alright guys.. right now im kinda tired of seeing articles that TT will go to the BUlls.. why??? what has the media seen that we havent? why is he so special? people say hes the best athlete... why? why should the bulls pick him when were stacked at the 3 who can also play the 4 for spot up minutes. has the media seen him practice and know something about him that we dont?

discuss fellas

He is not special, he is not worth the #2 pick and I am going to kill someone if we take him.

Supposedly Chad Ford has sources that say we're leaning toward taking him, whatever that's worth. He is a heck of an athlete (he did post 34 inch standing and 39.5 one step verticals at the combine with pretty good agility and speed scores for a guy his size), but that's about it.

As for the hype, he put up a couple of good games in the tournament that everyone saw, so people think he is better than he is. The Duke game wasn't even all that impressive, but that ship has sailed. Any other year he'd go somewhere around #10, but a weak draft combined with considerable hype has sent his stock skyrocketing.

Athletism typically wins out in the draft and this guy may very well have a tremendous attitude, tremendous work ethic and considering he's relatively new to the sport of basketball they may feel he's an incredibly quick learner who will really put things together.

Wasn't that the case with Curry (also relatively new to the game of basketball) but at the same time Curry had a 7 foot frame, soft hands, and is a very good athlete for a man his size.

And as far as positions go, if the Bulls want to run a really up tempo game I could see him fitting in and being an undersized 4 (if we truly want to do a whole Phoenix Suns style offense). Problem is I don't think we really have the shooters to sucessfully run that style of offense.

But with Chandler and Thomas in the front court (once Thomas develops) and guys like Deng/Hinrich/Noc/Gordon in the backcourt (on the wings) we would definately be able to run run run.

If Paxson ended up picking TT, I am all for it. Our knowledge about these players is at best MINIMAL comparing to Paxson and his crew who have studied them day in and out. We should believe in Paxson.

It's just not logical. He's a SF and he's smaller than Rudy Gay. If we want a SF, then pick Gay. He won't help us right away, we need someone to contribute as a rookie, not 3 years down the road.

That's what I keep telling myself anyways...

You're right, we need at least one more player to run that (even after drafting Thomas): a big wing player (at least 6'6") that can shoot from outside, defend virtually anyone on the floor at times, and be at least a decent ball-handler. Roy can probably do everything but shoot, but we can't get him and Thomas, who would also be a key part in that system.

Phoenix can get away with it (at least until they play one of the top teams) because they have a lot of very athletic wing players that can shoot, rebound, and handle the ball. We don't have anything even close to Boris Diaw or Shawn Marion.

Andres Nocioni

I feel like i'm being captain obvious here but he has about the same build as those two and a pretty similar inside outside game.

Then how do you explain all the draft busts every year??

And I luv Kirk but he's nowhere near Nash's league offensively...Nash's ability to pull up and hit a jumper at such a high percentage enables a lot of what he does...

Don't you think Paxson doesn't know that? We can wish all we want, but if Paxson thought TT is the most logical choice, he will pick him. Whoever he picks, I will support. Watching TT on ESPN last night kind of helped me thinking, "Perhaps, Paxson sees something in TT that us amateurs do not." TT looked awfully good in those video clips!

Between your and Paxson's decisions, I have 100% faith in Paxson! What make you think you have better knowledge regarding these athletes than the people whose job is analyzing, doing hours after hours of researching on these athletes, etc.?

Be serious, Paxson has done a pretty good job so far. And I reiterate: I take Paxson's decision over ANYONE's on this board!

Paxson has been pretty solid since he got here when it comes to the draft. The busts pretty much came from the Krause regime.

Good but not great...and I also don't understand why he's been rather conservative in how he does things until (potentially) now...Aldridge seems like the safer pick in terms of filling a huge team need and being more ready to contribute right away...

And by the way, me > pax when it comes to basketball knowledge.

I'm sorry, but I have to you to bring you back to your senses.

I took his argument as saying that NBA GMs, coaches, scouts, etc. in general are much, much more knowledgeable in who to take than the average fan, not just Pax, and my counter is that it's such a crapshoot and their have been so many busts, some predictable that even fans can see coming, that a fan's opinion can very well be correct over that of a GM.

