Nikola Mirotic wins 2012 Euroleague Rising Star Award for the 2nd Striaght Year

Hopefully the Bulls got a steal with the 23rd pick

Mirotic (2011 23rd pick) is the first two time winner of this award. Previous winners include Andrea Bargnani (2006 1st pick), Rudy Fernandez (2007 24th pick), Danilo Gallinari (2008 6th pick), and Ricky Rubio (2009 5th pick).

Mirotic, a 21 year old 6'10 231 lbs. PF, averaged 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 22.6 minutes for Real Madrid this year. He also posted some seriously impressive shooting percentages with splits of 57%/43.9%/91.8%! That looks extremely tasty.

Last year in the U20 tourney, Mirotic took home MVP honors with a line of 27 points, 10 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 1.4 blocks, and 1.8 turnovers in 31.6 minutes while maintaining pretty absurd averages of 63.4%/40%/85.1%. As the bros says, that's a sick line, bro.



I've tried to not get my hopes up for this guy, but it's kind of hard not to get excited for him to come over now. Another scorer who can spread the floor for Rose and create mismatches? Yes please. I hope he can be our replacement for Boozer when Boozer leaves. Chad Ford over at espn has his positives and negatives listed:

Positives	Crafty forward Great size, length for his position Can play both the 3 and the 4 Very good shooter with range on his jump shot Can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket Quick first step Excellent passer High basketball IQ, fundamentally sound Is an aggressive player on both ends of the ball Can defend multiple positions

Negatives	Lacks explosive athleticism Needs to add strength Not an elite rebonder Contract issues may keep him from playing in NBA soon

Also, don't forget about our first round pick from the Bobcats we acquire in the Tyrus Thomas trade that looks like this:

Lottery-protected in 2012, top-12 protected in 2013, top-10 in 2014, top-8 in 2015, unprotected in 2016

Even if we never see Mirotic or the Bobcats draft pick in a Bulls uniform, that's still some excellent trade bait. We're set up pretty nicely for the future.