The Ringer founder Bill Simmons recently stated that he sees the Chicago Bulls as the big winners of Tuesday's 1st round of the NBA Draft.
The Chicago Bulls had a solid draft night over the course of Tuesday's first round, nabbing explosive North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson at 4th overall, and then grabbing the athletic and versatile wing Dailyn Swain at 15th overall.
While it is, of course, impossible to outright know without seeing the Bulls organizational draft board, on the surface it feels like they were able to grab both of their top options of the 4th and 15th picks respectively. Wilson was almost certain to be the 4th pick regardless of what team was selecting there. Throughout the long and, at times, arduous draft process, the top-3 prospects shuffled spots on various big boards often, while Wilson was essentially always locked in at 4. Wilson doesn't have a large body of work as a 3-point shooter. Despite the fact that Wilson was a very effective college scorer without a 3-ball, that lack of a concrete perimeter jump shot was the determining factor in him not being considered a "top-3" prospect.
Despite this, Simmons has stated before that he is "all-in" on Caleb Wilson. He mentioned that Wilson Will likely have a chip on his shoulder as a result of sliding down to No. 4 overall. Simmons went on to say that Wilson is "the first legit Bulls star since Derrick Rose.”
The praise didn't stop at the No. 4 Wilson selection though, as Simmons was also a huge fan of the Bulls grabbing Texas wing Dailyn Swain at 15th overall.
"With Swain, isn't it....if this guy can just...if he can just figure out how to shoot, this kid's gonna be awesome. Because he rebounds, he defends, like he runs the floor, he does everything else...but the shot is why he wasn't a lottery pick. So what if he learns how to shoot?"
Simmons' analysis in regards to Swain is common for lanky and toolsy wings who lack a consistent jumper, but that doesn't make it any less true. On paper, Swain brings excellent ball-handling, physical driving ability and a consistent effort on defense. Although the jump shot needs plenty of work, Swain wasn't afraid to fire away from deep, shooting 34.4% on 2.6 attempts per game from 3-point range. Those figures represented career-high marks for Swain, who played two years at Xavier ahead of his lone year at Texas.
As Simmons stated, anything close to a serviceable 3-point jumper at the NBA level will open up the floor even more for Swain, who will already be dealing with more floor space than he is accustomed to at the NCAA level.
The Bulls continued to stock their team with long, do-it-all wings to flank Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, clearly sticking to a vision laid out by Executive VP of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham. And if the early reaction is any indication, the collective basketball world seems to be on-board with what Graham and Co. are building in Chicago.
