Do the Chicago Bulls Have a CHANCE At Top NBA Draft Lottery Spot?

Do the Chicago Bulls Have a CHANCE At Top NBA Draft Lottery Spot?

All right, Bulls Nation, we are just a few days removed from the 2025 NBA draft lottery taking place right here in Chicago. The Bulls, after another playin tournament exit, are back in the lottery, but towards the bottom of it, 12th specifically. All right, gentlemen. We know that the Bulls have an 8% chance of jumping into that top four. Uh, a less than 2% chance of the number one overall pick and the right to draft Duke Phenom Cooper flag. general just like vibe check. How are we doing a few days away? We saw the Blackhawks uh fall from second to third in their NHL draft lottery earlier this week. The Bulls are up next. They’re up next. So, I am operating that they won’t be moving up. U but you know me. I mean, this is hoping luck time. So, that’s all I’m about in this situation cuz that’s all I’mma hold on to. That’s all you have. So, yeah, I’m hoping and I’m wishing that they move up to a top four pick. I’m not going to even be greedy and say number one, but you know, yeah, top four would be great. But yeah, if we’re talking reality of this without the hope and luck, I think they’ll be where they are. Yeah, I think the odds are just so small of them moving up. I mean, you look at what the actual numbers are. 1.7% chance to move up to number one, 1.9% chance to move up to number two, 2.1% chance to move up to three, and a 2.4% chance to move up to number four. They do have a decent chance to move down to 13 6.6%. Uh that would only happen if either the Kings or the Hawks jump up in the lottery. Um and then a very small chance that both of those teams jump up, which would push the Bulls back to 14. So uh 85% chance that the Bulls are going to be drafting 12th overall. and I’ve been digging into the draft into the prospects uh putting together this year’s database for uh our draft coverage at All City. And you know, I feel like the gap between the fifth or sixth best player in this prospect and the 12th best player, they’re all kind of in one tier to me so far. It’s early. I’m going to do a lot more film review, but just from what I’ve seen right now, I don’t think it makes a huge difference in terms of the talent drop off. Um but obviously you’d love to have your pick of the litter, right? And so being like left with the last one maybe takes some of that uh you know decision-m power away from you which could be good because it’s like you just get who you get and if he’s in that tier that’s your guy. Um but of course like you know getting into the top two would really be franchise changing. Three and four would be really great to add to the young core that the Bulls already have. But as we know the the odds of that are quite small. I think if the Bulls uh if we were pretty sure on what this team was and what they had and if they were going in at number 12 and they were that kind of team, then I would be completely comfortable. But going in at number 12, knowing the holes that they have, the unanswered questions, uh we don’t know who’s going to fit where or do what, that’s what kind of changes, you know what I’m saying, how you think about uh with the Bulls and what they can do in this draft. And that’s why you bring in the hope and the luck, you know, for this. So, you want to get a top four pick cuz that’s just what they truly need. They don’t have that guy. And drafting at number 12, usually you don’t get that guy. You can find really great players. You found one last year at at number 11. And we’re going to wait on his development and see what he becomes, but usually that’s historically, you know, and that’s a wheel of numbers, guys. Historically, that’s not the case at number 12. And I like the the context of where the Bulls were last year picking 11th. and go, you and I were just talking about this after his rookie season, which obviously the role increased substantially over like the back third. Um, you know, with him being inserted into the starting lineup, modus Belle is falling in their laps at 11 a year now into that happening. Feels like the Bulls got really lucky. They didn’t jump up in the lottery, but in a different way, they got lucky because Modis inexplicably fell as far as he did to number 11. And Bulls fans, I think, consensus, feel really good about Modis’ future right now as a potential like solid piece of their core moving forward, whether or not that includes Josh Giddy and Kobe White for many more years to come. I think everybody feels like it includes Modis now because of what we saw from him, especially at the tail end of his rookie year. Now the question is in a in a draft class again like last year’s that is you know not necessarily super deep with like oh yeah these are all bonafide he’s going to come into the NBA and play right away kind of players you you wonder as a bull like can we get that lucky again as far as like finding a quality player if they do stay at 12 as opposed to getting lucky and jumping up into the top four because AK said at his trade deadline press conference like you know if if we make the playoffs with these young guys great if we don’t and we’re higher in the lottery great either way I know we’re going add a good player. You know, referring to the draft, it’s like personally as a Bulls fan right now, I don’t know. Yeah, I I can’t say with all confidence in the world that, oh yeah, they’re going to add some stud player to their core with the 12th pick if they stay there. I I think they will add somebody who can be part of the core moving forward. Like to me, it’s all about what are your expectations for where you want the Bulls to go and where you think they’re actually headed. If your goal is to try to make the playoffs and that’s like what the bar has been lowered to by Arurus, then yeah, like this is a group that can get there. This is a group where your core is certain. You do feel confident that Kobe, Giddy, and Modus are the guys that you have moving forward. Maybe you bring in another piece that can complement there. Uh you make some trades