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Draft Grade: Bulls Take Texas Wing Dailyn Swain with 15th Overall Pick
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- Draft Grade: Bulls Take Texas Wing Dailyn Swain with 15th Overall Pick
While the entire world seemed certain of what the Chicago Bulls were going to do with their 4th overall pick, there was next to no consensus when it came to Chicago's intentions with their second pick in the 1st round at 15.
Bulls' Vice President of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham stuck to his guns about valuing athletes with length and a physical playstyle above all else, and came away with Texas wing Dailyn Swain at 15th overall.
Grade: A-
I try to be as specific as possible with these grades and "A-" sums up exactly how I feel about taking a swing on Swain at 15.
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Swain has some Jimmy Butler vibes to his game. He is an athletic, physical and strong wing standing at 6-foot-7-inches (in shoes), 211 lbs., with a 6-foot-10 wingspan.
The 20-year old played two season at Xavier before transferring to Texas to reunite with head coach Sean Miller. In his lone year at Texas, Swain took his game to the next level averaging 17.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.6 SPG on 54.2% shooting from the field.
In terms of skill sets, Swain's is tantalizing at the NBA level. Swain was one of the most lethal isolation scorers in the nation. The unorthodox form on his jump shot makes things complicated at times on catch-and-shoot attempts, but in isolation, Swain's incredible ball-handling and slashing ability often generate enough space for him to take clean off the dribble looks.
But everything starts with the driving ability. Swain improved his 2-point FG% every season despite an increased volume each season. Over the 2025-26 season, Swain shot 60.3% on 8.4 attempts per game inside the arc. On top of the aforementioned efficient finishing, Swain puts a ton of pressure on the rim even when he doesn't necessarily finish, racking up 5.6 free throw attempts (FTAs) per game, knocking them down at a 81.5% clip.
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Offensively, Swain's game is tailor-made for being a pick-and-roll ball-handler at the NBA level. His 6-foot-10 wingspan will allow him to find finishing angles among the trees, and his propensity for using triple-threat moves and low-to-the-ground crossovers to shake his defender will afford him a lot of opportunities to attack.
Even an NBA team that projects to have poor floor-spacing like the current Bulls will feel like a wide open floor when compared to the NCAA level for Swain. Depending on what Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter wants, Swain could be a lead-ball-handler off the bench, or continue to function as a Swiss Army Knife as he did at Texas next to Josh Giddey in the starting lineup.
Defensively, Swain has impressive length and has showcased a lot of fight, collecting 1.6 steals per game two seasons in a row. Adding Swain to the Bulls wing group gives Splitter a surprisingly large number of lanky wings who can wreck havoc if allowed to defend aggressively.
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The only reason I added the minus to make this grade "A-" was that in a perfect world, Swain would be a better 3-point shooter. Swain shot a career-best 34.4% from 3-point range last season (2.6 attempts per game) despite his unconventional, set-shot form.
A perfect fit next to Giddey and Matas Buzelis would be a player who perhaps provides a bit more of a conventional 3-and-D skill-set. Despite this, I still think Swain was an excellent pick at 15th overall. However, when factoring in Caleb Wilson being the Bulls pick at 4th overall, Chicago is relying quite heavily on one of their draft picks developing into a decent 3-point shooter. It's a strong possibility, but by no means is that type of progress guaranteed.
