Is it time for mock drafts already?
It may not even be Valentine’s Day yet, but the Chicago Bulls’ season sure feels over. While the team may not be blatantly throwing in the towel like the Utah Jazz, they tanked the old-fashioned way by sending out nearly half their roster at this year’s trade deadline. Thus far, integrating all their new pieces has been a very painful process. Many of the additions are either still in the developmental phase, coming from a situation where they barely saw minutes, or some combination of both.
The Bulls’ latest loss means they have dropped nine of their last ten games. This has included losing each of their four outing since the February 5 deadline, and three of those losses have come by 16 points or more. Is it possible that the tide turns after the All-Star break? Sure. The return of more familiar players like Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, and Jalen Smith should help stabilize things. But whether or not that leads to many more wins is a fair question.
With that in mind, it sure feels like time to bookmark Tankathon and keep an eye out for the latest mock drafts. Chicago could be in a prime position to receive its highest draft pick since the 2020 NBA Draft, when Patrick Williams came off the board No. 4 overall. The current lottery odds have the team placed 10th in the order, which gives them a 13.9 percent chance at a Top 4 spot.
The Bulls also find themselves just a half-game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks, who still seem destined to push for the postseason. This could lead to them swapping spots sooner than later and bumping their chance at a Top 4 selection to as high as 20.3 percent. Their shot at No. 1 would improve to 4.5 percent.
To be sure, lottery luck is hard to bank on. If the Bulls really wanted to secure a top spot in this highly anticipated draft, they should have likely started the process long ago. At the same time, the Bulls are no strangers to seeing the odds fall in their favor (1.7 percent odds for Derrick Rose in 2008), and we have also watched multiple highly anticipated teams make a huge jump up in recent years (Dallas, Atlanta). So, who’s to say lightning can’t strike the franchise twice?
Not this latest mock draft!
Ricky O’Donnell of SBNation released one of his first mock drafts of the season on Thursday, which I highly encourage anyone to read here. Doing a simulation of the lottery with Chicago in their current spot at 10, the Bulls leaped all the way into the No. 4 spot. While this may mean they missed out on top names like Daryyn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and AJ Dybantsa, it did give them a chance to grab a player who has jumped up many boards this season.
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