Chicago Bulls (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The Chicago Bulls front office has made some questionable draft decisions over the last decade. This has contributed to their current state of mediocrity.
As quick as we are to judge front offices on its aptitude in building a strong roster through the draft, we often forget how much luck plays a role in picking teenagers and players in their early 20s out of college or from overseas. Take the Chicago Bulls, for example.
In 1984, they were lucky that many decision-makers still considered the NBA the land of the giants, which allowed them to take arguably the greatest player of all-time third overall. Fast forward to 2008, and good fortune found the franchise again when, despite having less than a two percent chance to secure the number one overall pick, won the rights to future MVP Derrick Rose.
But what separates good/great executives from bad/mediocre ones isn’t making the choices that anyone with a modicum of basketball knowledge could make; it’s using your resources to make the best possible decision when it isn’t self-evident.
So, have the Bulls done more of the former or the latter over their last 10 first-round picks? Well, it’s kind of a mixed bag: some moves made the organization look shrewd while others made the Gar Forman/John Paxson duo look worthy of the “Fire GarPax” billboard that fans doled out money for.
Hopefully, this list will give you a good idea of which picks worked out, which ones didn’t, and how much success or failure of the pick imprinted on the aspirations of the franchise.
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<p>But what separates good/great executives from bad/mediocre ones isn’t making the choices that anyone with a modicum of basketball knowledge could make; it’s using your resources to make the best possible decision when it isn’t self-evident.</p>
<p>So, have the Bulls done more of the former or the latter over their last 10 first-round picks? Well, it’s kind of a mixed bag: some moves made the organization look shrewd while others made the Gar Forman/John Paxson duo look worthy of the “Fire GarPax” billboard that fans doled out money for.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this list will give you a good idea of which picks worked out, which ones didn’t, and how much success or failure of the pick imprinted on the aspirations of the franchise.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>10. Marquis Teague (29th overall, 2012)</h3>
<p>Heading into the 2012 draft, a cloud of uncertainty hovered over the Bulls. While the franchise was coming off of its second consecutive 50-plus win season — the first time they did so since Michael Jordan was on the roster — it was also fresh off of seeing superstar point guard Derrick Rose collapse to the floor with a torn ACL, leading to a first-round series loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.</p>
<p>So, knowing that Rose would likely miss the entire 2012-13 season — which he ultimately did — the Bulls attempted to fill the sudden void by selecting University of Kentucky point guard <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/teaguma01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 ref="nofollow">Marquis Teague</a> with the 29th overall pick.</p>
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<p>Heading into the draft, scouts lauded Teague for his quick first step, athleticism, and playmaking ability, but also cautioned that his lack of shooting and propensity to commit turnovers could deter him from becoming an effective lead guard at the pro level.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Teague proved the detractors right. In 48 games with the team, he averaged 2.1 points and 1.3 assists with a .381/.174/.563 shooting line. Astonishingly, this did not help him usurp Nate Robinson and Kirk Hinrich in the rotation.</p>
<p>After 19 more games of equally underwhelming production in his sophomore season, the Bulls traded Teague to the Brooklyn Nets for forward Tornike Shengelia, who produced a whopping four points in nine games with the team.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>9. James Johnson (16th overall, 2009)</h3>
<p>You know, it’s a shame combo forward <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/johnsja01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 ref="nofollow">James Johnson</a> spent only 13 games under Tom Thibodeau in Chicago, shocking even, considering how much of a fit the gritty, all-effort Johnson and the lunchpail-y Thibs seem to be for one another.</p>
<p>Fate instead placed the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket in Chicago in 2009 — Vinny Del Negro coached the team then — thanks to the 16th overall pick the Bulls possessed. In the ensuing season-and-change, we learned about Johnson’s defensive prowess in the post and on the perimeter (1.8 Defensive Box Plus/Minus [DBPM]), but those positives were greatly outweighed by his detrimental offense (-4.4 Offensive Box Plus/Minus [OBPM]).</p>
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<p>Of course, his college shooting numbers — 29.6 percent from downtown; 69.3 percent from the free throw line — foreshadowed these struggles prior to Johnson entering the league, and they were apparently too glaring for the Bulls to handle. Plus, they already had Luol Deng — who was just as effective a defender and could, you know, consistently put the ball through the hoop — so that combo made Johnson all the more expendable.</p>
