Thursday, May 22, 2008

Why the Bulls should draft Rose over Beasley

With CHI winning the lottery, the Bulls have to decide who fits in right now, as well as how much better can he get (i.e., his upside).

As I look at this year's draft, if I was sitting in the Bulls' position, I'd ask myself where would D. Rose and M. Beasley be right now at their position?

Rose would rank among the league's top 10 point guards right now, behind only C. Paul, D. Williams, S. Nash, T. Parker, G. Arenas, and B. Davis. Rose is that good. In fact, I think he'll be better than D. Harris, Billups (Chauncey's getting older), J. Kidd (so is Jason), and M. Williams in MIL.

Looking at Beasley today, I don't think he'd rank among the top 10 at either forward spot. Just look at the NBA's best power forwards -- Dirk, KG, Bosh, Boozer, Gasol, Jefferson, Marion, Brand, Aldridge, Jamison, West, Josh Smith. How about small forwards? LeBron, Pierce, Butler, Anthony, Howard, Turkoglu, Iguodala, Kirilenko, Gay, Deng, Artest...

Of course Beasley is a great player. But the NBA is loaded with talented forwards.

Here's my case for taking Rose:

  1. You'd immediately have one of the league's top 7 point guards.
  2. You can trade Hinrich for a team need. I'm sure the Bulls are already getting calls about his availability.
  3. In order to win in the NBA, you need a great PG (Paul, Williams, Nash, etc.)
  4. Rose is a Chicago kid.

Regardless, both Rose and Beasley will be terrific pros. Because they're so young and talented, they've got plenty of upside.