With the NBA Draft Lottery set for Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls need lady luck to smile on them once again, much like she did back in 2008. It was 15 years ago when the Bulls defied the odds to win the lottery and select Derrick Rose with the No. 1 overall pick, beginning a new era of basketball in Chicago.
With this year's consensus top pick, the Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, expected to be a franchise-altering talent, the Bulls are hoping that history can repeat itself. They currently have a 1.8% chance of winning the lottery. It's a minuscule one, but if they pull it off, it could kickstart their resurgence, especially after missing the NBA Playoffs this year.
John Paxson didn't witness it
John Paxson, who was then the general manager of the Bulls, didn't have high hopes of landing the top pick and opted not to watch the NBA Lottery play out.
"I was trying to distract myself because I didn't want to pay attention to it because the odds were so against us. I was trying to keep my mind occupied," Paxson said for the Chicago Tribune.
"My family was downstairs. When we knew we had jumped (into the top three), that's when they got my attention. Even at that point, I didn't watch. I let them narrate the outcome."
Easy choice
With the number one pick in hand, Paxson then had to choose between Memphis star Derrick Rose and Kansas State stud Michael Beasley. Paxson, though, presided over the predraft workout of the two aces, so it was an easy choice to make for the former Bulls sharpshooter turned franchise executive.
Rose would go on to become the NBA's Rookie of the Year and, later on, the youngest MVP winner in league history. In contrast, Beasley played 11 seasons in the NBA but was only a role player on any of the seven teams he suited up for.
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