The Bulls’ draft position looks a lot more clear after a pair of coin tosses from Friday.
Bulls win tiebreaker drawing with Kings. Bulls slot 6th, Kings slot 7th heading into May 15 draft lottery. Both own 5.3% chance at No. 1 pick and 18.25% chance at moving into top 3.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 13, 2018
Bulls own the 22nd pick in NBA draft after the league held its first tiebreaker drawing. It could've been as high as No. 20.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 13, 2018
So the pick the Bulls acquired from New Orleans for Nikola Mirotic ends up at #22. The last time the Bulls drafted in that slot, they ended up with this guy:
The last time the Bulls picked at No. 22…. pic.twitter.com/BUlYCBHnSi
— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) April 13, 2018
Bobby Portis is an above average NBA player. Probably couldn’t crack the starting lineup on a contender, but he has a lot of traits that winning teams covet. Hopefully the Bulls can capitalize once again with the #22 pick.
As far as their tiebreaker win over the Kings, the new lottery rules eliminate the Bulls from drafting 4th or 5th.If they don’t fall into the top 3, they will likely draft 6th. If a team a team that finished between 7th and 14th this season falls into the top three of the lottery, the Bulls will slide down to the 7th pick. If two teams from the 7th-14th fall in the top 3 the Bulls will end up 8th, and if all of the top three picks are from teams that finished between 7th and 14th, the Bulls will draft 9th. The odds of two or three teams from the 7th-14th range landing in the top 3 is astronomically low, so the Bulls have essentially locked up a top 7 pick.
In summary, if neither the Bulls, nor any team from Nos. 7-14, move into top-3 after May 15 draft lottery, the Bulls will draft 6th and 22nd in June.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 13, 2018
So, there ya go. This is what 55 losses in an 82 game season has led to. It wasn’t ideal, but the Bulls still have a fighters chance of getting a top-3 pick and will draft no worse than 7th, which is the same spot that they were able to draft a player in 2017 that appears destined to be an all-star.
Time for mock draft season. Let’s go Bulls
