The NBA draft looked a little different this year due to COVID-19, but we are all excited to see how the Bulls’ two picks for this year do in the upcoming season. This year the Bulls had the 4^th pick of the first round and 2nd round 44^th overall pick.

The Bulls’ first pick was Patrick Williams from Florida State. He is a forward position standing at 6’8” and weighing 225 pounds. He is currently 19-years-old and played one season at Florida State. He was the ACC Sixth Man of the Year and on the ACC All-Freshman Team in 2020. In college, he played in 29 games averaging 9.2 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist per game. He has great potential and promise for future seasons, so keep an eye out for him.

For the Bulls’ second pick, they drafted was 21-year-old, Marko Simonovic, who is from Kolasin, Montenegro, FR Yugoslavia. He is a professional Siberian basketball player standing at 6’ 11” and weighing 220 pounds. He plays center and used to play in the ABA League before he was drafted into the NBA. In this league Marko averaged 16.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game, making him someone the Bulls will need on the boards in seasons to come.

Some people are skeptical about Williams and Simonovic; they don’t think the two players are the wisest picks for the Bulls.  Senior Erik Hill is one of these people. Regarding Williams, Hill said, “I think he’s a terrible pick; there were so many better options that they could’ve gone with, like Obi Toppin or Deni Avdija. I feel like those players would’ve fit in better with the team we have right now. I get that the bulls were going for ‘the most athlete player’ in the draft, but I think that was Toppin. But who knows, maybe he’ll turn into a Kevin Durant type player if [he] ends up getting a shot?” When I asked Erik about Simonovic he said, “I actually really like the Marko Simonovic pick. He’s a 6’11” center that can spread the floor and also shoot. I don’t think he’ll get any minutes this coming season, but [he] could have an impact coming off the bench in the years after. I would’ve liked to see the Bulls get Nico Mannion though; he was one of my favorite players out of the 2020 draft.” I very much agree with Erik on the fact that both new players most likely won’t get any playing time this next season. Hopefully, this new coaching staff will ready both Williams and Simonovic and shape them into great players the Bulls can benefit from in future seasons.

Both picks show a lot of future promise and should fit in well with the new coach and staff that has been hired for the next season. The Bulls are going through a rebuild, like the White Sox in their previous seasons. In the next couple of years, we expect to see the Bulls as a much stronger team.