Thinking outside the box: Prospects available if the Bulls trade down
We continue to look at prospects who could get selected by the Bulls come 2020 draft time with a breakdown of Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey.
The outlook of the Chicago Bulls is as positive as it has been in over a decade. They have a new regime in the front office in Vice President of Basketball of Operations Arturas Karnisovas and General Manager Marc Eversley and have finally ousted the widely unpopular Jim Boylen as a coach. Boylen (possibly), along with new assistant coach Roy Rogers, helped improve the Bulls team defense which finished 9th in the league in defensive rating at 108.9— with the Bulls playing a total of 65 games— but Boylen specifically held the team back with innumerable odd decisions and even worse explanations for them.
With a fresh start on a rebuild that already has a bevy of young talent, Karnisovas and Eversley have a lot of options on the table for the Bulls in the 2020 NBA Draft, including adding another impressive guard to the fold, whether to be a featured player or to compliment the talent currently in place.
Why Tyrese Maxey is a good fit on the Bulls:
I believe I am higher than most on 19-year old guard Tyrese Maxey and while it has a lot to do with how weak the 2020 draft class is, it has more to with the fact that Maxey is a versatile prospect who can fit in a few different valuable roles in the league. Maxey has a nice wingspan (6 foot-6-in) that allows him to play bigger than his 6-foot-3 frame would indicate.
Maxey, despite being on a freshman on a Kentucky team with more experience than usual, led the team in minutes and was second in points per game (PPG). He shot a solid 65.1% at the rim with 31.1% of his shots being attempted at the rim per Hoop-Math.com. He finished the year with a lackluster effective field goal percentage (47.4%) but that figure would’ve been a lot higher if he was able to concentrate more of his offense on attacking that basket. Maxey took too many midrange jumpers and 3-point shots for how talented and crafty of a finisher he is. But that being said he was solid in the midrange area, just not prolific.
Kentucky had players who could knock down the 3-point shot but attempted the least of any team in their conference. With the improved floor spacing that comes with NBA basketball — especially on a team like the Bulls, that attempted A LOT of 3-pointers in 2020— Maxey will have much more room to drive-and-kick, which will be his Day 1 strength in the NBA.
In Chicago, Maxey would be intriguing as a lead guard capable of breaking down the defense and generating valuable 3-point looks for his teammates. 2019 №7 overall pick Coby White can function in that same role but in his brief time on the floor was proven to be much more valuable as a floor spacer and secondary playmaker than a lead guard. Maxey didn’t play a traditional point guard role in college but Kentucky prospects have a tendency to be held back by personnel and/or style of play in the Calipari era. In Maxey’s case, he played out of position for almost a full NCAA season while playing next to the (also) 6-foot-3 Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans.
Maxey’s playmaking, burgeoning midrange game, and ability to attack the rim would function well next to White or LaVine and his length and attitude on defense would provide a solid balance to the oft-confusing Bulls lineups of the past.
Why Maxey is a bad fit on the Bulls:
Tyrese Maxey is one of my favorite prospects in the 2020 NBA Draft class because of how fixable his flaws feel, a recurring theme among some of the players hovering around the top of my draft board. But the reason he isn’t a slam dunk pick for Chicago is, his strengths aren’t necessarily needed on the current roster.
While a guard with some scoring ability is useful, Coby White — who is just 20 years old — provides that ability and doesn’t have the size to make Maxey make a ton of sense.
Coming out of the 2020 draft, regardless of the prospect, the Bulls will want them to have some length with Otto Porter Jr. (and his impending, lucrative player option) and Chandler Hutchison standing as the only true wings on a roster that still managed a good defense, albeit based off of gimmicky, and sometimes reckless pressure and even sloppier backend rotations once the play truly broke down. Maxey is a gamer on defense but drafting him means even more minutes for Sato at SF without the necessary payoff.
However, trading down from №4 and picking up multiple 1st round picks (Editor’s note: Whats’s up Boston Celtics? Owners of picks №14, №26, and №30)— or even better, future 1st round picks — would allow the Bulls to take a prospect who I believe will greatly outplay their draft slot, like Tyrese Maxey, while still picking up intriguing prospects like Aleksej Pokusevski, Devin Vassell or Josh Green.
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