rosenthall wrote:I can easily get behind any of Eason, Williams or Sochan, and would be very excited to have them fall to us. Like run-to-the-podium happy.
However, I have a hard time getting enthused about Duren. I've grown to be skeptical of taking the highly recruited AAU bigs who get by on their athleticism. If they enter the NBA at a young age, it takes them a looooooooong time to get going as NBA players. Duren would fit our needs as an athletic rim protector on paper, but I have little expectation that he'd actually get rotation minutes for us under our current window. He'd be on our roster as a trade chip and nothing else.
I didn't watch any college BBall this year, so I ask this question with sincerity: is Duren a better prospect than Jaxson Hayes, Mo Bamba or James Wiseman?
Why should I expect Duren to have more success with the Bulls than they have had with their own respective teams? He doesn't strike me as a better prospect than those guys. He doesn't even strike me as being any better than Tony Bradley next year. If he was available I wouldn't fault the Bulls for taking him, but I wouldn't really feel good about it.
Personally, I'd rank them Wiseman > Bamba > Duren > Hayes.
Wiseman showed more offensively than the rest which gets him the #1 spot. Only played 3 games in college though.
Bamba was an insane shot blocker and great rebounder with solid mobility plus some promise as a shooter. He did not have an NBA ready frame like Wiseman or Duren though. Worth mentioning Bamba was highly regarded in a loaded draft class.
Duren has shown good rim protection, has a NBA ready frame that Bamba and Hayes didn't have, and possesses good mobility. Also a great rebounder and has shown some playmaking even if it's a little.
Hayes wasn't all that good. Great athlete with good mobility and excellent shot blocking ability but he had a skinny frame, was a poor rebounder, and despite the blocks wasn't that great as a rim protector. Didn't show anything offensively other than the ability to catch lobs.
If you're expecting immediate success then pass on Duren. All these guys were going to need time to develop as most bigs do.