With the 29th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls select...Tyshawn Taylor?

Vin Parise, college basketball insider for NBC Sports, cites sources that say the Bulls plan to draft Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor with their first-round pick.

At 29, it's hard to argue with a best-player-available strategy. Still, Mat questions the logic behind drafting a fringe-first rounder that happens to play the same position as the team's franchise player.

Popular opinion has long held that the Bulls would draft a swingman with their first rounder and look to find a veteran stopgap to fill in while Rose was hurt, from pipe dreams of Steve Nash to more reasonable hopes for Jason Kidd or even the return of Kirk Hinrich. This plan, while perhaps not ideal, seemed to be the best way for the Bulls to cover holes in the roster. Mat thinks the drafting of Taylor would be a wrench in that plan.

If the Bulls still plan to sign an experienced point guard, it leaves few financial avenues to find someone to take Luol Deng's spot at the beginning of the season when he's out following surgery on his wrist, or to replace the potentially departing Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver.

If this move means Taylor is the team's primary backup to Rose to begin the season, it's almost a double-edged sword: Taylor will struggle, as rookies do, if asked to shoulder a significant load at the beginning of the season. By the time any rewards can be drawn from that experience, he will be limited to around 10 minutes per game backing up Derrick Rose

There, of course, also remains the question of Taylor's talent level. ESPN's Chad Ford and DraftExpress.com both project him to go in the second round. He struggled mightily with perhaps the primary responsibility of a point guard: taking care of the ball. Mat is not enamored with a four-year senior who turned the ball over 3.5 times a game with only 4.8 assists to show for it.

Taylor is certainly a capable scorer and a tenacious defender, which are both attributes the point guard in Tom Thibodeau's offensive system should possess. Still, even if the Bulls fell in love with those strengths and thought he was capable of overcoming his weaknesses, Mat thinks they should be able to trade back into the second round. It's possible that they could even buy a pick at the top of the second round, where Taylor should still be available.

Otherwise? Stick with the best player available at a position of need.