Chicago Bulls general manager, Gar Forman and head coach, Vinny Del Negro fielded questions from the media following the Bulls’ first round selections in the 2009 NBA Draft. Here is a recap of what each said.

Gar Forman

• They targeted James Johnson during the season.
• It was a consensus among their staff that James was a top 5-7 player in the draft.
• They love his versatility.  He can play the 3 and the 4.  He can play inside and outside.  At his size, 6′8″ 250 pounds, he can put the ball on the floor, rebound, push it out in transition, and penetrate.  He’s a very good passer for a big man and can make plays for both himself and teammates off the dribble.
• They got to see him for three straight days at a tournament in Anaheim, in which he showed an effective post game.
• They had talks with teams the last week about moving up in the draft, and James was the guy who they were targeting to move up and get.  They were really excited that he was there at 16.
• Taj Gibson is also a versatile guy.  He has great length.  He’s 6′10″ with a 7′4″ wingspan.  He runs the floor, which is important for the Bulls’ bigs to do with Derrick.  USC ran a lot of their offense through him.  He can make a 15 footer.  He plays extremely hard.  They were surprised that he was there at 26, as they heard he might be taken in the late teens or early twenties.
• It was a funny draft.  If certain guys went at certain spots, the whole order could be different.  The first 6-7, maybe 8 picks were set in stone.  After that, the same guy that went 9th could go 20th.
• James and Tyrus are nice complements.  James, in certain matchups, could guard inside and out.

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The Chicago Bulls selected Taj Gibson, a 6′10″ 214 pound, power forward from USC.

Gibson was listed on some mock draft sites as the Bulls pick at 26.  The Bulls passed on Dejuan Blair, who has been falling down the draft board, to select Gibson.

Gibson averaged 14.3 points, 9 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks as a junior last year at USC.

This is not a very good pick, in my opinion.  I thought the Bulls should have taken DeMarre Carroll, or Dejuan Blair here when he began slipping.  I don’t think Gibson will amount to anything in the NBA.

According to Hoopsworld, the Bulls could auction off their 26th pick in the draft.

Chicago – The Bulls already have a loaded roster and a ton of guaranteed money for next season, so a lot of smart basketball people seem pretty sure they’ll trade their second first round pick in this year’s draft. They’ll use the #16 but are likely to auction off the #26.

Who knows what they end up doing here. Maybe they trade it for a future first round pick, or sell it for a little bit of cash.

I can se why they would look to selling it. A minimum salary player gives them more money to offer to Ben Gordon while staying under the luxury tax than a rookie scale player.

However, it sure would be nice to use the 26th on a player that could help us long term, such as DeMarre Carroll or Tyler Hansborough to name a few. If the Bulls want to save a little money, they could always use the pick to draft an overseas player who is unlikely to come over this year.