Bulls Mon Jun 29 2015

Meet the Newest Chicago Bulls Draft Pick

By Chris Zois

The Chicago Bulls made the smart move during the NBA draft June 25, in that they took the best player available. That player was 6-foot-11-inch power forward Bobby Portis from Arkansas. Going into this year's draft, fans had to be nervous about what the Bulls front office was going to do. Forget that they have a new coach and offensive strategy, we have covered that enough -- the real issue was whether general manager Gar Forman was going to go with his brain over his gut.

Forman has been known to be a bit of a homer when it comes to his draft picks. He will select guys he is familiar with, as opposed to what the team needs. Tony Snell and Cameron Bairstow both played at the University of New Mexico, where Forman used to be an assistant coach, and Forman was pretty tight with Doug McDermott's father Greg when they both worked at Iowa State. McDermott and Snell have been under-performing since joining the team and Bairstow was riding the pine pony for most of the 2014-2015 season, playing only 64 minutes. So you can see where some of the apprehension was coming from on draft night.

But the front office strayed from their recent trend, and instead of picking a nephew of a former colleague or an ex-player, they picked the best player available at the 22nd pick in Portis.

ESPN analyst Jalen Rose compared Portis to Rasheed Wallace, but you need to take that with a grain of salt. Wallace was a tank with a Ferrari engine, but Portis is more similar to a sleek sedan with a suped-up engine, if we continue the cliche car analogies.

During his final year with Arkansas, Portis averaged 17.5 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 36 games. That is a wicked looking statline for a guy who is forecast to become a center sometime in his career. Portis can move like a serpent on the court, slipping out of defenders ways to make it to the basket. Just look at his 18-point performance against Dayton on Dec. 13, 2014.

He just crawls out of those protections in a grizzly fashion that get you nervous. Coach Fred Hoiberg said he is excited at the prospect of coaching Portis, who is more agile than he looks.

"He's over 6'10" and runs the floor extremely well, which is very important with the pace we're going to want to play with," Hoiberg said at the post-draft press conference. "The thing I'm excited about is his ability to play all over the floor. Against us (at Iowa State), he hit six shots pretty much all from the perimeter in the first half. He's a very versatile kid who you can use in different ways."

Shooting was one of the main issues the Bulls needed to address in the draft. It is unlikely that Mike Dunleavy will come back and no other players have shown that they can hit the three. Portis may not be the savior in this department, but he can provide a little hope for the Bulls faithful. Portis shot 30 for 69 between 17 feet and the 3-point line, and hit 47 percent from beyond it. Nothing to scoff at, but it's really just...

There are many things to like about Portis' game. He's got a short turnaround move, can hit clutch jumpers, and will be a stud coming down the floor if he puts up 1.2 points per possession in transition, according to Draft Express. That will help Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, whose knees could fall apart at a moment's notice this season. Portis' selection was a coup for the Bulls at 22. He's not a quick fix for the team's roster, but he isn't a reclamation project that needs years to develop. The guy is already set to join the Bulls. Just look at the Santa Claus suit he was rocking at the draft. He will have to work his butt off in order to get minutes, but once he earns them, he could be a key cog to the Bulls rotation.