Individual Daily Draft Prospect Discussion/Index

[WesPeace]

The Bulls need something at PG, neither Giddey or White defend it well.

Id prefer Jones but there's no way they can sign him.

The other real concern is should anyone even care about fit with white or Giddey?

Of course they can re-sign Jones.. 9M per season or even less, 2yrs deal would be best option.
Even if J.Carter picks up his player option he shouldnt be that hard to trade..

[2weekswithpay]

The Bulls need something at PG, neither Giddey or White defend it well.

The offense runs thru Giddey so shooting and defensive is more important than facilitation. Jace offers both so it makes sense in that way.

Despite all the guards they have, they don't have anyone who offers both consistently.

Id prefer Jones but there's no way they can sign him.

The other real concern is should anyone even care about fit with white or Giddey?

We should care about fit if the plan is to give Coby and Giddey new contracts and build around them.

[Chi town]

The Bulls need something at PG, neither Giddey or White defend it well.

The offense runs thru Giddey so shooting and defensive is more important than facilitation. Jace offers both so it makes sense in that way.

Despite all the guards they have, they don't have anyone who offers both consistently.

Id prefer Jones but there's no way they can sign him.

The other real concern is should anyone even care about fit with white or Giddey?

I do.

Jase can defend PGs but not play PG. that’s not his game much like Ayo.

Jones and Zo can both defend and play PGs.

Don’t see Jase as a fit.

Do you need a PG offensively if you have Giddey? He's a good catch and shoot scorer that seems to fit with this team.

Our offense without a PG is a train wreck.

We looked good when Giddey was out and Zo or Tre were in though.

[Chi town]

The Bulls need something at PG, neither Giddey or White defend it well.

Id prefer Jones but there's no way they can sign him.

The other real concern is should anyone even care about fit with white or Giddey?

Of course they can re-sign Jones.. 9M per season or even less, 2yrs deal would be best option.
Even if J.Carter picks up his player option he shouldnt be that hard to trade..

Carter is expiring filler in a trade.

Carter 6M
Vuc 21M
Collins 18M
Huerter 18M

[Guru]

Kon strikes me as a high floor low ceiling guy who doesnt really fit what I want in a candidate to join our current roster. Wont ever approach being an all star, will always be in the top 7 of your rotation.

[Chi town]

Kon strikes me as a high floor low ceiling guy who doesnt really fit what I want in a candidate to join our current roster. Wont ever approach being an all star, will always be in the top 7 of your rotation.

He’d be a great fit if Buz becomes an MVP type player with big scoring. He just doesn’t project enough defense to fit with our core 3. Same as Huerter really.

[Rose2Boozer]

Collin Murray-Boyles has been very productive at the college level. He scored the ball as well as the best of them from inside the three point line. That being said, projecting CMB's game to the NBA is tough. He would really have to learn to stretch before I would invest a lottery pick on him. The Bulls already have Matas Buzelis and I'm not moving him to the three for Collin Murray-Boyles. At this point, I don't have CMB mocked in the lottery.

Here's my NBA comp for Collin Murray-Boyles

Spoiler:

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[Guru]

11 PG-Kasparas Jakuciois-Illinois 4/23/2025

SCOUTING REPORT BY J. Kyle Mann
I love players who can rapidly “stack” actions. Players who know, instinctively, how to respond to whatever the defense is doing with rapid-fire decisions. Jakucionis, the Lithuanian guard who left FC Barcelona to star for Illinois this season, might be the best at it of anyone in this draft. He’s the type of role-malleable triple threat that every team in the league could use.

Jakucionis fits a flattering Euro stereotype for guards in that he has an almost joyous bobbing rhythm in the way he moves with the ball—a command for starting and stopping that really puts defenders in a less joyous place. Jakucionis, despite having credible size for his position, isn’t exceptionally long or blazingly fast. He does, however, have a low center of gravity and can be very quick from side to side or in situations when he suddenly bursts to attack after lulling his man into a spot.

Jakucionis is also a fantastic passer. In fact, I’d put him just a step or so behind BYU’s Egor Demin in terms of pure creativity. He’s able to consistently survey where his open teammate is or is about to be, where in the defense he needs to sell a fake, what type of fake that should be, and finally, what type of pass should be the solution. I don’t penalize a prospect for experimentation (I love it, actually), and that’s why I don’t really grind my teeth over Jakucionis’s ugly turnover percentage (second highest among the 164 players who posted 150 or more pick-and-roll reps). For one, he was battling a nagging forearm injury for nearly half the season while playing in a physically demanding conference, and for another, the best problem-solvers break eggs when they’re making omelets. Jakucionis definitely has stints of letting his guard down while protecting the ball, but he tries things, and at this stage, I am all for that.

