With the New Orleans Pelicans shooting up the standings, that first-round pick the Bulls acquired from them is looking worse every day. As of now, it would be the 22nd pick. While that puts the Bulls in a harder position than they were in the day they made the trade, the reality is the Bulls can still get value with the pick.
Since John Paxson took over the front office in 2003, he has made five first-round picks between the #22 and #30 selections. Marquis Teague was drafted with the 29th pick in 2013, and he was obviously a bust. The other four picks? Bobby Portis at 22, Nikola Mirotic at 23, Taj Gibson at 26 and Jimmy Butler at 30. That’s a pretty damn good track record.
One name that the Bulls may be targeting if the Pelicans pick remains in that range? Troy Brown, a 6’7, 215lb freshman guard from Oregon.
STRENGTHS:
- Length
Brown, a five-star recruit from Las Vegas, projects as a shooting guard at the next level according to most scouts. While he might not be quite as tall as he’s listed, his 7’0 wingspan should allow him to play some small forward as well. He isn’t a great athlete, but he’s got enough quickness that, combined with his length, could allow him to guard point guards from time to time. That type of positional versatility will serve him well at the next level
- 2-Way Potential
Brown’s offensive game is still developing, he’s showed signs of being both an off-ball scorer and a ball handling creator, but he definitely needs some fine-tuning. Defensively, he’s everything teams want in a perimeter defender. He’s long, he’s versatile, and he can really rebound, he averaged 6.3 rebounds per game at Oregon. He can do a little bit of everything defensively, he just needs to find his niche at the next level on the offensive end.
- Age
Brown won’t turn 19 until July. That will make his less than stellar freshman season more forgivable in the eyes of scouts. By the time he hits free agency for the first time, he’ll be only 23. There is a lot of time for development with him.
WEAKNESSES
- Shooting
Brown showed an inconsistent stroke all season, finishing the year with just a 29.4 three-point percentage and less than one made three a game. In the video above, you can see that he takes a long time to load into his shot and his release is inconsistent. Hard to be an impact guard these days without a jump shot.
- Athleticism
Brown Isn’t athletically challenged, per say, but he doesn’t jump off the page with his explosiveness or leaping ability.That wouldn’t be as big of a deal if he had a good jumper, but as of now, he doesn’t. If he can’t shoot and can’t blow by people or jump over people, how is he going to score?
- Decision making/execution
This is more of a question mark than a decidedly weak part of his game. Coming out of high school, scouts liked his vision and ballhandling ability so much that they thought point guard was a possibility for him. However, he turned it over 84 times to go along with just 106 assists this season. How much of that was inexperience/growing pains? How many of those turnovers had more to do with his noticeably worse teammates than his own decisions? Time will tell.
VERDICT
I enjoy young prospects like Brown, especially for teams like the Bulls who are still a couple years away (at least) from seriously competing in the East. I think using the Pelicans pick on a wing makes a lot of sense, it essentially gives the Bulls a do-over on the Denzel Valentine pick.
However, Brown doesn’t fit the Bulls MO. Paxson’s success in drafting in the latter part of the 1st round has come by drafting older, more NBA ready players. The Bulls could use a wing defender like Brown but his offensive game is pretty far from NBA ready at this point and he isn’t a great athlete. I don’t think that’s the kind of guy that Paxson will be targeting in the 1st round.
