The Chicago Bulls were tied to a lot of names over the course of the past few months, but never the one that was ultimately announced on Thursday.
Leading up to the draft, most analysts assumed that the major knee injury to Derrick Rose, as well as potential impending departures for scorers like C.J. Watson and Kyle Korver, would lead the Bulls to select a wing player that could handle the ball and shoot well.
That very well may have been the Bulls' plan, but that was simply because they didn't think that Marquis Teague would actually be there at No. 29:
Bulls couldn't believe Teague was there.
— K.C Johnson (@KCJHoop) June 29, 2012
The Bulls drafted Teague without working him out personally at the Berto Center, evidence they were surprised he was available.
— K.C Johnson (@KCJHoop) June 29, 2012
Before the draft, the Bulls were tied to many other players, including John Jenkins, Evan Fournier, Jeffrey Taylor, Will Barton, Doron Lamb, Orlando Johnson and Quincy Miller. But all of those mock drafts generally assumed that Teague would be gone by then, a false assumption that the Bulls' front office apparently made as well.
For more, stick with SB Nation Chicago. For more on the Bulls, head over to Blog a Bull. For additional news, notes and analysis from around the NBA, visit SB Nation's NBA news hub.