The Bulls Select No. 7 in this year's NBA Draft. So how do you feel about Cam Reddish? Or maybe Coby White, Jarrett Culver or DeAndre Hunter? Brandon Clarke? We feel at the two, three, four and five spot we are really solid," Bulls Executive Vice-President of Basketball Operations was saying Tuesday night following the NBA draft lottery. "I'm confident we'll find a player in this draft that fits us and suits us. Only one team can get that young man tonight and that's New Orleans. Good for them; my mind immediately went to the fact three of the top four (draft picks) are going out West. And New York didn't get No. 1. So that's something in our favor." A bad night for New York always is good for the nation. Still, it wasn't a very good night for the Second City as it finished seventh again, the Bulls falling from a projected No. 4 spot in the NBA draft lottery to No. 7. Mark Tatum hold ups the draft card. It means the Bulls will select No. 7—assuming they don't make a trade—in the June 20 NBA draft. It will be the third consecutive year the Bulls will draft No. 7. They selected Lauri Markkanen in 2017 with the draft pick from Minnesota in the Jimmy Butler trade. The Bulls last year fell from their projected No. 6 place to No. 7 in the draft. They selected Wendell Carter Jr. The big prize and excitement in this year's lottery drawing conducted in the South Michigan Avenue Hilton Chicago was the right to select Duke forward Zion Williamson. An exciting consolation prize was the possibility of selecting Murray State point guard Ja Morant. Now that we know where we're at we'll get to work trying to find the best use of it. But we are in this business to try to build a team and we'll continue to go that route. John Paxson The Bulls had a 12.5 percent chance of getting the No. 1 draft pick in the new NBA lottery system because the Bulls had the fourth poorest record in the NBA at 22-60. The teams with the three poorest records, New York, Cleveland and Phoenix, had identical odds of 14 percent for the top pick. Previously, the team with the poorest record had a 25 percent chance of winning the No. 1 draft pick. But it produced a surfeit of intentional losing, leading the NBA to even the odds starting this year. The result Tuesday was none of the three poorest record teams got the No. 1 or No. 2 selection. In fact, each of the top six teams dropped in the lottery from their position by record. The lottery winner to get the No. 1 pick and certainly Williamson was New Orleans, which was placed seventh in poorest record and had about eight percent odds to move to No. 1. Horace Grant representing the Bulls. Memphis moved up to No. 2 and likely will select Morant in its current rebuilding. That will make veteran point Mike Conley a likely trade option. Memphis had about an eight percent chance to advance to No. 2. The Knicks fell from the poorest record to third and the Lakers moved up from 11th to fourth with about three percent odds. "Look at what happened tonight," said Paxson. "From a league perspective they have to be thrilled at how it played out from the excitement of it. They did it for a lot of different reasons. They don't want teams to throw in the towel 20 games into a season. Tonight showed what they've envisioned probably held true. I had a funny feeling something odd was going to happen and it did. "You always come into a situation like this hoping," Paxson acknowledged. "We got lucky years ago (in 2008 with 1.7 percent odds getting the No. 1 pick and Derrick Rose). There's luck involved and we weren't lucky. But we feel we have two very good pieces (from) the last two drafts at No. 7 in Lauri and Wendell and we're going to try to keep building this thing. I'm sure New York is disappointed. They had the worst record in the league and were hoping to get one of the top picks. There's a lot of disappointment except for a couple of teams. "But I'm very confident," Paxson insisted. "I say this all the time. We are confident we will get a player we can add. Obviously in this draft there is a generational type of guy and they (New Orleans) are better off for it. But this is about building a team and I'm always confident we are going to find value where we draft. We've talked about keeping an open mind. There are other things you can do with picks to get better; you can trade them. Now that we know where we're at we'll get to work trying to find the best use of it. But we are in this business to try to build a team and we'll continue to go that route. We're going to go out and try to spend some money in free agency where we add some vets who can help our team. You get over the disappointment quickly because we have a lot of work to do." Not that the Bulls were rooting for this outcome, but it does open numerous possibilities for trades and free agent signings to upgrade the roster. The Bulls have about $20 million available to spend on free agents this summer and the possibility of trading the lottery pick, which is something the franchise rarely has done. But with the core Paxson talked about in naming Markkanen, Carter, Zach LaVine and Otto Porter Jr., the most apparent need seems to be point guard. Immediately because of the possibility of selecting Morant, speculation began about Conley, who has a giant contract making at least $30 million in each of the next two seasons. Memphis has been looking to trade him after trading Marc Gasol last season. Having some $20 million in salary cap room, the Bulls could in theory make that kind of trade utilizing salary cap space and adding a player or players to equalize the salary. Plus, there are numerous free agent point guards. The Bulls don't have the money for top free agents like Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker. Some are restricted, which means their team can match an offer, like with Malcolm Brogdon and Terry Rozier. Some of the top unrestricted free agent point guards are Patrick Beverley, Ricky Rubio, Darren Collison, Derrick Rose and Elfrid Payton. Of course, the Bulls still have point guard Kris Dunn from the Butler trade. He committed at the end of the season to improving his shooting coming into the 2019-20 season. The top two draft picks are considered to be Williamson and Morant. There's speculation New Orleans could now perhaps persuade Anthony Davis to stay after he had asked for a trade. Though that is not considered likely as Davis wants to play with veterans. The Knicks had been rumored willing to trade the No. 1 pick for Davis to join with potential free agent signings Irving and Kevin Durant. Even with No. 3, the Knicks could still make a Davis trade that might work for the Pelicans by obtaining Knicks youngsters like Kevin Knox, Dennis Smith Jr., Mitchell Robinson and their No. 1 pick. Many regard Duke's R.J. Barrett as a likely No. 3 pick. The Lakers will also try for Davis with the No. 4 pick, as they did midseason, in a package with most of their young players whom they offered midseason. Their young players like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma are more highly rated and then the Lakers could add a free agent like former Bull Jimmy Butler for a Big Three feature. Dallas ended up losing its No. 1 pick from last year's trade to move up for Luka Doncic. Dallas' pick turned out to be No. 10 for Atlanta, which fell to No. 8 with its pick and will have two top 10 picks for a developing roster.