{"id":44429,"date":"2025-05-27T15:33:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T05:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/?p=44429"},"modified":"2025-05-27T15:33:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T05:33:04","slug":"2025-nba-draft-team-preview-chicago-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/2025-nba-draft-team-preview-chicago-bulls\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NBA Draft Team preview &#8211; Chicago Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>CHICAGO Bulls had an up and down season, storming home to make the play-in in the final stages of the season, before being eliminated by the Miami Heat in the do-or-die clash of the tournament in April, and can consider themselves among the unluckiest when it comes to the draft lottery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were the last team in the Eastern Conference to book their spot in the play-in, doing so with a win over the Toronto Raptors on April 1. It was always going to be a rocky season for the Bulls having traded centrepieces of their franchise for the past five years in <strong>DeMar DeRozan <\/strong>and <strong>Zach LaVine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aussie <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"3017\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/joshua-giddey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Josh Giddey<\/a> was among the biggest positives for the Bulls, flicking a switch after the All-Star break and playing like one in the back half of the season, and will have most certainly demanded a strong payrise over the off-season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the draft lottery came around, the Bulls finished with the same record as the Dallas Mavericks, so the 12th pick came down to a coin flip. In a heartbreaking result, Chicago was dealt pick 11, while the Mavericks went on to take out the number one pick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless, the Bulls will still have the chance to add a quality player for the future with their first round selection, although it will be a quiet draft for the team with just two picks across two night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-chicago-bulls\">Chicago Bulls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-draft-selections\">Draft Selections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>12, 45<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-contracted-players\">Contracted players<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Lonzo Ball, Nikola Vucevic, Patrick Williams, Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, Coby White, Jalen Smith, Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter (player option), Matas Buzelis, Dalen Terry (team option), Julian Phillips<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bulls are in a tricky spot in terms of their roster, with young guns such as Giddey and White paired up with veterans like Vucevic, but they are a young team overall, and they will get younger when they add another exciting prospect next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the 12th pick, there is no doubt the Bulls would be looking for the best available player, but if looking to choose a preferred position, adding stocks to the frontcourt would be beneficial for shaping the team&#8217;s roster for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several candidates that could be available around this mark, with <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"43461\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/khaman-maluach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Khaman Maluach<\/a> the most likely to be off the board by this stage, and there are several players that have had outstanding season&#8217;s in their draft year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most likely option here is <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"44410\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/derik-queen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Derik Queen<\/a>, who was excellent for the <a data-type=\"team\" data-id=\"44411\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/team\/maryland-terrapins\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Terrapins<\/a> and would be a strong fit for Chicago. His interior scoring is up there with the best in the draft class, as is his rebounding ability, while the big man also possesses guard-like handles, which is impressive for his six-foot-10 frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/Derik-Queen-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43447\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Derik Queen is an excellent frontcourt option for the Bulls. Photo: Gurnoor Sodhi\/The Diamondback<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With Vucevic in the twilight of his career, Queen would be an ideal long-term replacement, and although he still has a ways to go in the development of his long-range shooting and overall perimeter impact, having the veteran around would be massive in accelerating this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another option could be <strong>Asa Newell<\/strong>, who is a bouncy forward\/center from Georgia, who possesses the ability to impact inside the paint on both ends of the floor. Like Queen, Newell&#8217;s shooting could do with some work, but he can still impact early in his career with excellent touch around the basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With their second pick midway through the second round, expect the Bulls to take the best available player, regardless of position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-dc-block-dc-mention _dc_mention\"><div class=\"section-heading_wrap\"><span class=\"section-heading is-small\">Mentions<\/span><span class=\"hor-border\"><\/span><\/div><ul class=\"js-overflow-list overflow-list\"><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/joshua-giddey\/\">Joshua Giddey<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/khaman-maluach\/\">Khaman Maluach<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/derik-queen\/\">Derik Queen<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_t\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/team\/maryland-terrapins\/\">Maryland Terrapins<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"js-dropdown dropdown overflowed\"><button class=\"btn btn-icon-only\"><span class=\"icon btn-icon\">\n                    <!-- icon - plus circle - 20px-->\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 20 20\">\n                        <path d=\"M15,9.28h-4.3V5h0A.72.72,0,1,0,9.28,5h0V9.28H5a.72.72,0,0,0,0,1.43H9.28V15a.72.72,0,0,0,1.43,0h0V10.71H15a.72.72,0,0,0,0-1.43Z\"\/>\n                        <path d=\"M10,0A10,10,0,1,0,20,10,10,10,0,0,0,10,0Zm0,18.57A8.57,8.57,0,0,1,10,1.43h0a8.57,8.57,0,0,1,0,17.14Z\"\/>\n                    <\/svg>\n                <\/span><\/button><div class=\"popover\"><div class=\"popover-content\"><ul class=\"popover-menu\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO Bulls had an up and down season, storming home to make the play-in in the final stages of the season, before being eliminated by the Miami Heat in the do-or-die clash of the tournament in April, and can consider themselves among the unluckiest when it comes to the draft lottery. They were the last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3835,2871,5888],"tags":[7541,7568,7421,530,7425,7665,5499],"class_list":["post-44429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nba-draft","category-news","category-team-preview","tag-asa-newell","tag-demar-derozan","tag-derik-queen","tag-joshua-giddey","tag-khaman-maluach","tag-maryland-terrapins","tag-zach-lavine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44429"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44434,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44429\/revisions\/44434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}