Chicago Bulls: Top 5 options at no. 7 overall

Point Guard Darius Garland, Vanderbilt

It is that time of year where people begin to look further into the draft class. Those who didn’t follow last year’s college basketball season closely may have missed Darius Garland.

Heck, even if you did follow closely, you may have missed him.

Garland played in only five games for Vanderbilt last year, and even though it was his first year with the school, it ended up being his only year as well. Garland declared for the draft, despite missing almost the entire season due to a meniscus injury.

Coming out of high school, most knew this kid was special. He may remind Bulls fans of another guy from last year’s class — Michael Porter Jr. Ultimately, Porter fell pretty far. But, I don’t anticipate Garland to do the same.

In fact, Garland may be a favorite to land with the Phoenix Suns, who pick just ahead of the Bulls at no. 6 overall. For this reason, the Bulls are likely to miss out on Garland. But, if they found a way to trade up, Garland could be there for the taking.

In those five games last year, Garland averaged over 16 points per game on 53 percent shooting. He also shot nearly 48 percent from beyond the arc, and his best performance came in a 33-point explosion against Liberty.

Most think Garland is the second-best point guard in this year’s class behind Morant, so the Bulls would have to get lucky to see him fall all the way to seventh.