Bulls Linked To Latvia's Bertans And Marquette's Butler
CHICAGO (WSCR) Three of the Bulls most important players were drafted over the last four years: Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose, and Taj Gibson. With two picks at the end of Thursday night's first round, the Bulls look to add another piece to a title contending team.
In his most recent mock draft, Hoopsworld.com editor Steve Kyler has the Bulls selecting Davis Bertans from Latvia and Marquette's Jimmy Butler.
"Davis Bertans would be more of a deferment," Kyler said on the Mully and Hanley Show. "Everything that I'm hearing out of the Bulls is that they'll come out of this draft with one player. Whether that means they're going to sell off a pick or whether they're going to double those picks up and move up a few spots, or take a European guy that's going to be a year or two out.
LISTEN: Steve Kyler On The Mully And Hanley Show
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"Davis Bertans, everyone wants to compare him to Dirk Nowitzki, he's a big, 6'10" shooter. You know, he has a very good offensive game. He's not much of a defender, you know, we don't see a lot of great defensive players coming out of international basketball. But Davis Bertans is a player a lot of teams have interest in. And I think if the players start to come off the board in a different order, you could see him going a little higher, just simply because he's going to be a very nice deferred pick."
Kyler compares Bertans' situation to current Bulls center Omer Asik. Asik was drafted with the 36th overall pick in the 2008 draft, but stayed with his Euroleague team, Fenerbahce Ulker of Istanbul, until coming over for last season. Instead of coming to the NBA right away and having to spend time on the bench, Asik was able to contribute in his first season.
"I developed a man-crush on Jimmy Butler after spending a few days with him," Kyler said. "He's everything you want in a player: He has a great attitude, he's very very coachable, loves to play defense, can hit the three-ball with amazing precision. He was part of the Chicago draft combine, told me he shot 68% there. You know, he's a guy that just really loves to play. He has such an amazing story too. But, you know, just from a basketball perspective, he is exactly the kind of player coach Thibodeau would love to have, because he's very versatile, he can play a number of spots and he loves to play defense."
