The Bulls Keeping Their 2025 Pick Should NOT Be the Priority This Season

The Bulls Keeping Their 2025 Pick Should NOT Be the Priority This Season

how are we doing ladies and gentlemen we’ve got summer league happening in just a couple days unfortunately though I won’t be covering much of it as I’m actually heading to Hawaii on vacation with my family starting tomorrow and through all of next week so content is probably going to be a little on the lighter side over the next week or so obviously if there’s any breaking news and we get say a Zach LaVine trade or something I’ll obviously do a quick video on that but for the most part I’m going to be offline to spend time with my family but because we have summer league coming up we’re going to be able to see some of the Young Guns in action including Matas pelis and Julian Phillips and because all of the moves the Bulls have made over the last couple of weeks and pivoting to what most are calling a youth movement some might call it a rebuild a retool what have you but given the new direction of the team and of course the fact that the Bulls pick for next year’s draft is owed to the Spurs unless it falls into the top 10 and how critical it is for the Bulls to keep that pick if possible it’s starting a debate among Bulls fans on whether the Bulls the roster as we know it today if they will be bad enough to actually be able to keep that pick and also whether that should even be made the ultimate priority going into the season in keeping set pick I’ve had a lot of people ask me about this especially after I shared my thoughts on the matter in my recent interview with Big Dave and so I thought I would give my perspective on it in this video a bit further so what’s going on everyone you’re listening to Bull Central here hope you’re all doing well now let’s lay out some of the particulars as it relates to this pick how the Bulls can keep it and some of the ways that can prevent that from happening so the Bulls first round pick as you know is owed to the San Antonio Spurs in 2025 oddly enough that was part of the demard de Rosen signing trade back in 2021 the pick is top 10 protected so if it falls anywhere 1 through 10 they get to keep their pick otherwise it’s going to the Spurs if it’s 11 through 30 now one thing I do want to be clear on that I feel a lot of people are forgetting if the Bulls do fall in the top 10 of the lottery next summer it doesn’t mean that they just get to keep their pick and it’s too bad so sad for the Spurs and the Bulls don’t owe them anything no the pick is then top eight protected for the following two years should it not convey beforehand the Spurs are going to get that first round pick from the Bulls eventually it’s just a matter of How High or low that pick will end up being now of course as I’m sure most of you know the NBA has a draft lottery system where regardless of where you finish in the standings as long as you missed the playoffs you have a chance at moving up into the top four which is what the lottery balls are used to determine who is going to make those top four selections and then outside of the top four picks five for 14 would go in order of record of the remaining teams that did not land in the top four so I think it’s important to note that even if the Bulls finish in the bottom 10 in the standings in the NBA next season there is still a chance a team could jump them in the lottery and their pick would fall outside of the top 10 it’s unlikely but it could happen like say they finished with the 10th worst record in the league they would have an 81% chance of staying in the top 10 either at number 10 or in the top four but there is also a 19% chance that that pick could fall to number 11 the only guarantee of the Bulls keeping their pick in next year’s draft is if they finish in the bottom six in terms of the worst record in the NBA next season because even if four teams jump them in that instance to get to the top four they would still will get the number 10 overall pick so bear all that in mind as we kind of dissect this further and try to estimate and predict whether the Bulls could actually land in the top 10 now the other thing to keep in mind is that because there is a generational Talent a franchise changing level player in next year’s draft in Cooper flag there are going to be a lot of teams going in tank mode and it’s also not just Cooper flag but this is expected to be an incredibly deep draft class with a lot of talent where teams who are at the bottom are going to be in a race for the worst record in the league so while I get that the Bulls lost to Mar rosan their best player from last season they lost Caruso who some would say was their second best player I don’t know if I would say Caruso was their second best player but second most impactful player for sure so you’re losing your top two impact guys that contributed to winning last year and you also lost Andre Drummond who is arguably one of the best backup fives in the league yeah you’re not going to be as good and keep in mind this was still just a 39- win team last year even with those guys on the squad but you have to remember the Bulls are in a really bad Eastern conference that is topheavy with a lot of teams in a position to bottom out the Nets are in full tank mode and have entered the Cooper flag sweep Stakes they traded away their best player in bridges they’re likely going to trade cam Johnson Dorian fny Smith they’ll try and trade Ben Simmons but good luck with that one they’re going to be bad really bad not a chance the Bulls are going to be worse than them then you have the Wizards who are already bad as it is they’re still going to be bad despite adding the rookie alexar they’re trying to trade KY kusma they just traded Denny OFA for more future assets the bull will not be worse than them either then you have a team like the Hornets which I know some are saying they’re going to be better with Brandon Miller going into his second season they resign Bridges Lamela will maybe be back healthy but I don’t know man it’s the Hornets I don’t really see them making any kind of Headway as much as people think even though I’m sure they’re actually trying to win and not trying to tank the Pistons everyone expects them to be better with all the young Talent they have and they just added Tobias Harris they got a new coach but it’s still the Pistons they won 14 games last year yeah teams like the Raptors Blazers Spurs I expect them to be better than they were last year but they’re still rebuilding teams and teams that could easily walk away from the season having won 20 to 25 games and if it does start looking dire at the end of the season for any of those teams they could just start resting their players and fully embracing the tank to increase their odds at getting number one pick so the teams I mentioned right there that’s six six teams I personally believe will be worse than the Bulls and I know some are going to say I’m just being a little too optimistic in my expectations of this team but the roster as currently constructed which could change hell I’ll even take LaVine off because I do think he’ll ultimately be traded at some point in this offseason even taking LaVine off of this roster you still have Kobe white coming off a breakout year where he was the most improved player of the year runner up he’s 24 going to be turning 25 this season he’s just now entering