Takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ preseason win, including an up-and-down night from rookie Caleb Wilson

Not every night can make the highlight reel.

Chicago Bulls rookie Caleb Wilson played his first minutes on the hardwood at the United Center on Wednesday, joining the starting lineup for the team’s first preseason game against the Phoenix Suns. Despite building plenty of hype after a standout summer league debut, Wilson never quite found his footing in the 124-117 win over the Suns.

In one of the first lessons of his career, Wilson learned the value of veteran experience in the NBA. The rookie spent his night attempting to escape the pestering reach of Suns forward Dillon Brooks, who followed him with a dogged persistence across every inch of the half court. Brooks swatted the ball out of Wilson’s hands and rushed him into poor shots, at one point speeding the rookie up into an airballed attempt at a jump shot.

Wilson reveled in the matchup, even when Brooks was getting the better of him. The veteran held off any trash talk to start the game, but Wilson started a little chatter of his own, teasing Brooks about an altercation with Detroit Pistons forward John Collins from earlier in the preseason.

“It was fun, honestly,” Wilson said. “I made some mistakes but I expected to make them. But that was fun, I ain’t gonna lie. For that to be my first NBA opponent, it was cool. I learned a lot, learned how to be more active and ready off the ball. … You can learn a lot from that and I’ll watch the film and get better.”

Wilson is too talented to not make an impact on a game. He knocked down a smooth midrange jumper and finished a couple of clean dunks, one of which came in transition. But he also missed his first three 3-point attempts and picked up five fouls with almost eight minutes left in the third quarter, leading coach Tiago Splitter to sit him down for the rest of the quarter.

Splitter let Wilson back into the game for the fourth quarter, but the rookie’s inconsistent play never evened out before the final buzzer. He knocked down one more turnaround midrange shot only to airball another 3-pointer, showing uncertainty about how to get himself to the rim through traffic. He traveled while attempting one of his turnaround moves and balked when the defense showed him hands on his way to the rim.

Wilson finished with 15 points, three rebounds and two assists, managing to play 10 minutes of the fourth quarter on five fouls. He gave his performance a B grade — overall positive, but plenty of room to grow.

Here are five other takeaways from the win.

1. Size adjustments

With Nic Claxton (hamstring) and Zach Collins (quadriceps) injured, Jalen Smith took over the starting center position for the preseason opener. Backup point guard Tre Jones also missed the game with a left hip injury. Splitter said Jones will be day-to-day with the injury and will hopefully still play in the season opener.

The Suns were a helpful team to face in this predicament, presenting relatively minimal height outside of rookie Khaman Maluach. The Bulls gave an extended run to undrafted rookie Tobe Awaka, who showcased his motor on the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds while adding 14 points. Awaka is playing on a two-way contract, but has earned praise from teammates and coaches for his relentless approach to training camp and uncanny knack for snagging rebounds.

Notably, forward Patrick Williams did not make it onto the court until midway through the third quarter, even with extensive absences in the rotation. Williams appears to still sit behind other forwards like Awaka, Noa Essengue and Leonard Miller in this new system under Splitter.

2. Who’s on point?

Splitter did not present a full scouting report to the team based on Phoenix’s prior preseason game, a fairly common practice in these exhibition games. That meant the Bulls entered Wednesday’s game with the goal of focusing on their own offensive scheme and style of play. Yet despite that interior focus, the Bulls struggled to initiate their offense due to one clear deficiency: competent ball-handling.

The Bulls are wing-heavy, fielding a litany of forwards and wings and jumbo guards who play best off the ball. This is the future of the NBA — but in a highly skilled, underdeveloped roster, it also creates concerns when a play must be initiated. Even point guard Josh Giddey can struggle to create off the dribble, which was showcased in his limited 23-minute stint on Wednesday.

Matas Buzelis showed improved urgency and efficiency putting his head down to get to the rim, scoring 10 of his 14 points from inside the restricted area. This is a primary focus for Buzelis, who spent the summer working on his downhill action. But without Giddey or Buzelis on the court, the Bulls did not always have an efficient spark on offense.

3. Bouncing back

Rookie Dailyn Swain suffered the most for this lack of on-ball proficiency. Swain already struggled to handle the ball during summer league, when Splitter put him through an early trial by asking him to run the point for a young team. On Wednesday, Swain’s familiar weaknesses emerged once again. He gave up turnovers on back-to-back plays — losing his handle to fumble the ball out of bounds, then earning a 10-second violation on the next play as he arduously attempted to carve a lane to get across the court — before Isaac Okoro took the ball over.

After a familiarly frustrating start, however, Swain began to relax. Splitter told him to stop worrying about plays in the backcourt, giving the rookie the green light to blow past defenders down the court if he felt under pressure. The Bulls also sent ball screens to help any ballhandler, a mechanism that will be crucial for freeing up space.

“(I’m) just not beating myself up about it, so much spotlight on my summer league performance and then coming out there and it not going how I imagined in that first stint,” Swain said. “I’m just going out and watching what I need to watch on film and taking that advice and then fixing it. Once I fixed it, I felt good. I felt more comfortable every time I got back in the game.”

4. A down defense

Wednesday’s loss proved almost every concern about the Bulls defense to be true. This year’s roster will be hard-pressed to hold teams to their scoring averages. The Suns racked up 40 points in the first quarter. Scoring leveled out as the game went on — the Suns didn’t crack 30 points in a quarter again — but the opening quarter showed plenty of cracks the Bulls will need to patch up this season.

It’s not just a size issue. The Bulls lack a consistent rim protector without Claxton or Collins. But more importantly, this roster doesn’t have a true point defender, even when it’s fully healthy. That was clear as the Bulls bled from the point of attack, allowing blow-by drives and suffering on switches as a result.

5. Rules are changing

Early in the second quarter, Wilson rumbled into the lane and attempted to use his off-arm to create a few inches of space before laying the ball across the rim. The movement initiated a fairly pedestrian amount of contact, which Wilson absorbed readily as he fought his way toward the basket. But instead of buying himself a bucket, Wilson drew a whistle for a charge.

The foul call was part of a larger shift by the NBA, which changed its refereeing approach toward the use of the off-arm this season. Players will be penalized for attempting to push off or otherwise use their off-arm to create space. This practice had become prolific in the NBA, earning criticism that ballhandlers had gained an undue amount of leeway to initiate contact that defenders could not reasonably counter without being called for their own foul.