Draft: My Secret Admirer

Secret Admirer: Is Paxson hiding his interest in Bargnani? Say Toronto is thinking of trading down to pick him at #4 or #5 -- maybe Paxson is psyching out Colangelo. All this attention to Thomas and Aldridge maybe a smoke screen.
From the http://www.dailyherald.com:

No Berto for Bargnani: The Bulls will not be hosting Italy’s Andrea Bargnani at the Berto Center before the draft, even though his season ended Tuesday with Benetton Treviso winning the Italian league championship.

“My understanding is he’s going to New York to get a physical this weekend and if teams would like to see him, they can go and talk to him,” John Paxson said.

Paxson went on to say he doesn’t think he needs any more time with the 7-foot Bargnani, who averaged 11.6 points for Benetton during the Italian league regular season.

“I went over in January and saw him practice a couple times, saw him play a couple times,” Paxson said. “Just recently, (European scout) Ivica Dukan and (assistant coach) Ron Adams were over there for the Treviso big man camp and they spent some time with him. We feel very comfortable in knowing what we need to know about him.”

I have a hard time believing the Bulls will pick a project with the #16 but they do have cap space and Paxson has to think long term, and not only re-tool for the season. Here’s a project that isn’t capably of playing yet but could probably swat some NBA shots right away.

Bulls eye tall project: One player who has received some attention in the prelude to the NBA draft is Saer Sene, a 7-foot center from Senegal. His wingspan was measured at 7-8¨ at the Orlando predraft camp, with a standing reach of 9-5.
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“We had him in and he’s a really intriguing kid,” John Paxson said. “I have confidence in our staff that we have the setup and the ability to help players become better.

“Those type of deals are a bit of a roll of the dice. But I know this for a fact: In the three years I’ve been here, there hasn’t been a kid walk through these doors that has the length that that kid has. So you have to look at it.”

Again, any team interested in Saer is going to leapfrog the Bulls at #16 *if* Paxson telegraphs his interest. Paxson is not telegraphing his preferences to anyone.

This upside-down draft and the following trades this summer will be very interesting.