Ultimately, Jakucionis’s success at the next level will live or die with his credibility as a scorer, and while I don’t think he is an “If it’s in the air, jog the other way” type of marksman, I’m optimistic he’ll be a consistent threat as a shooter. Through January 1 (so, pre-injury), Jakucionis was hitting 41.4 of his 3s, and the types of attempts varied—a blend of stepbacks in isolation and dribble pull-ups in the pick-and-roll and catch-and-shoot looks. Post-injury, his self-created 3s dried up almost entirely, which I suspect was a result of that injury to his nonshooting forearm. Beyond that, the craft in his middle game could definitely stand to progress and evolve, but he’s great when he gets to the rim. When he isn’t finishing at the basket (71.7 percent there), he relishes contact, which allows him to be a foul-generating machine. I expect his broad-shouldered frame to become a useful hammer in the paint by his mid-20s.

Jakucionis doesn’t have the kind of length or explosiveness that would give him a margin for error on defense, and he’s not particularly disruptive with his hands, so he’ll always have to work to hold up within a greater team scheme. That said, I don’t think his frame and physical tools put him in a terrible position. He’s shown that his low center of gravity, balance, and quickness can be effective in working through screens. It’ll be a challenge, but the net result should be positive.

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[MGB8]

I know it’s kind of cheap / a cop-out comp, but I get Manu vibes from the highlights of Jakucionis.

[Chi town]

I know it’s kind of cheap / a cop-out comp, but I get Manu vibes from the highlights of Jakucionis.

I get Manu vibes from Saraf. Probably because he’s a lefty and they look similar with same body type.


I like KJ and would be fine with him at 12. Smart tough winning player.

[MGB8]

I know it’s kind of cheap / a cop-out comp, but I get Manu vibes from the highlights of Jakucionis.

I get Manu vibes from Saraf. Probably because he’s a lefty and they look similar with same body type.


I like KJ and would be fine with him at 12. Smart tough winning player.

KJ had a 38 inch vert at hoops camp in 2024 - not elite by NBA standards for his size, but definitely plus NBA vertical athleticism. I know not reflected in actual play, though. At the same time, I just looked at some Saraf vids - and, yeah, Manu vibes, mores than KJ.

[dougthonus]

We should care about fit if the plan is to give Coby and Giddey new contracts and build around them.

In the draft, you should only think about best player. You only consider fit if you are at absolute tiebreaker status between two guys.

[Guru]

We should care about fit if the plan is to give Coby and Giddey new contracts and build around them.

In the draft, you should only think about best player. You only consider fit if you are at absolute tiebreaker status between two guys.

We are in a good spot with Giddey and Buz providing enough positional flexibility and length to allow us to pretty much draft anyone. I assume Giddey and Buz at the very least are the current plan to build around, and I agree with that. I also assume, based on how KC talks about him, Coby is in the long-term plans. I am not sure I agree with that. The good thing is that he won't be re-signed by the Bulls until at the earliest the beginning of 2026, so we will get a good run to see if he fits long term. I would be interested in a lineup of let's say Giddey-White-Buz-CMB-Claxton. I wanted Claxton last offseason to no avail, but he's the type I want.

[Guru]

I know it’s kind of cheap / a cop-out comp, but I get Manu vibes from the highlights of Jakucionis.

I get Manu vibes from Saraf. Probably because he’s a lefty and they look similar with same body type.


I like KJ and would be fine with him at 12. Smart tough winning player.

I have the biggest cognitive block around KJ. When he was being mocked around 5, I watched him and said no way. I need to rethink him at 12-13

[dougthonus]

We are in a good spot with Giddey and Buz providing enough positional flexibility and length to allow us to pretty much draft anyone. I assume Giddey and Buz at the very least are the current plan to build around, and I agree with that. I also assume, based on how KC talks about him, Coby is in the long-term plans. I am not sure I agree with that. The good thing is that he won't be re-signed by the Bulls until at the earliest the beginning of 2026, so we will get a good run to see if he fits long term. I would be interested in a lineup of let's say Giddey-White-Buz-CMB-Claxton. I wanted Claxton last offseason to no avail, but he's the type I want.

Outside of true cornerstones, and Giddey, Buz, and Coby are not true cornerstones, you shouldn't make any assumption about a player being on your roster more than two years.

[sco]

We should care about fit if the plan is to give Coby and Giddey new contracts and build around them.

In the draft, you should only think about best player. You only consider fit if you are at absolute tiebreaker status between two guys.

