Chicago Bulls select Noa Essengue - #12 overall

[WesPeace]

Noa has a chance to be a truly elite defender. With his length, size, and quickness obviously - but just general agility is off the charts. The Giannis comparisons never made sense, because Giannis is pure explosion. Noa is smooth, more a glider, almost balletic - he moves like a figure skater.

The offense? Who knows. For now just pick and roll to the cup and make off-ball cuts to the basket. He can get by as a dunker and overall finisher.

He does glide out there. I hope Billy uses him like a Swiss Army knife on defense and mixed up coverages with him on the opposing teams best scorers. Play him against a SG for a couple plays to disrupt flow and break rhythm. Play him small against a big C and have him front the post with his length.

I’d would have loved to see Noa on Herro in that play in game when no one could stop him. We have Tre Okoro and Ayo now but throwing Noa at him to give him a different look is what can create advantages and swing momentum. Billy needs to you use Noa on D like he did Caruso. Make him the future QB of the defense. His offense will take longer to develop but his D could be truly elite.

2nd game he looked elite on D. 3rd game was meh on D with more offense. I’d much rather have the D and filled up stat sheet then 20 points and an empty stat sheet.

Oh come on.. Noa the rookie aint stoppin' Herro haha! He would be beaten in the dribble 4 times out of 5. Herro's speed, skills and experiance would be way too much at the moment for Noa. Year or two down the road, easier, but still.. mismatch

[DuckIII]

i don't really think crean was saying noa needs a ton of lift to have good 3pt form; i think he was just saying he thought he wasn't getting enough legs into the shot and that's why he frequently was missing short

That’s definitely how I interpreted Crean as confirmed by Noa’s made 3 in the third quarter which Crean identified as an example of good lift. And it was just a small little bunny hop really.

[Chi town]

Noa has a chance to be a truly elite defender. With his length, size, and quickness obviously - but just general agility is off the charts. The Giannis comparisons never made sense, because Giannis is pure explosion. Noa is smooth, more a glider, almost balletic - he moves like a figure skater.

The offense? Who knows. For now just pick and roll to the cup and make off-ball cuts to the basket. He can get by as a dunker and overall finisher.

He does glide out there. I hope Billy uses him like a Swiss Army knife on defense and mixed up coverages with him on the opposing teams best scorers. Play him against a SG for a couple plays to disrupt flow and break rhythm. Play him small against a big C and have him front the post with his length.

I’d would have loved to see Noa on Herro in that play in game when no one could stop him. We have Tre Okoro and Ayo now but throwing Noa at him to give him a different look is what can create advantages and swing momentum. Billy needs to you use Noa on D like he did Caruso. Make him the future QB of the defense. His offense will take longer to develop but his D could be truly elite.

2nd game he looked elite on D. 3rd game was meh on D with more offense. I’d much rather have the D and filled up stat sheet then 20 points and an empty stat sheet.

Oh come on.. Noa the rookie aint stoppin' Herro haha! He would be beaten in the dribble 4 times out of 5. Herro's speed, skills and experiance would be way too much at the moment for Noa. Year or two down the road, easier, but still.. mismatch

Of course. That’s not really the point. He wouldn’t have locked him down but he would have given a different look and disrupted rhythm. Noa would have done better than Coby and Huerter.

Imagine a PNR blitz with Noa’s length blitzing.

[ShouldaPaidBG]

If Brandon Ingram couldn't shoot or dribble that well and was forced to play off ball and focus on defense......that would be a pretty good player

[Dominator83]

Unfortunately, ball handling is one of those you have it or you don't skills. I wouldn't expect major improvement in this area.

Are all of these ball handling coaches and clinics just wasting their time?

Sent from my SM-S936U1 using RealGM mobile app

and I guess Coby White didn't get the memo that ball handling can't be improved

[Dominator83]

The fact that in the last 27 years this organization has made 1 Eastern Conference Finals actually means a lot.

What does it mean to what we are doing or should do now?

It’s the blind loyalty and the willingness to accept mediocrity that is the problem. We as fans can remain patient and can expect the next 27 years to be the same as the last 27 years.

Krause infamously said that “Organizations win Championships.” What I can say is “Organizations definitely can prevent championships.”

None of that is relevant to what we should do now. Someone said we can be patient and you started talking about 27 years. Shouldn’t we be patient right now? What would you prefer we do?

Yep. I mean these things aren't mutually exclusive. I understand that being patient sucks, considering our lack of success post -MJ. But at the same time, the last time this organization decided to be impatient and speed things up, they were trading away future picks for B-list "stars" that give you a 2nd round ceiling (to which that wasn't even reached)

[Dominator83]

Wrong. Look at Coby’s handle now compared to when he entered the NBA.

