After the Bulls lost in overtime to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday evening they are one game out of the eighth playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, but they’re only seven games ahead of the Atlanta Hawks who own the worst record in the east.
Last year the Bulls had the fourth-best odds to land the number one overall pick but the basketball gods ripped out the hearts of Bulls’ fans by granting the team the seventh overall pick.
It just goes to show you that anything can happen in the lottery.
So, as it currently sits the Bulls are likely to have the ninth or 10th pick in the draft according to Tankathon and the folks at NBA Draft Room believe the Bulls could take a forward out of Memphis.
Precious Achiuwa | Memphis | 6′ 9″ | Foward
Achiuwa is a 20-year-old freshman for the Memphis Tigers that averages 15.1 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 53 percent from the field.
After watching tape of Achiuwa, his hustle and effort stand out above everything else. He appears to box out immediately when his teammates shoot the ball which generates a lot of second-chance points via the offensive glass.
In addition to the rebounding, he runs the floor well on both offense and defense and looks to be strong in the pick and roll game as you can see in the highlights below. His 7′ 2″ wingspan gives him strong shot-blocking ability and he looks to be the type of player that anyone would love to play with based on his effort and enthusiasm.
Achiuwa is far from a great three-point shooter or free throw shooter for that matter. He is currently shooting 38.9 percent from deep and 56.4 percent from the charity stripe. He has a lot to improve on with his shooting but seems pretty solid from mid-range.
Achiuwa grew up in Nigeria and didn’t start focusing on basketball until he was in eighth grade. Perhaps, if the Bulls were to draft Achiuwa he’ll have plenty of room to improve his skills having only played the game for a short time.