<doc-sep>Luck did not go the Chicago Bulls way in the lottery. Did we have faith that Gar Forman and John Paxson would not screw it up anyway? Without a top two pick in the NBA Draft, the Bulls should consider one of these trades instead. The lottery is over. That was fun while it lasted. The Chicago Bulls had a 48 percent chance of locking down a top two pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Instead, they ended up with pick number seven There have been some solid players to be chosen outside of the top two from year-to-year, but the likelihood of the Bulls finding that diamond in the rough is not good in my opinion. Instead of risking it, the Bulls should consider trading away their pick with a combination of players for less risky assets. The Bulls have some solid talent on their team, and they are a young team. However, they need to stay healthy and they need to improve in certain areas. They have enough cap room to lock down one top-level free agent in the offseason too. One area of need for this team is a point guard. Kris Dunn did not cut it in 2018. They could look to add someone like Patrick Beverley or Malcolm Brogdon in free agency, but it will likely take a max contract to make a deal happen. I’m not sure Beverley is worth a max deal and I am on the fence with Brogdon. Ideally, the Bulls would have had a higher pick, which would mean they would have had a better chance of trading for a top-caliber player. Instead, they will likely struggle to find trade partners that will include an all-star. This means we are going to be in for a long 2019 season and likely here again next draft lottery. That said, here are some potential trades they could make to hopefully push for the last playoff spot in the East next season.<doc-sep>A big week for the off-season takes place mainly on May 14 and 15 with the Chicago Bulls following the NBA Combine and draft lottery. In an NBA press release on May 8, there were 66 players invited to the 2019 NBA Draft Combine which is set to transpire on May 15. Just one day after the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery, the Combine will showcase a good portion of the best talent that will be coming out in this year’s draft class. The Chicago Bulls should have all hands on deck to make the most out of this NBA Combine. Out of the 66 players that were invited to the NBA Draft Combine, there are only a few that the Bulls should have a close eye on for the lottery. The Bulls do have a pretty limited number of draft spots that the lottery could place them in. We’ll find out one day before the start of the NBA Combine where the Bulls will land in the lottery. Having the lottery take place before the NBA Combine gives the teams that finished in the bottom half of the NBA standings with the ability to have a bit more of a laser-focused approach to scouting. The Bulls in particular can hopefully work toward scouting for a top three pick, but the lottery odds give them the fourth best shot at landing the top overall selection and winning the Zion Williamson sweepstakes that all teams in the lottery are chasing. Scouting for the NBA Combine presents a crucial period of the off-season for the Bulls. The NBA Playoffs will soon be wrapping up and the NBA Draft and free agency will be the primary headlines in professional basketball. Here’s a look into the eight prospects to watch at the 2019 NBA Draft Combine pertaining to the Chicago Bulls.<doc-sep>
The Bulls Tuesday received the No. 7 selection in the 2019 NBA draft, which meant America's holy cow mountain of a man, Zion, will be in New Orleans. And for the Bulls, it's not going to be a time to laissez les bon temps rouler. Really, does anyone understand what they are saying down there? They are smiling and dancing, which they always seem to do, anyway. But now they have a reason with the coming of Zion. And the Bulls—and plenty of other teams—have more draft time decisions to make than usual. Williamson at No. 1 and Ja Morant at No. 2 to the Memphis Grizzlies are virtually assured for this draft. But both the New York Knicks at No. 3 and the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 4 are likely candidates to try to trade their draft picks. Along with perhaps the Phoenix Suns at No. 6 and the Bulls at No. 7. It's unusual in this era for teams to trade high lottery picks, and perhaps even more unusual for the Bulls to consider doing so since their post-Jordan history has been modeled on developments through the draft. But this season may be different as the team appears to be setting a priority on making a vast improvement in the standings and relying more on the addition of veterans. Basketball operations chief John Paxson indicated yet again following Tuesday's lottery drawing the team is open to variations other than simply making a draft pick. Paxson also identified Bulls starters Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr., Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. as the prime core of the team. Paxson has said several times the team still has hopes for point guard Kris Dunn. Though point guard certainly remains, at the very least, a competition position going forward. The Bulls should have a fortified bench with the return of Denzel Valentine from injury and the development of second year swingman Chandler Hutchison. So the addition of a point guard could be a priority. Morant is regarded as the premier point guard in this draft. But there are others who are talented, like Vanderbilt's Darius Garland and North Carolina's Coby White. Though one or both could be unavailable by the time the Bulls select at No. 7. So here are some possibilities, though only theoretical and hypothetical, that the Bulls could pursue before the draft and into free agency to upgrade the point guard position.