The Chicago Bulls picked 21-year old, 6’7″, 220 pound small forward Jimmy Butler with the 30th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft.  Butler played in 37 games for Marquette last year and he averaged 34.6 minutes, 15.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  He played in 106 games in three years in college and he averaged 29.6 minutes, 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  Butler will be able to give Luol Deng a break next season whenever he needs one.  This was a solid pick for the Bulls.

The Bulls dealt up for 20-year old, 6’10″, 220 pound power forward Nikola Mirotic.  He was picked 23rd overall and was then dealt to the Bulls.  Mirotic is a pick for the future as he is signed through the 2014 season with Real Madrid in Spain.  Chances are that he can be bought out before 2014, but he likely won’t be wearing a Bulls’ uniform any time soon.  Mirotic has played in 120 games in four years in Spain and he is averaging 19.7 minutes, 9.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.

The Chicago Bulls currently own the #28, #30 and #43 picks in the 2011 NBA Draft.  The Bulls could decide to keep the picks to try to package them to move up for one player.  I think they will likely stand pat.  The Bulls need help at shooting guard.  With that in mind, I can see the Bulls taking SG LaceDarius Dunn out of Baylor.  The Bulls could also use a small forward like Jimmy Butler out of Marquette and they could take him at #30.  The Bulls will likely take the best player available at #43.

The Bulls got nasty on the boards and on defense last night and those were  the reasons for the rather easy home win.  The Bulls outrebounded the Hawks 58-39 last night and they held them to an anemic 33.8% from the floor.  Derrick Rose only shot 10 of 27 from the floor but he still led the way for the Bulls last night with 25 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 blocked shots.  Joakim Noah also had a monster game with 19 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot.  Luol Deng (14 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot) and Carlos Boozer (8 points, 11 rebounds and 1 steal) also pitched in for the Bulls in this game.  The Bulls have tied up this series at 1-1 as it shifts to Atlanta.

The Bulls only shot 37.8% from the floor and they really didn’t show much heart until the last 4-5 minutes of the game when they finally woke up…but it was too late.  Joakim Noah led the way for the Bulls yesterday with 21 points and 14 rebounds.  Luol Deng (16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal) and Carlos Boozer (15 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots) also had solid games for the Bulls yesterday.  Derrick Rose only shot 6 of 22 from the floor but he still finished up with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals and 1 blocked shot in this game.  The Bulls are still up 3-1 in this series.

The Bulls have picked 20-year old power forward Kevin Seraphin with the 17th overall pick of the NBA Draft out of France. He will likely be traded to the Wizards on July 8th along with Kirk Hinrich. Seraphin played in 97 games (47 starts) in France and he averaged 7.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. The Bulls would have certainly picked a better player then Seraphin if they had kept the pick.

UPDATE: (7/8/2010) – Seraphin is officially a Washington Wizard.

Although a trade of this kind can’t be officially announced until July 8th it appears as though the Bulls have traded Kirk Hinrich and the #17 overall pick to the Washington Wizards for a future 2nd round pick. Hinrich played 7 years for the Bulls appearing in 514 games (433 starts) in which he averaged 34.0 minutes, 13.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game. This trade looks very lopsided in the Wizards’ favor but it opens up enough cap space for the Bulls that they could sign to max contract players.

UPDATE: The Wizards have sent the rights to 25-year old power forward Vladimir Veremeenko to the Bulls to complete this trade. He was a 2006 draft pick of the Wizards who is currently playing in Russia.

The biggest need for the Chicago Bulls heading into tomorrow night’s NBA Draft is shooting guard. Kirk Hinrich is much better as a #3 guard than a starting shooting guard. Most experts have the Bulls selecting SG James Anderson of Oklahoma State. But the Bulls could possibly sell the pick with the idea that they would have more bucks to spend in free agency. I think that would be a bad move for the Bulls who should probably pick Anderson or the best player available. The Bulls only pick in the draft as of now is #17 overall.

A 6’8″ 250 lb. Small Forward with handles, a quick first step, range to the 3 point line, quick feet to defend small guards, size to bang with the 4′s and 5′s, and explosiveness to jump over people at the rim. Sounds like an all-star description right? Sounds like a player your familiar with right? If you read the first line in this paragraph and you didn’t read the headline you would think I was talking about LeBron James right? Well had James Johnson been exposed to the AAU circuit before his Junior year in high school, and been hooked up with a powerful shoe company perhaps he would be spoken about in the same breath as LBJ.

James Johnson, however grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a basketball nowhere, and then blew up on the AAU scene going into his senior year. He was ranked in the top 50 and commited to Wake Forest. Despite playing with shoot first point guard Jeff Teague he finished 2nd in the ACC freshman of the year voting. He was dominant at times at Wake despite not being featured enough. That may explain his drop to #16 in the NBA draft despite having a skill set only comparable to the elite small forwards in the NBA.

 His jump shot and handle needs refining but it is there. Look at James Johnson play and see who he reminds you of in the NBA. I think of Carmelo Anthony, LBJ, and a young Antoine Walker. While there were some good players in the ’09 draft taken ahead of Johnson there were not 15 of them. Sure Blake Griffin will dominate. Guards like James Harden will be an automatic 20ppg scorer for years, Ricky Rubio will make highlight reels sick of him, and guys like Stephen Curry and Johnny Flynn will score in bunches, but with the exception of Griffin are any of them all-stars? All-stars are unique. They are matchup problems. They have size, strength and skill combinations no one else has, and James Johnson definitely fits that description, and the Bulls are very fortunate to have had him fall to #16.

 Playing with Derrick Rose won’t hurt either. The 6’4″ point guard prodigy needs athletes that can run with him, and he will set Johnson up for better shots than he ever has gotten before. Add that with his ability to get his own shot and the Bulls may have their dynamic duo for the next 12 years

The Bulls selected 24-year old power forward Taj Gibson with the #26 pick in the NBA Draft last night. Gibson played in 105 games in three years at USC and he averaged 12.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.4 blocked shots per game. Gibson is a really good athlete with a nice upside and he will compete for minutes early in his career. This was a solid pick by the Bulls.