Bulls jump up in lottery to land No. 4 overall pick in 2026 NBA Draft

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Rahimi & Grote Show 11 min 4 speakers 8 chapters transcribed 4 months ago

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What was the significance of the Bulls landing the No. 4 overall pick?

Leila Rahimi 0:02

Rahimi Harrison-Grote, middays 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score. The fourth pick in the NBA draft goes to the Chicago Bulls.

Unknown 0:14

I've seen your initial reaction to getting the fourth pick in the draft. We got lucky.

Leila Rahimi 0:20

A ton of excitement.

Bryson Graham 0:23

That is Bulls VP, EVP of basketball operations, Bryson Graham. And it was nice to hear from him after the draft lottery, which took place here in Chicago. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And the Bulls did not have the ideal luck to get into that top four. Last year at this time, it came down to a coin flip.

How did the Bulls' previous draft luck influence their current situation?

Bryson Graham 0:48

That coin flip was decided because of the Josh Giddey buzzer beater against the Lakers. And that coin flip worked in the favor of the Dallas Mavericks, and they got the first overall pick with Cooper Flagg, and the Bulls got, you know, Essingay 12.

Marshall Harris 1:04

Layla, I'm so happy today.

Bryson Graham 1:05

If Cooper Flagg, as an aside, if they had won the coin flip, would we even have different people in the front office this year?

Marshall Harris 1:13

Probably not. Everything happens for a reason. You go back to... what happened with the previous bears head coach and his staff and understand that everything had to happen to lead us to this moment where Ben Johnson is now your head coach. on the football side, similar vibes for the Bulls. And what I love about what happened yesterday as far as moving up to the fourth pick and knowing you're going to get a high impact player, not that you weren't necessarily going to get a high impact player at nine, but now it's even more of a guarantee.

What insights did Bryson Graham share after the draft lottery?

Marshall Harris 1:49

I don't know a lot about Bryson Graham. I know very little except for what we've learned over the last week, right? But here's what I do know. Every single person that talks about this guy talks about, number one thing, his ability to scout talent. And when you're armed with the 4th and the 15th pick in a draft this deep, how can you not be optimistic about where the Bulls are today, knowing that we don't even know who their head coach is going to be, we don't even know what they're going to do as far as building out the entirety of their front office, but you know the guy is in charge. What he said at his press conference, what he said in the press scrum yesterday after getting the 4th pick, moving up from 9-4,

Marshall Harris 2:32

It has to give you a sense of hope. And if you're being negative and pessimistic, I saw a lot of people, the Bulls are going to mess this up anyway. That just tells me you haven't been paying attention to the regime change that they made.

Bryson Graham 2:44

It also tells you you probably haven't been paying attention to who's in the top four of this draft.

Why is the 2026 NBA Draft considered deep and impactful?

Bryson Graham 2:54

One through four, you're good. Bryson Graham talked about that as well, the idea of this being a very strong draft. And yeah, yeah. Arturas Karnaschovas and Mark Eversley got the fourth overall pick last year, or last time at their first year in 2020. But that was a really big swing at the time to take Patrick Williams. That was a surprise to a lot of people at the time. Casey Johnson called it, but that's because he was doing his typical reporting due diligence. He's got sources. He has that inside information. And

How does Bryson Graham's scouting ability affect the Bulls' future?

Bryson Graham 3:29

Casey kept going, as we were all asking then. He said, I really think it's going to be Patrick Williams, and it ended up being Patrick Williams. Now, I'm not saying he was the only one saying that, but I'm pointing out that even he was, I recall him specifically, I believe on our radio station, even being surprised at the time, hearing him say what he said. I don't picture Bryson Graham knowing that he's got this bevy of talent recruitment experience in so many different ways, whether it's two-way contracts, undrafted players, college scouting. I don't necessarily know that it's going to be as zig when everybody expects him to zag type of move here.

Marshall Harris 4:14

And my confidence in his Zag versus Zig, if you will, is the fact that he'll be so prepared. Because everything he talks about when he talks about evaluating players and doing due diligence and making sure that they have left no stone unturned, just his success... gives me an exciting feeling of not just the fourth pick, where, let's be honest, Layla, it's going to be who falls to you at four, right?