Look at Pat's handle now compared to when he entered the NBA. Most players only make marginal improvements.

Pat is a mental midget and obviously hasn't put in enough work to improve his handles.

Bingo. Pat is a non-worker who hasn't improved in ANY aspect of basketball in his 5 years in the league. Bad example

[GuardianEnzo]

He does glide out there. I hope Billy uses him like a Swiss Army knife on defense and mixed up coverages with him on the opposing teams best scorers. Play him against a SG for a couple plays to disrupt flow and break rhythm. Play him small against a big C and have him front the post with his length.

I’d would have loved to see Noa on Herro in that play in game when no one could stop him. We have Tre Okoro and Ayo now but throwing Noa at him to give him a different look is what can create advantages and swing momentum. Billy needs to you use Noa on D like he did Caruso. Make him the future QB of the defense. His offense will take longer to develop but his D could be truly elite.

2nd game he looked elite on D. 3rd game was meh on D with more offense. I’d much rather have the D and filled up stat sheet then 20 points and an empty stat sheet.

Oh come on.. Noa the rookie aint stoppin' Herro haha! He would be beaten in the dribble 4 times out of 5. Herro's speed, skills and experiance would be way too much at the moment for Noa. Year or two down the road, easier, but still.. mismatch

Of course. That’s not really the point. He wouldn’t have locked him down but he would have given a different look and disrupted rhythm. Noa would have done better than Coby and Huerter.

Imagine a PNR blitz with Noa’s length blitzing.

The most important thing is he should be switchable onto anybody on the floor. Do you want him on the other team’s PG or scoring wing as the primary defender? No - but you won’t be able to isolate and exploit him on switches. That’s what makes him appealing as a possible stretch-5.

[Dominator83]

Kid just needs to play a lot more basketball. Just...a lot more.

Agreed right now he's just a 6' 11" kid that moves incredibly well for his size. In years he could end up being Thanasis or Giannis and anywhere in between.

I remember the Bulls and Mike Dunleavy clowning a 20 year old Giannis in the playoffs and easily winning that series, and Giannis was 2 years older than Noa at the time. Giannis averaged 11 ppg on 36% shooting against Dunleavy. Raw projects like these need a ton of reps & experience. Imagine what this board would have said about Giannis after that series.

I'm just going to forget about Noa for now and make a mental note to check back in about 3 years.

During that series, there was a thread on the GB running titled: Which prospect would you rather have? Giannis or Mirotic? Of course, all of us homers were giving reasons why Mirotic is better. Boy did that thread age poorly Similiar to 2002-03 the "whos the better HS drafted prospect? between Tyson and Amare. That was disspelled pretty quickly as Amare was better as a rookie than Tyson was as a sophomore

[WesPeace]

He does glide out there. I hope Billy uses him like a Swiss Army knife on defense and mixed up coverages with him on the opposing teams best scorers. Play him against a SG for a couple plays to disrupt flow and break rhythm. Play him small against a big C and have him front the post with his length.

I’d would have loved to see Noa on Herro in that play in game when no one could stop him. We have Tre Okoro and Ayo now but throwing Noa at him to give him a different look is what can create advantages and swing momentum. Billy needs to you use Noa on D like he did Caruso. Make him the future QB of the defense. His offense will take longer to develop but his D could be truly elite.

2nd game he looked elite on D. 3rd game was meh on D with more offense. I’d much rather have the D and filled up stat sheet then 20 points and an empty stat sheet.

Oh come on.. Noa the rookie aint stoppin' Herro haha! He would be beaten in the dribble 4 times out of 5. Herro's speed, skills and experiance would be way too much at the moment for Noa. Year or two down the road, easier, but still.. mismatch

Of course. That’s not really the point. He wouldn’t have locked him down but he would have given a different look and disrupted rhythm. Noa would have done better than Coby and Huerter.

Imagine a PNR blitz with Noa’s length blitzing.

We could've tried with Matas and we didnt...even PWill would be a better option than Coby and Huerter, but..

[ghostinthepost1]

I feel super weird posting this but in the video below there is a shot of Essengue shirtless and all I can say is he needs to spend a lot of his rookie season at Portillo's.

Watch on YouTube

[DuckIII]

Essengue’s new favorite band is Coldplay.

[MGB8]

There is something about his affect that reminds me of Derrick. Not saying it means anything, just something that struck me from that vid. Now, if we hear him say “I just want to wiiiiiiiinnnnnn….”

(and writing that just reminded me of how much I miss Rose and that entire era of Bulls ball)

[fleet]

Essengue’s last game was impressive as he was making moves at the physical speed of Larry Bird, and making the shots

[mj234eva]

Giannis who?

[DuckIII]

Giannis who?

Don’t feel bad. I never try his last name either.