2023 NBA Draft Team Recap: Chicago Bulls
It appears that the Chicago Bulls will try the core combination of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic for one more year, or at least half a year. Many of the surrounding role players will be familiar faces as well, though they did make a sneaky nice signing of backup point guard Jevon Carter to a three-year, $19.5 million dollar contract.
The one new addition that could excite Bulls’ fans is the No. 35 overall pick out of Tennessee, Julian Phillips. He’s a very intriguing one-and-done prospect that played his high school basketball at Link Academy in Branson, MO.
Throughout the college basketball season and NBA Draft cycle he built his reputation by being a valuable and versatile defender. While he could still stand to add some muscle, he is able to use his long and active 6-foot-8 frame to guard multiple positions and be disruptive. Phillips averaged just over half a block and half a steal a game this past season but did so in just 24 minutes a night.
Where the questions around Phillips really come is on the offensive end. He averaged a modest 8.3 points per game on 41-24-82 shooting splits. Phillips' biggest fans would say that the lack of production came from Rick Barnes offensive system limiting his freedom and watching his AAU and high school film gives you a truer indication of what he could provide on that end of the floor.
2023 NBA Summer League gave us a taste of that. The percentages from the field and beyond the 3-point line skyrocketed in his four games to 52% and 44%, respectively.
With Patrick Williams and DeRozan on the roster, there will be zero path to major minutes for Phillips, but there are possibilities off the bench depending how the Bulls decide to handle 33-year-old Torrey Craig and recently signed Terry Taylor.
Phillips was the Bulls' only actual draft pick but they did end up adding an undrafted free agent big man in Adama Sanogo. He is a 21-year-old big man out of UConn coming off a national championship season in which he averaged 17.2 points and 7.7 rebounds.
One intriguing aspect that Sanogo started to add this past season was stretching the floor where he shot 37% from beyond the 3-point line on 52 attempts and a respectable 77% from the free throw line.
The big man rotation is seemingly set for the Bulls with Vucevic and Andre Drummond but were there to be an injury - or the Bulls finally decide to go full rebuild - Sanogo would seemingly be the next man up with the current roster.
Want to join the discussion? Like Draft Digest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest NBA Draft news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.