Bulls pick a fighter in Wake Forest's Johnson

The Bulls chose a fighter with the 16th pick of Thursday’s NBA Draft, selecting 6-foot-8 Wake Forest forward James Johnson.

Here’s Johnson in a nutshell, based on a couple of quotes that ran this season in Sports Illustrated.

“I know nobody can beat me up, so there’s never reason to be scared,” he said. “I’m not done fighting. I think about fighting all the time.”

Johnson grew up in Cheyenne, Wyo., the middle child in a family of nine kids. Eight of the nine kids are black belts. Only 10-year-old sister Kiandra is a blue belt.

Johnson’s father Willie is an ex-marine and seven-time world kickboxing champion who runs J&P’s Martial Arts school in Cheyenne.

So Johnson grew up practicing martial arts and went 20-0 in kickboxing competitions, then tacked on an MMA victory while in high school.

As a sophomore at Wake Forest, Johnson averaged 15.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and shot 54.2 percent from the field. One highlight was hitting a game-winning layup with 0.8 seconds left to beat Duke.

The Bulls see him as a very talented and tough forward who might bring some scoring punch off the bench right away.

The Bulls never came all that close to moving up in the draft. One player they liked, Louisville shooting guard Terrence Williams, went No. 11 to New Jersey.

EDIT -- Actually, Gar Forman suggested later in the night that the Bulls did come close to moving up in the draft, but would have taken Johnson, anyway.

North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough was probably next on the Bulls' wish list after Johnson, but he was taken 13th by Indiana. If Johnson was off the board, the Bulls most likely would have chosen Ohio State center B.J. Mullens.

USC'S TAJ GIBSON IS 26TH PICK
With their second pick in the first round, the Bulls passed on a chance to take Blair and chose long-armed 6-10 USC forward Taj Gibson.

When measured at the predraft camp, Gibson was not paticularly athletic, but he has a 7-foot-4 wingspan. Not surprisingly, blocking shots is one of his specialties. He became the school's all-time shot-block leader in just three years.

Last season as a junior, Gibson averaged 14.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks, while shooting 60.1 percent from the field.

The Bulls did not have any picks in the second round.