Chicago Bulls
Grade: B+
Picks: Coby White (No. 7), Daniel Gafford (No. 38)
Similar to the Hornets, this was a quintessential Bulls draft, with Gar Forman and John Paxson aiming for big college names in Coby White and Daniel Gafford.
Kris Dunn has yet to pan out as the full-time starting point guard in Chicago due to offensive woes, and White was long expected to be the target here — mock after mock placed the afro-donning Tar Heel roadrunner in a Bulls uniform, and those projections stayed true to form on draft night. White doesn’t project to be a star, but he could be a good starting scoring guard in the NBA if he manages to hone his ball-handling, decision-making, and passing vision as a lead guard — all things that he improved at while at UNC. He’s not a traditional lead guard, more so of a guard that plays best playing off of others, but he’s landing in a spot that has other talented players in Zach Lavine, Otto Porter Jr., Lauri Markkanen, and former AAU teammate Wendell Carter Jr. (Unfortunately, this is the exact roster that former head coach Fred Hoiburg wanted to coach, one full of rangy shooters that could play with pacce. I don’t really trust Jim Boylen to get the most out of this unit, but I still think White fits the roster, even if there are better guards in next year’s draft class.)
Gafford’s a fine pick at No. 38 as well, someone who can be a backup rim-running and shot-blocking center. There were some other plays that could’ve been made with that pick, but I don’t hate it at all.
The blazing fast White and windmill-dunking Gafford is unquestionably one of the funner duos drafted on this year, so you can’t really be mad at it.
(And, again in a similar vein with Charlotte, this is also a duo that I would pick for the Bulls on 2K. This “analysis” is completely unnecessary and pointless, and means literally nothing, but I just find it funny, so I’m throwing it in here as an aside anyway.)