NCAA NBA Basketball Draft

(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)

It did not take long, as the Chicago Bulls have found a new coach a week after winning the #1 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery. GM John Paxson has brought in 1980's Bulls coach Doug Collins, pulling off a big name hire out of no where.

Reports were out a few weeks ago about Doug Collins when Mike D'Antoni left the Suns job. But he denied having any interest in coming back at all, saying "The work that has to be done and the headaches you have to put up with today, I'm not willing to pay that price. It's just too tough. I get a chance to see my children now and my grandchildren" to ESPN's Marc Stein.

Somewhere he must have decided this Chicago Bulls opportunity is right for him, and it must be especially enticing knowing they are getting the #1 pick in the NBA draft. Who wouldn't want to run a team that is led by Derrick Rose as the PG? There is still work to be done though.

There are some issues being brought up about the fit between Doug Collins and these Chicago Bulls. The Bulls had been coached by Scott Skiles for a number of years, and in Collins they are getting a similarly fiery coach. They tuned Skiles out so replacing him with another disciplinarian right away may not be the best idea for these young players. That said Collins has some good coaching principles if he can become a more laid back coach. Collins was known to ride his players and could explain why his coaching stints only lasted 3 years with each of his 3 teams.

Another problem with Collins' coaching style is that he instructs his teams to be slow. This would lead you to believe he would want Michael Beasley to slow the game down and be a dominant post player. Slowing the game down with a Derrick Rose type talent is not what you want to do, and Collins' teams in the past even with elite athletes like Michael Jordan have been slow moving offenses. Since the Bulls will be so dependent on this #1 pick to be their leader eventually, whoever they pick is going to determine the type of offense they'll need to focus on running.

One has to give Chicago Bulls GM John Paxson credit for recovering to at least land a coach that is a big name, especially after the Mike D'Antoni debacle. D'Antoni is just the type of gun slinging coach a young team of athletes like the Bulls need especially adding a Derrick Rose. There is a lot of young talent on this Bulls roster but it will be interesting to see how these young players respond to the style of new coach Doug Collins.

Posted by Ken Walker at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser / NBAE via Getty Images

The Chicago Bulls stumbled upon some luck winning the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery considering the talent on their roster already surpasses most #1 pick teams. The poor record was indicative of a defensive letdown, and a lot of these players having a down year like Luol Deng and especially Kirk Hinrich. With the #1 pick in the 2008 NCAA NBA Draft they can have Derrick Rose of Memphis or Michael Beasley of Kansas State. It is unlikely they would trade that pick, but you never know what other teams will have and stranger things have happened during or before NBA Drafts.

Maybe the biggest question for these Bulls is who is going to lead them now as a Head Coach? Scott Skiles was a defensive coach and his approach began to wear on the veterans as they eventually tuned him out and Skiles was fired. Generally you hear from Chicago that they are looking for a different type of coach, with a fresh offensive mind and relaxed with the players but one who does not neglect defense. Mike D'Antoni would have been the perfect fit save for the eye on defense, but just imagine what he could do with Derrick Rose running the point? The Chicago Bulls dragged their feet in the process, and Mike D'Antoni bolted for the love and money he was getting from the New York Knicks. Regardless you would have to think that the coach of the future would want to have some opinion on this vital choice for the franchise.

With the Chicago Bulls lacking a quality interior scoring presence, most had them pegged taking Michael Beasley after the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery concluded. After a few days the view is changing and especially the public in Chicago seem to be rooting for hometown favorite Derrick Rose to be the pick as the floor leading Point Guard of the future in Chicago.

Whoever the Bulls select, they will have to clear a logjam that they built up from that Cleveland Cavalier trade in the middle of the 2007-2008 regular season. If they select Derrick Rose, they will likely have to consider ditching Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Larry Hughes, or at least Chris Duhon. There would not be enough minutes to go around. Likewise if they drafted Michael Beasley, the Bulls would be admitting failure with Tyrus Thomas, at least as their go to player in the post. Drew Gooden is another undersized power forward so minutes would be at a premium for one of these players.

This is why you are likely to see some trades made by the Chicago Bulls but probably not involving the #1 pick in the draft. Instead the Bulls will have to map out what they want to do with their embarrassment of mediocre riches at PG / SG and PF, and trade the odd men out for better fits.

Posted by Ken Walker at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images
The 2007-2008 NBA Playoffs are in the Conference Finals right now so many forget that the NBA draft is on the horizon. The NBA Draft Lottery was held at about 7:30 on Tuesday May 20th 2008.

Of all the teams to run into luck, it is the Chicago Bulls on this night at the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery. This is the same team that went from a top team in the conference to a doormat in the weak East. And they just lost out on the Mike D'Antoni sweepstakes. But with just a 1.7% chance of winning the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery, the Chicago Bulls pulled it off.

The begin question now is Derrick Rose of Memphis or Michael Beasley of Kansas State? After the college regular season where he put up 26 points 12 rebounds a game, Michael Beasley looked like a shoe-in for almost any team. Now after the NCAA Tournament, the opinion of most NBA GM's has changed to Derrick Rose. This is partly because of his spectacular NCAA tournament, but also because elite floor leaders at PG are so rare to find. Also Chris Paul is making GM's change how they think as in the past most were size-first but Chris Paul puts a damper to that theory.

As far as who fits better with the Chicago Bulls it is probably Beasley. The Bulls have long been searching for a post presence that can score, to help open up the floor for what is mostly a jump-shooting unit.

The Rose side of the argument says that he would allow the Bulls to have a faster offense and a facilitator like Rose would improve his teammates, many of whom dropped off in 2007-2008. At the very least he's a terrific upgrade over Kirk Hinrich who looked to have slipped badly this year. That said, having an interior presence would open things up for Hinrich too.

The Miami Heat are in a great position, being able to take the other player in a heartbeat. There are mumblings about a trade if Rose is taken at #1 but it is hard to see Pat Riley passing on Michael Beasley.

Minnesota's poor lottery luck continues as being in the top 3 looked like they had a decent chance of getting one of the two best players in the draft. But dropping to three leaves them with a ton of options including trading down in the draft or trading out of it entirely (for a quality veteran player).

Posted by Ken Walker at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)