We are in a good spot with Giddey and Buz providing enough positional flexibility and length to allow us to pretty much draft anyone. I assume Giddey and Buz at the very least are the current plan to build around, and I agree with that. I also assume, based on how KC talks about him, Coby is in the long-term plans. I am not sure I agree with that. The good thing is that he won't be re-signed by the Bulls until at the earliest the beginning of 2026, so we will get a good run to see if he fits long term. I would be interested in a lineup of let's say Giddey-White-Buz-CMB-Claxton. I wanted Claxton last offseason to no avail, but he's the type I want.

I'd be all in for a Claxton type, if only to ensure that we don't start Vuc next season if he's still here (likely because there will no suitors). I don't see an impetus for BKN to trade him though. I like Robinson too, who may become available if the Knicks decide to shake things up.

[DuckIII]

KJ can play several positions. I’m not worried about fit with him at all. He will thrive in the NBA. Getting him at 12 would be Buzelis 2.0 for value.

Won’t happen. I’ve been told his forearm at the latter parts of the season was very painful and difficult to play through but he would not shut it down. If true and teams know that he may rise back up a bit.

His game is made for the NBA and his body is NBA ready day 1.

[Chi town]

I believe another Buz will fall to us.

Could be Tre Fears KJ Noa.

If Tre falls to 8-9 you have to be ready to trade Ayo to move up and get him.

[DuckIII]

I believe another Buz will fall to us.

Could be Tre Fears KJ Noa.

If Tre falls to 8-9 you have to be ready to trade Ayo to move up and get him.

I love Ayo with Giddey getting up and down the floor. When he returns healthy he will fit like a glove. It will be fun to watch.

But he is a role player. If you can add a role player to move up in the lotto to grab a guy you genuinely love, you do it. Tre or whomever. Doesn’t matter. If you as GM really love a guy you can’t let a role player stop you.

[Guru]

12 C-Khaman Maluach-Duke 4/24/2025

SCOUTING REPORT BY Danny Chau
Calling Maluach’s rise over the past four years meteoric feels like an understatement. Four years ago, the South Sudanese refugee became the youngest-ever enrollee at an NBA Academy, at just 14 years old. It was his first time playing organized basketball. At 16, Maluach became the third-youngest player ever to play in a FIBA World Cup. The following summer, he was—by a wide margin—the youngest competitor in men’s basketball at the Olympics. He’s had several lifetimes of experience in these past four years alone. Yet we’re still just at the ground floor.

One can assume Maluach’s role on the floor from one glance at his measurements. Maluach has a 9-foot-8 standing reach—1 inch longer than Victor Wembanyama’s and 1 inch shorter than Rudy Gobert’s and Duke alumnus Mark Williams’s. He has an unlimited catch radius on lobs; he can cordon off the painted area simply by spreading his arms. But it’s 2025—the NBA is no country for plodding bigs. There are interesting wrinkles in Maluach’s profile that suggest a possible deviation from the Gobert archetype. For one, his touch is exceptional for his size: He’s a good free throw shooter, he can gently guide lobs into the basket as routinely as he can flush them home, and he has the coordination to catch passes from uncomfortable angles. His screen craft is nuanced for a teenager, and his scoring efficiency as a finisher out of the pick-and-roll is astronomically high compared to just about every lottery big man of the past decade.

Players of Maluach’s archetype are typically seen as floor raisers on defense, but his unique style of pick-and-roll defense could be more of a ceiling play. His arms are constantly in motion, moving up and down like he’s an anthropomorphic mini-golf windmill that follows you around the fairway. He can get absurdly low in his defensive stance without losing his range of motion or velocity moving backward and laterally. Because of this, there is almost a hubris in Maluach’s defensive tendencies—he plays at the level of the screen in pick-and-rolls because he thinks he can; he dances on the perimeter with guards because he thinks he can. And if he can’t, he’ll bet on his own recovery speed and ridiculous reach to get back into the play. His ability to blow up plays in unconventional ways is something that Duke has consistently put to the test. The technique isn’t always sound, and the results aren’t always there. When he’s lost on a play, it can look really bad. But confidently defending in space requires both a skill and a mentality that players of his ilk rarely demonstrate with the same enthusiasm. It’s something NBA teams will want to see him test the limits of—if he figures it out, he could be the rare defensive anchor who raises both the floor and the ceiling of a team.

It does skew some of his data, however. Because of the amount of time Maluach spends defending outside the paint, his defensive rebounding numbers are unexceptional (he has one of the highest offensive rebounding rates in college basketball, though). His block percentage, while solid, doesn’t reflect his outlier tools. He wouldn’t be the first Duke center posting underwhelming numbers to get drafted in the lottery—Dereck Lively II’s counting stats were paltry, but his defensive influence was never in question. (To be fair, Lively’s block percentage was an order of magnitude higher than Maluach’s.) How teams reconcile the ho-hum numbers with both Maluach’s on-court context and his absurd potential will determine just how high he can go in the draft.

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