And pax has been solid but not great.

Well for one, John Paxson and other Gm's know much more about Tyrus than ANY of US do. Thats why I lay my trust with pax cuz I know he will make the right decision.

Not even close. They may have a similar build, but the athleticism, production, and versatility is drastically different. Both Phoenix players are also probably bigger factors defensively. Diaw can play anywhere on the floor at 6'8", and Marion would have led our team in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks last year. None of our wing players can put up these stat lines:

Marion- 21.8 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists 1.98 steals, 1.69 blocks, 1.5 turnovers

Diaw- 13.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists, .72 steals, 1.5 blocks, 2.3 turnovers

Hinrich, Gordon, and Chandler fit, and Deng does to some extent (needs a jumper), but Duhon and Noc don't quite fit what we need for that scheme. On top of that, Phoenix is only a title threat with Stoudemire in the lineup, and we don't have nor can we get someone like that. If we really wanted to switch to that system (which I wouldn't), we'd have to:

1) Draft Tyrus Thomas. Hopefully his athleticism would eventually allow him to produce like either Marion or Stoudemire. Obviously I have my doubts. Rudy Gay would also be a solid option, although he's a more of a true SF.

2) Trade Noc, 16 pick and/or spare parts to add a big athletic wing player, preferrably with shooting and ball-handling abilities. Marquise Daniels would be an example.

3) Try to get a similar player as number 2 with whatever is left from that package and Chris Duhon. Defense and shooting is more important than ball-handling in this case. I hate to keep using Dallas, but Josh Howard is the type of player I am talking about, although I doubt you'll get someone that good.

Your lineup would look something like this:
PG- Hinrich (similar to Nash)
SG- Howard-esque player (similar to Bell)
SF- Deng (doesn't really have an equivalent on Phoenix, I guess Thomas)
PF- Thomas (similar to Marion)
C- Chandler (very poor-man's version of Stoudemire)

bench- Gordon (actually a better version of House)
bench- Daniels-esque player (similar to Diaw)

4) Since depth is a major factor, you'd still need to add another player or two the following year, preferably a scoring PG that can play the 2 and another athletic big man or combo forward (Kevin Durant would be beautiful for the latter).

For those of you saying Thomas is a SF, I think a lot of people/scouts would counter that as saying he's like a matrix type guy (I realize thats Marion's nickname and I'm not really comparing him to Marion) but moreso the fact that he doesn't really have any position and while some may look at that as a bad thing, it could also be construed as a big thing because no one can guard him.

Think about Antonio Gates or Tony Gonzalez, sure they are Tight Ends, but really they are more than that. They may not be able to block as good as some other Te's in football, but they have WR speed, TE size and create total mismatches all over the place.

Those that like Thomas could see him doing exactly that, where he's too big for a SF to guard him yet way too fast for a PF to guard him and at the same time his athletism (and if he continues to grow and add muscle, which is definately in the realm of possibilities) could allow him to guard both SF's and PF's and do a pretty admirable job of it while also being a very good help defender when necessary.

Also the Chandler/Thomas comparisons got to go. Chandler is a center/pf who has zero offensive game but is insanely athletic, THomas is a PF/SF combo type situation who has some offensive game but obviously that game isn't polished at all. He's defensively talented but he does have some semblance of a shot.

Plus its just not fair to compare two guys that play other positions.

That's definitely the prevailing theory, but there's an obvious problem with that that has been mentioned by several people on this board: he doesn't have the talent to post up SF's OR take PF's off the dribble. He would need serious work in both areas.

Teams also seem to think that he'll be an instant-impact player on the boards and defensively. That seems iffy to me. His vertical will help, but he'll get man-handled when people actually box him out, and he'll get shoved around when his is defending on the ball a lot (though he's a dangerous help defender).

I think he's strong enough to be a force on the boards and be a reckon with in terms of shot blocking, but at the same time he'll probably find himself in foul trouble a lot.

The guy is definately a project and your right on the dribbling, but I think people look at his work ethic, positive attitude and the quickness that he's picked up the game and feel he can do it.

Obviously its a risk, but the question is whether the reward is with it.