The Chicago Bulls are back in a familiar position — the end of the lottery, hoping that they find a diamond in the rough who can lift the franchise out of the middle and into contention for the first time in a while. Could Noa Essengue be that diamond? Chicago sure hopes so after drafting the versatile, long forward from France with the No. 12 pick in the NBA Draft on Wednesday night.
Projected Bulls lineup after picking Noa Essengue No. 12 overall
Position | Starter | Bench |
|---|---|---|
Point guard | Josh Giddey | Lonzo Ball |
Shooting guard | Coby White | Kevin Huerter |
Small forward | Matas Buzelis | Dalen Terry |
Power forward | Noa Essengue | Patrick Williams |
Center | Nikola Vucevic | Zach Collins |
Essengue will get an early opportunity in Chicago
There's not a ton to look forward to in Chicago, but Essengue could change that. The combination of Essengue and Matas Buzelis is at least a semblance of a cornerstone duo. That's a lot of length, defensive versatility and scoring upside.
Will he actually start from day one? I'm not sure! He's a raw talent and more of a project than a sure thing. But what does Chicago have to lose here?
Giddey and White will likely still run Bulls backcourt
Josh Giddey will become an unrestricted free agent next week, but I would be shocked if the Bulls don't re-sign him pretty quickly in free agency. I'm not sure how that contract will age, but I don't think they have much of a choice here — they traded Alex Caruso for him, so to ditch him after one season would be... strange.