Bulls roll sevens for the third straight season, as the Zion dream is crushed

John Paxson didn’t need to be talked off a ledge on Tuesday night.

There was no cursing from the Bulls vice president of basketball operations, no screams of conspiracy, not even an ounce of panic.

Rather, Paxson was very calm just minutes after the 2019 NBA Draft lottery, in which the Bulls fell to No. 7 after finishing with the league’s fourth-worst record.

“First of all, it’s not catastrophic,’’ Paxson told the Sun-Times. “It starts with what the league did last year in changing the odds. You look at what happened [Tuesday], I mean seven, eight and 11 jumped into the top four spots, and New York, who had the worst record ended up third. I think the league is probably pleased with why they went this route and how it turned out, but for us you always hope you get lucky, but again it wasn’t our turn to get lucky.

“I’m very convinced we will get another really good player at seven. We do our work, we’re going to try and find a guy that does what we like.’’

That’s not all they’re going to try, though.

For the first time in a while, the Bulls’ brain trust will keep a very open mind with this pick. That could mean trading it for a proven player, specifically a point guard.

In the past, the Bulls have been very confident in their scouting, so have relied on the best-available-player mentality.

The Sun-Times reported last month that one scenario the Bulls would explore, and had dialogue about during the season, involves Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball.

The Lakers were one of the big winners in the lottery, moving up to No. 4, but Murray State point guard Ja Morant, expected to be picked second, will no longer be around to make Ball expendable. Giving the Lakers No. 4 and 7, however, does give them options, whether it’s packaging for a trade or building with youth around LeBron James.

Paxson wasn’t ruling out any scenario.

“I always talk about looking for best available player, but we’re going to keep a real open mind with this pick in terms of going whatever direction it takes us,’’ Paxson said. “Whether it’s a fit, whether it’s best player, talk about possibly moving it for an established player if that makes sense, so there’s a lot of things we can do, and we’ll explore everything.’’

That’s not what Bulls fans wanted to hear, considering their dreams of Zion Williamson and the No. 1 pick were crushed quickly. The Pelicans ended up with the top pick.

Williamson would have been an organizational game-changer, taking Year 3 of the rebuild to a height that only his 45-inch vertical leap and 6-7 frame could reach.

Heck, even Morant would have completely reshaped the rebuild, giving the Bulls a 6-3 human highlight reel and allowing them to move on from the inconsistency of Kris Dunn.

Now, a trade or free agency is basically the only path for a change at point guard, especially if the stock of Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland continues to rise.

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Paxson, however, wasn’t going to treat Tuesday night like a wake.

“One and two are very special,’’ Paxson admitted, without naming Williamson and Morant. “But we’ve seen it over the years, there’s talent at a lot of different places in a draft, and you don’t always know the day you draft them either. It’s how they work themselves, how they fit into the team you have. This is the fun part of it now, and I am convinced that this is a draft where at seven we’ll get another piece we like.’’

That’s good to hear, but Paxson has a lot of convincing to do for a fan base that continues to feel like it is running out of teeth to be kicked.