The NBA Draft concluded late Thursday night into Friday morning. If you tuned out after the first 10 picks you would have missed the Chicago Bulls selection as they didn’t pick until 38. Heading into the draft there was very little excitement surrounding the Bulls draft this year. Only having a second-round pick takes away the thoughts of bringing in a game-changer. However, this draft was a bit different. This draft was deep and for the Bull’s sake some good players ended up falling into the second round. One of those players was Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu. When he was still around at 38 the Bulls knew they had to take him. A Chicago native who grew up cheering for the Bulls was brought home to join the Bulls. While Ayo was thrilled to come to the Bulls his mom’s reaction was one to remember.
Awesome reaction from Ayo Dosunmu’s mom about her son being a Chicago Bull.
(Video via @WCIA3sports) pic.twitter.com/WCZSa8JyJO
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) July 30, 2021
It’s just pure joy that her son is coming home to play for the Chicago Bulls. He played college at Illinois so he wasn’t terribly far from his hometown but now he will be playing for his childhood team. After Illinois won the big ten Ayo recreated an iconic Michael Jordan picture and I’m sure he would love to do that again in a Bulls jersey.
Morgan Park ➡️ Champaign ➡️ Home pic.twitter.com/93BCMrsiuG
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) July 30, 2021
It’s exciting to bring home a Chicago native to the Bulls. This just adds more fuel to Ayo’s fire when it comes to being the best player he can be. He’s playing in his city and will certainly want to show the city what he’s made of. One thing is for sure, he’s excited to be with the Bulls.
Dosunmu is ready to work
Typically after drafting a player you won’t see them in the facility for a few days as they need to get things together and travel. Well with Ayo he was in the building the next day working with his new head coach.
Didn’t have to travel far to get here 🙏 pic.twitter.com/ASNAXISAh1
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) July 30, 2021
It hadn’t even been 24 hours since drafting him and he was in the building. Another bonus to drafting a hometown guy. We obviously don’t know what they were talking about but it already looks like a good fit. One can’t help but feel excited for Dosunmu as he gets the opportunity to play for the team he grew up cheering for. He gets to represent his city in one of the biggest ways possible. He knows what this means and he’s ready to get to work for this team.
Dosunmu has a chip on his shoulder
While Bulls fans were thrilled that Ayo fell to 38 he is going to use it as motivation. Like many other players selected later than predicted he already has a list of the guys chosen ahead of him. His intention is to be better than every single one of them.
Ayo on getting drafted by the Bulls: “You can’t plan this. This is a dream come true… to be able to play in my home state. There’s not 37 people better than me. I got a list already. But I'm blessed."
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) July 30, 2021
As if this guy needed any more reason to be motivated to play hard. Knowing that he was passed 37 times before finding a home in Chicago can add fuel to his fire. There’s a lot of potential for him to be good and adding more motivation to that certainly helps the Bulls case. It is a surprise to quite a few people that he fell this far, including the Bulls front office.
More AK: “To tell you the truth we didn’t think he was going to be there at 38.”
Mentioned remembering Ayo talking about how big a Bulls fan he is at combine interview https://t.co/fXNZtVFatV
— Rob Schaefer (@rob_schaef) July 30, 2021
Most mock drafts had him going at the end of the first round if not within the first 3 picks in the second. The Bulls took full advantage and brought Dosunmu home. We should get to see Ayo in action soon as he will surely participate in the Bulls summer league starting August 8th.
