The Bulls went into the NBA draft on Thursday night with the 16th and 26th picks, and came away with two forwards. James Johnson, a sophomore out of Wake Forest, went at 16. He's a 257 pound, 6'8" forward who considers himself a small forward who can play the power forward position. 257 lb and small forward? Sounds like a guy who might develop into a decent PF, with a lot of versatility. They say he's a good ballhandler, played point in HS. But they also say that he battles conditioning and weight issues. Well, if the NBA dollars and fame don't motivate him to stick with a conditioning program and use what the Bulls (or any pro team) offer in this respect. He sounds like a winner from a good program who is pretty much physically capable of playing in the NBA.

The second pick at 26 was used to take Taj Gibson, a 6'10, 214 lb forward from USC. Tall and thin. This kid is 24 years old, but apparently needs to get stronger to contribute in the NBA at the low post. HE has not been a scorer in college. They say he's a good shot blocker and runs the floor well.

Neither would seem to be the immediate answer to the Bulls' pressing need for low post scoring. In fact, it would seem to me that they already have the second guy, only at a more advanced stage, in Tyrus Thomas. I'm not a TT fan, but I'm pretty sure he's better than Gibson at this point. (Ya think?) But I suppose that it is possible that either or both could be there as precursors to a deal for Bosh or Stoudamire.

It's also interesting to look at the players who were still on the board when the Bulls took their 26th pick. DeJuan Blair out of Pittsburgh was a guy who the Bulls had shown interest in, and his scoring teammate Sam Young was available too. Young, at 6'7, 220, would not seem to be a match with the Bulls' needs, but Blair at 26 might have been a good pick, unless his knees are bad and are worse than previously thought. Chase Budinger, at 6'7", 218 lb and a fantastic outside shot, might have been interesting. I don't know much about his defense, but maybe he could have been a Steve Kerr type off the bench.

Wayne Ellington was still on the board, too, the 6'5" off guard from North Carolina. Reports say he's a solid defender, but they traded someone who was supposed to be a solid defender in Thabo Sefalosha to get this pick, and I guess they thought it wasn't going to help much to get the same player, except for being cheaper. Sefalosha is probably up for his first chance at an extension, and having a rookie play that role, especially if he can handle it close to as well, would certainly be cheaper.

So now we'll see what they do in free agency.