 2009 draft, in order to move up from the late teens to around 10. That should be high enough to guarantee them one of the three above mentioned guys (Roy, Carney, Brewer). I don't believe any of them will be hall of famers by any stretch, but they will cover the ground that Gordon can't, the yin to his yang if you will. Not that they have major offensive deficiencies, they don't, but they will pick up the slack defensively. I expect Gordon to improve over time, but he will never be able to guard against most of the stronger 2-guards in the league. Currently, the Bulls will put Kirk on these guys a lot of the time. He can't keep up either. They need a legitimate 2-guard that is 6'6" with defensive intensity and a wingspan to match. This guy then becomes your 6th man.
Even if they can't land a major free agent, if Pax can somehow come away from the draft with Aldridge and a strong perimeter player like Roy, Carney, or Brewer, watch-the-fuck-out. The Bulls will be for real.
One final note, for those of you thinking the 2007 free agent class will be even better, don't get your hopes up. For one thing, most of those guys will never see the open market. More importantly, the Bulls cap space goes bye-bye when Hinrich, Gordon, and Deng get their paper. Plus, Nocioni's contract expires that offseason as well, and we all know how we feel about him:
No-see-o-ni!
No-see-o-ni!
Going to game 3 at the UC. I'll be the asshole in the upper deck bitching about the smoking ban. And I don't give a shit what Larry Holmes says, I appreciate the way these kids play and am fucking stoked for the series. Go Bulls.
_________________ "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."
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