The Chicago Bulls didn’t get a whole lot of lottery luck on Monday night. In fact, they got none whatsoever. They didn’t fall worse than their record would’ve had them picking, but they’re still only picking 12th when they could’ve picked in the top four. As a result of the lottery, the Bulls can now feature in mock drafts that have the correct order, though their placement won’t change.
NBA mock sends Maryland big man to Bulls
With the 12th pick, CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone predicts that they’ll go after NCAA Tournament darling Derik Queen. The Maryland center went viral for his incredible buzzer-beater that helped his team advance, but he had a good season all around.
“You’ll probably see Queen and Chicago linked a lot in the coming weeks,” he said. “He’s a skilled big man who would fill a need for the Bulls and help pieces in the frontcourt connect to Chicago’s dynamic backcourt.”
This would give the Bulls another young big man to pair with Matas Buzelis, last year’s lottery selection in almost the same slot. They’d have a young, talented frontcourt to build around in the coming years. Queen averaged 16.5 points per game and is the second-best center prospect in this class.
The Bulls are picking here partly because of a coin flip. They finished with the same record as the Dallas Mavericks. A coin was used to break the tie, and the Bulls lost, thereby giving them a 1.7% chance at the lottery win as opposed to Dallas’ 1.8%. That 1.8% chance proved to be all they needed, and there’s a reality where the flip went the other way and Chicago would be selecting Cooper Flagg instead.
Of course, it doesn’t exactly work like that. Had it been the Bulls’ ping pong balls bouncing around in there instead of Dallas’, they might not have even jumped into the top four. It’s much simpler to say that would’ve happened, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Still, there’s a legitimate complaint to be made about that coin toss.
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