his prime IO had an incredible bounceback season and Loki should have gotten more consideration for the most improved player of the year award went from shooting 31% from Deep to over 40% this past season on 50% shooting from the field and 81% shooting from the freee throw line I would have called you crazy if you told me IO would finish the season on 50 40 80 shooting splits after coming off that disappointing sophomore season towards the end of this past season it was almost a common occurrence to see IO putting up over 20 points per game then you have Pat who is hopefully going to be coming back healthy and is going to be getting more opportunity which we have seen him do well when he’s more of a focal point on offense after Zack LaVine went out with an injury last season and before Patrick obviously injured himself he just turned 22 at everyone’s been waiting for that breakout year to happen but even if he just goes back to being Patrick Williams that we saw last season before he got injured a high level 3 andd guy that’s important for the Bulls in rounding out their roster that is going to need his defense after losing Alex Caruso then what about Josh giddy like man you can be down on giddy for how he showed up in the playoffs last season yeah he’s not a shooter not a good Defender he has his flaws but he’s still a very good player at just the age of 21 can move the ball well in transition great instincts great Court vision triple double guy who started every game for the number one seated team in the Western Conference last year hopefully this new change of scenery and more opportunity for him will get his confidence back and be that starting point guard for the Bulls that they have desperately needed since Lonzo ball got injured and then speaking of Lonzo I mean they’re expecting him back uh Vu V is still with the team a double double machine dalen Terry Julian Phillips Jaylen Smith like don’t get me wrong a lot of these guys have their flaws I know I’m basically just talking about all the things that they do well and not their downsides but my point in all this is that the Bulls have a more talented core than a lot of these other bad Eastern Conference teams have on their roster right now don’t forget the Hawks they were a bad team last year really bad they won 36 games and they still ended up in the playin I’m not saying the Bulls are going to be going to the playoffs I don’t think they’re going to be making any kind of crazy run but I also would not be shocked based on the weakness at the bottom of the Eastern Conference if the Bulls somehow found themselves in the playin again and even if they are around that Mark say 11th or 10th in the Eastern Conference they’re going to be just on that edge of keeping their pick or not walking this fine line of trying to develop their young players and seeing what they got while also trying to keep their pick now AKA said in his press conference after the draft that he was not going to prioritize keeping that draft pick that it was not going to be their focus going into the season which to be fair he’s not going to openly say that he’s going to tank to the public unless he wants to get a call and fine handed down from the league office but I know I’m in the minority on this opinion I know all get called out for this in the comments and I mentioned this briefly in my discussion with Big Dave but here is my stance on it and while I see all of these beat Riders talking about how the Bulls would be doing themselves a disservice by not prioritizing the season around ensuring that they get to keep that pick my view is that it needs to be more strategic than that yeah it can be in the back of their minds but not letting that pick and focusing so much on it come at the expense of the development and mentality of their young players you guys know I not a fan of tanking I’ve never been a fan of it I feel like it instills a losing mentality losing culture that is never good for the players I recognize the value that tanking can bring in some cases has paid off well for some teams but a lot of times it doesn’t pan out the way I look at it you play to win the game obviously you have to think about your future but you play to win the game the players play to win and I look at these younger guys like Kobe iio Pat giddy they’re about to enter their primes they don’t want to just be a part of a losing team whose goal is to be a losing team and what happens then when you continue to go down that route you’re likely going to see them become dising engaged become frustrated in hell they might even ask out for a trade because they’re going to want to go somewhere else where they can actually win and so where does that put you at that point time just play to win the game and then who knows maybe this team surprises you and you end up making the playoffs and you can build upon that success in future Seasons maybe players start to look at the Bulls as finally an upand cominging organization that they want to be a part of now if it comes down towards the end of the season the Bulls are teetering between the 10th and 11th worst record okay yeah you can throw some games and do what Dallas did a couple years back to give yourself a better chance of keeping that pick or if the season starts out really poorly they’re one of the bottom teams in the league and you actually have a legitimate shot the number one pick based on the first couple of months of performance okay go for the tank but don’t base your whole season around trying to keep your pick in the draft right out of the gate and if the guys start looking good out there together they’re playing Fun basketball don’t try and sabotage The Chemistry by sitting guys out or Worse making a trade to make you lose more games and yes part of me is saying that because I want to see good basketball exciting basketball I don’t want to see what we saw in the post Jimmy Butler trade but at the same time I just don’t think it makes for good culture and Vibes in the locker room if you’re basing this season around solely keeping your draft pick let the young kids have fun if they lose a bunch of games and they end up keeping the pick great but if they win and look better than expected I don’t want to hear Bulls fans gripe and complain about how they’re winning too many games because the guys are actually playing well together and developing the way we want them to we should be happy to see that one pick isn’t going to make or break the future of this team unless it’s Cooper flag which the Bulls would only have by the way a 14% chance to land him at best even if they finish with the worst record in the league so don’t come at me with keeping the pick needs to be the Bulls priority going into the season it should be in the back of their minds no question and if it happens great but that’s not what this upcoming season is about this season is about seeing what these young cats can do now that they’re going to be given more opportunity and seeing what really have for the future of this franchise just my thoughts on the matter though obviously let me know what you guys think let me know in the comments as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next one

Discussing the debate on whether the Bulls should be prioritizing keeping their 2025 pick that is owed to the Spurs if it falls out of the top 10

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