<p>The Bulls traded him in February 2011 to the Toronto Raptors for a first-round pick that would become Norris Cole, who they sent to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a package that brought back Nikola Mirotic. Johnson, meanwhile, has since embarked on a career that has seen him suit up for five other franchises, occupying the “tough guy you really, really don’t want to fight” position.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>8. Chandler Hutchinson (22nd overall, 2018)</h3>
<p>Thanks to a trade that sent Nikola Mirotic to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Bulls had two first-round picks in the 2018 draft. We’ll get to what the team did with the seventh overall pick in that draft in a bit, but for now, let’s discuss the players Chicago took with the 22nd pick: Boise State forward Chandler Hutchinson.</p>
<p>Looking at some of his college highlights, it’s not hard to see why the Bulls would take a flyer on him; rangy players who can put the ball on the floor and disrupt offenses with their length are hard to come by.</p>
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<p>His 3-point shooting left a lot to be desired, but his form looked decent enough and he made significant strides in that area during his last two years in school (36.5 percent compared to 25.9 in his first two with the Broncos), though his 68.7 percent career collegiate free throw rate kept the door for doubt cracked open.</p>
<p>In the two seasons since the Bulls drafted him, Hutchinson has mostly resembled his freshman and sophomore self. His defense has more or less held up in the NBA thanks to his athleticism and 7’6″ wingspan (0.4 career Defensive Player Impact Plus/Minus [D-PIPM]; 0.1 DBPM this year), but his scattershot 3-point accuracy (29.5 percent through his first two years) and general ineffectiveness on offense have made him a net negative overall (-3.4 Box Plus/Minus [BPM]; -1.4 PIPM).</p>
<p>Despite the pedestrian start, however, Hutchinson’s size and pliability in most lineups still make him a prospect worth the development time.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 7 </a>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>7. Tony Snell (20th overall, 2013)</h3>
<p>If there was anything that scouts were sure of when it came to New Mexico swingman <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/snellto01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 ref="nofollow">Tony Snell</a>, it was his shooting ability. NBADraft.net even went as far as to praise him for his “picturesque” form, which his 38.0 collegiate 3-point percentage backed up. Sounds like just the thing the Bulls, who ranked 21st in 3-point rate and 29th in attempts the season prior (2012-13), needed to boost its sterile, Derrick Rose-less offense.</p>
<p>And that’s exactly what the team got when it selected Snell with the 20th overall pick in 2013. As expected, his steady shooting carried over to the NBA — he shot only 32.0 percent in his rookie season, but it skyrocketed to 37.1 in 2014-15 — but as his -2.6 BPM suggested, he offered little else in regard to shot creation, playmaking, and, most importantly, defense.</p>
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<p>But despite the slender frame that contributed to his lack of aggression — .123 free throw attempt rate (FTr) in three seasons in Chicago — and scant defense, Snell was a good enough shooter to keep around and hope that he improved in those other areas.</p>
<p>Of course, the Bulls didn’t do that. Instead, the franchise sent him to the Milwaukee Bucks for former Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams in a rare player-for-player trade. Apparently floor spacing isn’t nearly as important to this club as bringing in a tall point guard who couldn’t shoot is.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>6. Coby White (Seventh overall, 2019)</h3>
<p>If we learned anything from<a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/whiteco01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 ref="nofollow"> Coby White</a>‘s rookie season, it’s that the former North Carolina Tar Heel loves to shoot, and he’ll fire from just about anywhere.</p>
<p>That swashbuckling mentality contributed to some memorable games for the youngster — along with calls for him to replace Kris Dunn in the starting lineup — but it also led to far more underwhelming-at-best outings that sometimes get left out of the conversation.</p>
<p>Because White seldom attacked the rim — he ranked 197th of 259 qualified players in FTr — and didn’t finish with regularity on the rare occasions he got there (48.2 percent inside the restricted area), his overall efficiency dipped to 39.4 percent, a figure that won’t set off any alarm bells in any defensive players’ mind.</p>
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<p>Combine that with his inconsistent creation and his propensity to allow corner 3’s and shots in the paint (9th percentile in Regularized Adjusted Deterrence [RAD], a smartypants stat that tracks the types of shots a player allows), and you get one of the worst players in the league this year, no matter which metric you use — FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR ranks him 208th of 250 players, his -2.49 Player Impact Plus/Minus (PIPM) is one of the worst in the association, and his BPM was worse.</p>
<p>Obviously, this shouldn’t reflect on the type of player White could be <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://hoopshabit.com/2020/04/15/chicago-bulls-coby-white-starter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the coming seasons</a>, which is why he isn’t ranked lower on this list. But his inaugural season doubtlessly generated as much anxiety as it did hope.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>5. Denzel Valentine (14th overall, 2016)</h3>