around the fringes over the next year or two. That’s the group you’re moving forward with. If your goal is to try to win a championship, then you start to have a lot more questions. But I just don’t think that the Bulls are thinking that far ahead right now. I think they’re thinking one step forward, which is getting to the actual playoffs, which is something that they failed to do the last three years. Uh, and I do think that they could be able to find a contributor, but I don’t think this is going to be I can’t remember if it was 20 2022 was the draft where it was like Jaylen Williams was the 12th pick. Like I don’t think they’re going to be able to find that kind of guy that’s like fringe all-star, you know, franchise pillar at that spot. But as we as you said, Matt, like Modus fell to 11. I had him fifth or sixth overall on my board last year. Most mock drafts, uh, mine included, had him fifth overall. Like he slipped all the way to 11. And I think when I we talk about parody in the league, I think when teams view prospects like that, maybe maybe the guy does fall. Yeah, it could happen. Uh, so just a quick look at that full table, Kate, if you want to throw that up as far as who has those best odds uh in the lottery on Monday. Utah, Washington, and Charlotte finishing with those three worst records in the league this season, each with a 14% chance at the number one overall pick and uh just slightly above a 52% chance to stay in that top four. The Pelicans rounding out that top four with a 48% chance of staying top four, 12% chance to jump up when you like look at the records of, you know, obviously so Bulls and Mavs both bowed out of the play in tournament, both 39 to 43. The Bulls lost that coin flip to the Mavs that happened about a week ago, whatever that was. So that uh Dallas is at 11, the Bulls are at 12, Portland with 36 wins as well as Phoenix in those 10th and ninth spots. Then you get to San Antonio with 34 wins. Toronto at 30. Toronto is seventh in the lottery. We were talking about maybe around the All-Star break and the Bulls had started to lose a bunch of games. If you all recall, after the Zack trade, the new guys were getting, you know, worked into Billy’s rotation and there were some some struggle bus, you know, games for a while there. At one point, I think they fell to as many as 14 games under 500. We’re like, “All right, if the Bulls can still manage sixth or seventh in the lottery, that’s not terrible.” Then you’re still talking about a somewhere between 30 and 40% chance of jumping up in the top four. Now, we all know what happened down the stretch. The Bulls prioritized wins instead of lottery ball uh lottery odds and ping- pong balls. And now it’s like, man, those teams that we were talking about them maybe finishing ahead of in the lottery, Brooklyn, Toronto. Yeah. The Bulls came nowhere close to that. Yeah. And that’s where I was kind of going to go is I’m concerned about those teams going into next year now. Uh because you know Philly is not going to be like that again. And Brooklyn is going to get better because of their player. Toronto I thought if they wanted to could have been a better team. Exactly. But they were like no I’ll stay. Because they understood their bigger picture of what they wanted to do. So those teams aren’t going to be the same. You can even look at Washington and say they won’t be the same team if they get another high draft pick and continue to play well because they were playing well down the stretch. So yeah, man. The Bulls are in such an interesting and crazy position. You’d rather be the Dallas Mavericks drafting at 11 because the Mavericks know who they are. So adding a nice player fits well. I think of guys like Derek Lively immediately when I think of this. So the wish Bulls were in that position. They’re just not. So all I got for you right now, baby, hope and luck. I will say I think Oh, I I think that there’s some real potential for some trades in the back half of the lottery this year. Okay. Um, you look at a team like Dallas who’s very much all in on the present. Obviously, Kyrie tearing his Was it ACL or Achilles? I can’t remember. I think it was ACL. I think ACL. Um, that sets them back, but like Portland, they’ve got a core. They just drafted a center. I don’t think they’re going to be doing that again. You have Scoot, you have uh Shaden Sharp, you have Denny Aia, Timmani Kamar. That’s a core that you have there. And so I don’t know that they’re going to be like really gung-ho about drafting another, you know, young piece that could like maybe be a rotation player. They might try to go big game hunting a little bit, so to speak, and and try to bring in a guy that can slot some of those other guys into a better position. Um, same with like Atlanta. San Antonio’s got two picks. Maybe they try to move up. So, I think there could be a lot of movement and I think like the Bulls could try to jump up and, you know, into that top 10 if they have a guy that they like there. Um, you know, let’s say, uh, Portland is trying to move back or Houston is trying to move back. Like, could you package your pick plus something else to try to move up and get your guy, whether that’s common Malawatch or Derek Queen, uh, to try to figure out the center of the future, um, or even, you know, a rotation player on the wing. Well, we’ll find out where the Bulls are drafting in the 2025 NBA draft in just a few short days. That’ll do it for this mini pot of CHO Bulls. If you want all of our full length episodes, make sure you subscribe to that CSGO Sports YouTube channel. We’re going to be talking about the latest NBA mockd drafts from across MVA publications over the next couple of days. Tune in.

The CHGO Bulls crew preview all the details of the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery happening on Monday, May 12. The Chicago Bulls have the 12th best odds, with only an 8% chance of jumping into the Top 4 and 1.7% chance of landing the number one overall pick. Can they find as much value as they found in Matas Buzelis with last year’s 11th pick if they don’t get lucky and jump up?