NBA
#22 Chicago Bulls: Bobby Portis
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
There wasn’t a mock draft in the industry that had Bobby Portis falling to the Chicago Bulls at pick #22, which by definition means the SEC Player of the Year was a steal that late in the first-round.
On the other hand, the Bulls don’t really need him, at least not as currently constructed.
Chicago still desperately needs a long-term solution at backup point guard behind the oft-injured Derrick Rose, as well as someone to help keep Jimmy Butler from having to play 42 minutes a game. But Portis is one of those value picks that are hard to pass up, and since Chicago already was very likely considering shaking up the frontcourt this offseason anyway, it’s far from the most insane pick of the draft. No more confounding than, say, Philadelphia taking Jahlil Okafor when they already had Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid on the roster.
The first thought is that this opens the door for them to explore trades for Taj Gibson, a somewhat similar player on a friendly contract that should garner plenty of interest league-wide. He’s getting a bit older but still is in his prime, and considering Jimmy Butler’s impending max-extension, Gibson may have been a casualty anyway.
Somebody is going to have to go, at any rate, because there simply aren’t enough minutes for Portis, Gibson, Nikola Mirotic, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah all to be effective. But once again, this was a value pick, not a pick for need.
Portis, at 6’11 with a 7’4 wingspan, has been compared to Kevin Garnett in large part because he’s the same kind of super-serious, super-competitive player that teeters on the edge of being just a little bit crazy in the best way possible. He’s going to defend at a very high level and is an efficient scorer, having shot 54 percent on two-point field goals at Arkansas last year. He can even knock down a three-pointer once in a while, giving new Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg an interesting new toy to play with this upcoming season.
The only question now is what Chicago may do to clear out their roster to make room for all these big guys.