<p>In his final two seasons at Michigan State, swingman <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/v/valende01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 ref="nofollow">Denzel Valentine</a> went from a decent rotational cog in Tom Izzo’s machine to one of the best players in the college basketball, averaging 16.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists with a .452/.430/.840 shooting line and a 13.2 BPM.</p>
<p>With those numbers, you’d assume Valentine would’ve sat at the top of most mock draft big boards in 2016, but even in a draft that thinned out talent-wise once you got past consensus number top picks Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram (yes, this class produced young stars like Pascal Siakam, Jaylen Brown, Jamal Murray, but those guys needed time to develop), scouts didn’t feel he was worth a lottery pick.</p>
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<p>While pundits praised Valentine’s abilities as a primary offensive engine, shooter, and defender, they also wondered whether his lack of athleticism would hold him back in the pros. And of course, his status as a four-year college player intensified those concerns.</p>
<p>But the Bulls ignored the red flags and took Valentine with the 14th overall pick. In the three seasons since then, he has proven the experts right in terms of his strengths and weaknesses: his lack of athleticism and explosion off the dribble has subdued his playmaking skills (2.1 career assists per game), but his shooting (36.6 3-point percentage on decent volume) and shrewd team defense (-0.1 career Defensive PIPM, 0.3 this year) have translated to the NBA, for the most part.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>4. Bobby Portis (22nd overall, 2015)</h3>
<p>It says a lot about <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/portibo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 ref="nofollow">Bobby Portis</a>‘ Bulls tenure when the most memorable thing about it was him punching Nikola Mirotic in the face during a preseason practice. The rest of it can be characterized as…fine, I guess.</p>
<p>Taken 22nd overall in the 2015 draft, the Bulls hoped that the two-way versatility and faceup skills Portis exhibited as the University of Arkansas would join him in the NBA. If you go by the counting stats, Portis lived up to those expectations; by his third season, he received more playing time and used the minutes uptick to push his scoring averages into double digits without sacrificing his efficiency.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="light" data-text="TLD: Chicago Bulls would have had advantage in '99 title run" data-url="https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/22/the-last-dance-chicago-bulls-title-run/" data-call-to-action="Related Story"> <div class="story-link-related"> <a class="story-link-related-btn" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-related-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/22/the-last-dance-chicago-bulls-title-run/"> <span class="call_to_action">Related Story:</span> TLD: Chicago Bulls would have had advantage in '99 title run </a> </div>
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<p>As for how those numbers translated to on-court value, it’s a bit murky. On offense, he ranged somewhere between fairly beneficial and negligible (he peaked in 2017-18 with a 2.2 OBPM) but his nonexistent defense (-1.5 DBPM in roughly three seasons in Chicago) mostly negated those positives, as his “tweener” status made him a liability on that end.</p>
<p>This and the fisticuffs convinced the team that Portis wasn’t worth keeping around, as they traded him — along with fellow defensive sieve Jabari Parker — to the Washington Wizards in February of 2019 for Otto Porter Jr. and his large contract, a move that Portis wasn’t happy about, to say the least.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 3 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-372575" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1068897554.jpeg" alt="Chicago Bulls" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1068897554.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1068897554-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>3. Wendell Carter Jr. (Eighth overall, 2018)</h3>
<p>By virtue of their 27-55 record, the Chicago Bulls “earned” the eighth overall pick in the 2018 draft, which meant they would miss out on the likes of Slovenian wunderkind Luka Doncic, future one-way star guard Trae Young, and back-to-the-basket behemoth Deandre Ayton.</p>
<p>With those players off the board, Chicago took Duke forward/center Wendell Carter Jr. and while the big man wasn’t as heralded as former teammate Marvin Bagley III — who the Sacramento Kings snagged with the third pick — but the team had faith that he could blossom into a discount Al Horford for the rebuilding franchise.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="light" data-text="How are we supposed to feel about Michael Jordan now?" data-url="https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/22/supposed-feel-michael-jordan-now/" data-call-to-action="Related Story"> <div class="story-link-related"> <a class="story-link-related-btn" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-related-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/22/supposed-feel-michael-jordan-now/"> <span class="call_to_action">Related Story:</span> How are we supposed to feel about Michael Jordan now? </a> </div>
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<p>So far, it hasn’t turned out that way. While Carter has excelled at forcing sub-optimal shots on defense — he ranked in the 92nd and 64th percentile in RAD in his first two years and owns a 0.1 DBPM — he has struggled to find his place on the more glamorous end of the floor.</p>
