Lights out in Las Vegas: Bulls rookie Wilson drops 35 points in summer debut
Don't believe the hype just yet. At least, not this much of it.
Bulls rookie Caleb Wilson had an eye-popping debut Friday at the Las Vegas summer league, scoring 35 points in a 97-96 loss to Memphis.
As expected, Wilson showed off nice athleticism and he handles the ball well for his size. But no one expected him to hit the court firing from long range. Wilson knocked down 7 of 11 attempts from 3-point range, to go with 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 6 turnovers.
During his abbreviated freshman season at North Carolina, Wilson was 7-for-27 from 3-point range — total. He took roughly one attempt per game, and didn't make very many.
Of course, no one goes a full season shooting 64% from long range, so Wilson's all-around game still needs development. But there's nothing like starting with a big splash, a couple weeks after stating the goal of being the greatest player ever.
According to the television broadcast, Wilson's 35 points were a record for a player making his summer-league debut. The Bulls' record for most points in a summer game is 40 by Jahmir Young last year.
The Bulls had four other players reach double figures — two-way signee Jaylin Sellers had 15, Kennedy Chandler 11, while Noa Essengue and Malik Williams added 10 each.
The biggest issue for the Bulls was free-throw shooting. They went 13 for 25 overall, and many of those were the “one make for 2 or 3 points” rule the NBA added for this summer. Wilson was 2 for 6 at the line.
The Bulls started the three first-round draft picks — Wilson, Essengue and Dailyn Swain — along with two- way players Sellers and Tobe Awaka. That created a lineup without a point guard and it showed early.
With Memphis playing aggressive defense, pressuring the ball, the Bulls committed 4 turnovers in the first five minutes. They also didn't move the ball very well, finishing with 14 assists on 13 turnovers. Wilson didn't get the ball much in the fourth quarter until nailing a pair of 3s in the final 10 seconds.
Chandler, a 2022 second-round pick out of Tennessee, subbed in quickly and led the Bulls with 5 assists. Northwestern's Boo Buie played just over three minutes total.
Swain and Sellers weren't quite up to the task of handling the ball. Swain hit 3 of 10 shots for 7 points. Awaka picked up 6 fouls in 18 minutes and didn't score.
Memphis had played three games already at the Salt Lake City summer league. No. 3 overall draft pick Cameron Boozer led the Grizzlies with 23 points.
Boozer scored against Wilson a couple of times early, rekindling their Duke-Carolina rivalry. Wilson's best play might have been when he turned it over with a bad pass, then hustled down the floor and blocked a layup attempt by Javon Small.
The Bulls had a nice group of veterans show up in Las Vegas, and the team released video of them getting on the court during a summer practice. Those in attendance included Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, Jalen Smith, Isaac Okoro, Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller.
Free-agent addition Norman Powell sat courtside at the game, and Giddey said during an in-game interview he had just met the veteran shooting guard.