Spencer Hawes
Birthday:
4/28/1988
NBA Postion:
Center
Class:
Freshman
Ht:
6-11
Wt:
250
College Team:
Washington



Joakhim Noah
Birthday:
2/25/1985
NBA Postion:
Power Forward
Class:
Junior
Ht:
6-11
Wt:
230
College Team:
Florida

I still say Joakim Noah. Even though Hawes has a more defined post skill set, you simply cannot weigh that over Joakim's extremely rare level of experience. Any college player who was a key ingredient to his/her team's back-to-back NCAA championships is difficult to pass up in any NBA draft.

Combine his deep experience with the energy and hustle play that he has and his hatred of losing, and you have a very safe pick. You simply cannot pass up a player who was pretty much the face of college basketball other than Durant and Oden, compared to a college freshman who has nowhere near the same level of experience as Joakim Noah.

Yeah I'd rather have Noah after thinking about it more. He has that experience you would like all rookies to have but few do. He's an energetc athletic kid but is extremely raw on offense, one could argue even worse than Tyrus. In fact if Thomas starts, Noah will most likely take the place of Tyrus last year with the "Energy and that spark" to get the team going. I expect that he will play way more minutes than Tyrus did last year because he is a "smart" player who doesn't make alot of mistakes. He's also a great passer, sounds like "Skiles" type of player.

Well, I put Hawes b/c at the time that's who I wanted. But, after these last couple days, I'm happier with the Noah selection. Maybe it's just the positive media spin put on our selection, but I do think now that Noah was the better selection at our pick. I also think (and this may be most important) that he's more valuable if a trade were to happen.

I'd definately take Noah over Hawes and I'm glad the Bulls did. With Noah you know exactly what you are going to get. You may not get a player that dominates offensively, but you'll get a guy who lays it all on the line night in and night out. He'll rebound on the defensive end, play good defense, and he'll try and attack the glass on offense to get some easy putbacks.

With Hawes you don't know what you are going to get. He may develop into a great NBA post scorer but I think his defense will always be suspect. Not to mention he didn't dominate the boards in his 1st year. I think I'd rather have a great defensive option than a guy who "may" be a good post scorer in the NBA but lacks the discipline to be a good defender.

A Noah/Wallace/Tyrus lineup on defense is going to create offense for the Bulls. I wouldn't be surprised if we led the league in blocks with that lineup. I'm sure Gordon/Deng/&Hinrich will be able to handle most of the scoring again this year. They all should be better players next year (though Kirk always seems to let me down in terms of his progression but we'll save that for another day).

With that said, it wouldn't hurt to add a player that can score in the post. Maybe Chris Webber could work though I doubt they'd go that way. Other than that, Mikki Moore, Antonio McDyess, & Bonzi Wells are probably the only players that make sense in terms of free agents that possibly are better offensive options than what we have in the post. However, Wells is probably not even going to command a call from Paxson.

I also heard that 20 teams have called to inquire about sign and trade deals for Rashard Lewis. I highly doubt we'd pull anything off with him but it would be nice to try. If he could play the 2 guard we'd be very dangerous. Probably a lot to win it all.

I honestly don't have a strong feeling either way. I think Hawes is a better fit for our needs, but his lack of athleticism is an issue, and though I tend to think it won't happen it's possible that makes him an absolute stiff. On the other hand, Noah doesn't help our scoring, but with his length, athleticism, and energy he'll be a positive influence, even if he never becomes an impact player.

Neither is a perfect solution, but I would have been reasonably happy with either.

nobody knew who Spencer Hawes was until the draft started. No articles about him in ESPN or anything. To me Noah has
A. Better defense
B. Way more experience
C. More potential

This to me is way more important for a rookie than maybe a "raw" type of player. If you look at all the draft grades, we have at least a B (draftexpress A+) because we took the best player. If Noah came out last year, we would of taken him over Tyrus Thomas for sure. He has pretty much the same season as his Sophmore year but he is outshined by Al Horford and Corey Brewer. Who cares? that is not the type of player he is. I'm happy with the pick and lock forward for Tyrus, Joakim and Ben fighting for rebounds. We are going to be a big physical team.