<p>Forced to operate within an offense that revolves around a lukewarm-at-best playmaker, Carter has offered little outside of some rim rolls; he doesn’t provide much spacing and his passing is diluted in the Zach LaVine-heavy attack. Add all this up, and you get a player with a -2.2 OBPM in his first two seasons. Of course, health has also played a role in these inconsistencies — he missed 22 games this year and only played 43 in 2018-19 — so we’ll see if a full season of health cures a lot of these maladies.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 2 </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><p><img class="size-full wp-image-393973" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_560,w_850/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F906707128.jpeg" alt="<a rel=" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/906707128.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/906707128-768x552.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"></p>
<h3>2. Lauri Markkanen (Seventh overall, 2017)</h3>
<p>When the Bulls traded away two-way star <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/butleji01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Jimmy Butler</a> (more on him shortly) to the Timberwolves during the 2017 draft, they didn’t just receive curious young players like Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn in return. They also swapped first-round draft picks, which the Bulls used on Finnish stretch big Lauri Markannen (technically, the Timberwolves picked Markannen, but they basically made the pick for the Bulls).</p>
<p>In the wake of the trade, the Chicago front office wasted no time spinning the underwhelming exchange as a good thing, noting that the deal brought the team three “lottery picks” — Markkanen, 2016 fifth-round pick Dunn, and 2014 13th round pick LaVine — without expounding on each players’ talent level.</p>
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<p>That said, while those three had their red flags, there was also room for optimism. In Markannen’s case, his shooting ability at his size helped numb the pain of losing one of the game’s top 15 players. Once he stepped on the court and flashed some on-ball skills, that hopefulness grew a little more.</p>
<p>But, as his -0.3 career BPM (among other metrics) attests, Markkanen still has a ways to go before he reaches NBA stardom, especially on the defensive end (-1.2 career DBPM). Hopefully, he plugs those holes in his game before he hits restricted free agency next summer.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 1 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-380060" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F460471700.jpeg" alt="" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/460471700.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/460471700-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Isaac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>1. Jimmy Butler (30th overall, 2011)</h3>
<p>There are probably a billion articles, feature stories, and profiles that trace Jimmy Butler’s far-from-ideal upbringing to his current status as an unlikely top-of-the-second-tier star. But I don’t have the taste for over-glamorizing those sorts of stories, so if you want to learn more about that, a quick Goole search will give you the literature you seek (but do so once you’re done reading this piece).</p>
<p>Instead, we’ll start with Butler’s time at Marquette, where he spent three seasons and became one of the nation’s best players (.203 win shares per 40 minutes). Unfortunately, as has become the custom in the one-and-done era, the Houston native’s extended stay in school and his “jack of all trades, master of none” labeling rendered more of a project than anything, though NBADraft.net noted his potential as a sleeper pick.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="light" data-text="Bulls: Unsung heroes from championship era" data-url="https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/23/chicago-bulls-unsung-heroes/" data-call-to-action="Related Story"> <div class="story-link-related"> <a class="story-link-related-btn" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-related-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/23/chicago-bulls-unsung-heroes/"> <span class="call_to_action">Related Story:</span> Bulls: Unsung heroes from championship era </a> </div>
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<p>In an effort to add another workhorse to Tom Thibideau’s defensive juggernaut, the Bulls took Butler with the last first-round pick in the 2011 draft. He lived up to both the positive and negative pre-draft expectations in his first three seasons — posting a -0.1 OBPM and a 1.5 DBPM during that stretch — before blossoming in 2014-15, finishing with a 4.6 BPM (much higher than his first three seasons combined and making the first of five All-Star appearances.</p>
<p>With a more consistent jumper and an appetite for free throws — a trait he brought with him from college — Butler evolved into one of the league’s best two-way wings. So, naturally, the team traded him in 2017 — about a year too late — for a conglomerate of lesser players, ushering in a rebuild with no discernable end in sight.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="The Last Dance: Things we learned from episodes 9 and 10" data-url="https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/25/the-last-dance-learned-final-episodes/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/26/chicago-bulls-ranking-10-first-round/"https://hoopshabit.com/2020/05/25/the-last-dance-learned-final-episodes/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> The Last Dance: Things we learned from episodes 9 and 10 </a> </div>
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