Rose is going to be a good player, but I don’t think he (or anyone) will be as transcendently good as Chris Paul and for all the talk of his court vision, I don’t see that Rose is (at this point) the type of passer or playmaker he’s being compared to. The Jason Kidd comparison comes about because he’s strong, athletic, and big for a point guard with a questionable outside shooting touch, but Rose didn’t even average 5 assists a game last year playing with some pretty good talent around him. I think he’ll be good, but there’s no way he’ll be better than Jason Kidd, Chris Paul or Steve Nash, who are Hall-of-Fame talents.

I’m down on Kirk Hinrich, think he’s overpaid, all that. But he’s still a decently good (if overrated) defender and has finished in the top 10 in the league in assists in previous seasons. The “poor man’s Steve Nash” comparisons seem laughable now since Kirk’s nowhere near the passer and is the rare “heady” white player who really can’t shoot very accurately from the outside, but he’s still an above-average NBA player and can get the ball to a scorer like Beasley.

Who’s Derrick Rose going to throw the ball to? Is he going to take over a game with his scoring from the backcourt?

I don’t know how good Beasley will be, have questions about his size and whether he’s truly a low-post presence, and I suspect Pax will take Rose based on character (I’ve liked Rose since his high school days and feel the local pride angle), but I think with the current roster, you have to take a chance on Beasley and aim to win now. I think Beasley will prove to be a better rebounder and take better shots than Kevin Durant last year and Kevin Durant had a decent rookie season.

Bottom line: he’s no Tyrus Thomas. I see no reason why Beasley couldn’t deliver 15 – 20 points a game and almost 9 rebounds per game next year. I can’t imagine Rose will score that many points. That kind of production would look pretty good and help the Bulls make a playoff run — even without this pick, I’d bet they were due back in the playoffs. But as I see it, Beasley helps the Bulls win in the short term (lack of scoring was the biggest problem last year) and has a higher ceiling in the long term in the areas the Bulls are weak.

Bull need alot more than #1 pick.

Robble Robble

I have to think no one will take Hughes and his albatross contract and it will be tough to trade Gordon with his BYC status, Duhon is a free agent, thus the most likely to be traded are Hinrich and Sefolosha. I personally think Thabo will be our starting SG next to Rose, so its goodbye Captain Kirk.

http://www.thesportsbank.net/2008/05/26/being-john-paxson/

Unfortunately, this situation was largely precipitated by Ben Gordon and Luol Deng foolishly declining the long term deals they were offered prior to last season. Had either or both taken the deals (which probably look rather enticing now), the Rose/Beasley conundrum just might have more clarity. However, it is hard to complain about having such a dilemma, when the lottery percentages initially had Bulls fans agonizing over a Kevin Love/Brook Lopez choice.