BTW I think Tyrus is going to be amazing one day. It is not often I drop everything I'm doing just to see this guy play.

Funny you mention that about Tyrus, because nobody knew about him until the Elite 8. Tyrus was picked #4 last year and if he was in the draft this year, he probably would have fell lower than Wright, Yi, Noah, and Hawes. And if we keep TT, Ben, and Noah on this roster, we will have the 3 most inept scoring big men in the NBA. And please dont bring up draft grades. The Bears got A's for drafting Cade McNown too.

But for this poll I picked Hawes, and I think everybody already knows why.

And finally, you mention you stop everything so you can watch Tyrus when he comes in. I'm the opposite. On numerous occasions, I've changed the channel in sheer rage and frustration after watching him play for more than a minute.

Thats the difference between Tyrus and Hawes though, Tyrus made a name for himself on the biggest stage against the best teams, Hawes lost the first game of the tournament. And really you hate Tyrus more than anyone else for some unknown reason, even Zoom/chisoxfan really like Tyrus but for some reason you have some weird hate for him unknown to man.

I don't really hate him per se, it's more of an accumulation of things since the tourney the year he got drafted. He blew up because of some great play in the tourney, then was getting all this praise, when he really has little basketball skill. He relies on athleticism for 99% of his game, and that just doesn't cut it.

I love that people come on here and say he has something special or that he is going to be a superstar, but they have no clue why, When I watch Tyrus Thomas play, I see great athleticism, but little skill, and even less control of the energy he possesses. I don't know how many times I've seen him try to make a move with the ball by putting it on the floor and getting a charge. Or how many silly fouls he gets. Or all the bad passes. What pisses me off most is when he sets up shop at the foul line and calls for the ball. LMAO. Get some game first before your calling for the ball and begging your teammates to give it to you.

Don't get me wrong, I hope he turns into the next Shawn Marion, but I just don't see it happening. People want to give him the starting PF spot already. Whats next? MVP 10 games into the season? Its just the ridiculous praise he gets and the way he carries himself that I don't like. The dunk contest comments were the icing on the cake.

I dont know if I've ever seen so much hype for a guy that averages about the same # of fouls and/or turnovers as points and/or rebounds. And just to add, I dislike Thomas much less than eddog dislikes Hinrich.

You might wanna go double check that, buddy.

I would have gone with Hawes because he better fills the Bulls biggest need of a big man who can score on the block.

I love Tyrus Thomas, he has all the athletiscm but his potential is limitless which makes it that much more exciting to watch him. Is he going to live up to it or will he be a bust? I know when he does bad things im not stupid, I know he turns the ball over a countless number of times, he's not a smart player but I expect that from a 20 year old rookie who just decided to pick up a basketball his sophomore year in highschool. He was picked to go to LSU because of his athletiscm. He demonstrated that he can raise the level of his game when it counts the most hence the tourney. The awesome tournament made every analyst think he would be something special in the NBA if he plays like that.

I want to wait and see weather Tyrus develops parts of his game that will make him be the best player he can be. But you know, when he steps in the game he can provide excitement which is what you want to see in an NBA game. I can't tell you how boring it was to watch the Bulls sometimes when nothing jaw dropping was happening or something that was exciting. Tyrus does that and it brings some joy back into watching the Bulls when Jordan played. No, im not comparing Tyrus to Jordan.

You can say all you want, "Athletiscm doesn't win championships", which history tells us it doesn't but having a few players on the team that have that wouldn't hurt. Wait and see how he improves in the next year or 2 because I have a feeling he's going to amount to "something" good, I don't know about superstar but I think he will prove alot of the haters out there wrong.

I think Hawes will be the better scorer, but Noah is a fantastic athlete that fits in the system better (his athletism is a much better fit for the high octane offense the Bulls run).

Personally I think Brandon Wright or Yi would have been tops on my list but aside from that I didn't think the potential scoring big man was available with the Bulls pick so instead they went with the athletic guy that gives the Bulls more length and could potentially replace Ben Wallace in a year or two or get moved to another team.

I'll gladly take a guy like PJ Brown or Corliss Williamson who plays the game right, contributes more, is a team leader, and is "boring" than the guy who jumps high, turns the ball over, and is exciting.