Bulls Acquire 9th Pick in 2007 NBA Draft

The wait is finally over. Heartbreak is the first word that comes to mind for most Bulls fans after watching the Chicago Bulls fail to acquire the number 1 or 2 pick in the NBA's Draft Lottery. I watched every envelope get opened, and every envelope I prayed not to be the Bulls. That worked for the first few picks, but then I almost cried when they pulled the Bulls emblem out of the envelope at number 9 overall. As a result of the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls claimed the No. 9 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

Bulls Executive Vice President of Business Operations Steve Schanwald represented Chicago, which received the right to swap picks this summer with New York on Oct. 4, 2005 as part of a five-player trade that sent Eddy Curry to the Knicks. Based on New York finishing with the ninth-worst record in the league last season, Chicago had a chance to win the Lottery or land in the top three picks despite making the post season and advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. My first though was "Why did the Knicks have to have a decent year?" However, after seeing a few names of guys who were drafted number 9 overall, I was a little more at ease.

I would have loved to see Greg Oden at the 5 for the Bulls, or even Kevin Durant at the 4, but that's now how the ping pong balls bounced this year. Take a peek at the list of players who have been drafted number 9 overall: 1997 T-Mac Tracy McGrady, 1998 (2006-07 NBA MVP) Dirk Nowitzki, 1999 Shawn Marion, 2002 Amare Stoudemire. Pretty good players them four are, right? Besides them superstars, the number 9 pick has also been proven to produce solid 10 year NBA players too. Included in that would be players such as Stacy Augmon, Joel Przybilla, Mike Sweetney (don't laugh, he's decent), and Andre Iguodala. So it's not like the Bulls can't get quality at number 9, but Oden or Durant would've looked real good in a Chicago Bulls jersey.