It was a wild night in the NBA Draft, with eight total trades on the night. While that may have been the big picture scenario, one team that was quiet on draft night was the Chicago Bulls, despite the rumors that they would trade their 18th overall selection. The Bulls ended up taking a player with that pick and added an undrafted free agent after the draft had wrapped up. Here’s a recap of the entire 2022 Chicago Bulls Draft Class.
Number 18 Overall Pick: Dalen Terry – G – Arizona
This was a bit of surprise pick as in Sam Smith’s last mock draft before the draft, he had Terry going 20 to the Spurs. If you read my perfect off-season piece for the Bulls I had them taking Ohio State’s Malaki Branham, but I’m not upset with the Terry pick here. He’s a 6’ 7” guard with a 7’ 1” wingspan who is another defensive presence as he averaged 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. However, beyond that he has a strong personality that jumped off the screen for NBC Sports Chicago K.C. Johnson.
Offensively he still has some work to do when it comes to scoring the ball, as he just averaged 8 points per game, while shooting 50% from the field and 36% from the three-point line. However, Terry has secure hands and is a solid playmaker as he averaged 5.6 assists a night.
The more I dive into this pick, the more I like this it because after Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso got injured last year, the Bulls really didn’t have a strong playmaker and passer to run the offense and while I don’t expect Terry to be that right away, his defensive impact will allow him to get minutes right away in the NBA.
UDFA: Justin Lewis – F – Marquette
As a Marquette student and fan, I was hoping that Lewis would get drafted because over this past season I became a huge fan of him as a person and a player. When I went to bed on draft night, I had assumed that some team would have nabbed him in the second round. When I woke up the next morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Lewis had signed a two-way contract with my favorite NBA team.
Lewis had an incredible for Marquette, as he won Big East Most Improved Player as he averaged 16.8 points and 7.9 boards a game while shooting 35 percent on 3-pointers. While Lewis did improve offensively, according to my colleague John Leuzzi at the Marquette Wire, the “uncertainty about his playmaking ability along with establishing a more consistent defensive focus and discipline caused his projection to drop over the course of the night.” There were moments that Lewis’ defensive consistency would dip during the season, but I think with NBA coaching and a new focus, I think he could potentially earn minutes and then become a valuable role player off the bench for the Bulls.