Chicago Bulls' faith in Carter paying early dividends
Wendell Carter Jr.'s learning curve with the Chicago Bulls took a steep climb in the past few days.
During the first five games of the season, Carter resembled a typical rookie trying to find his way. He wasn't particularly good or bad.
A visit to his hometown of Atlanta last Saturday went well, as Carter recorded his first NBA double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He followed with 18 points against Golden State, then added what could be called a breakout performance in Wednesday's overtime loss to Denver.
Carter finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks.
"I think I pick up a lot of things very quickly," Carter said after the game.
Matchups surely have something to do with Carter's success. His first two games were against Philadelphia's Joel Embiid and Detroit's Andre Drummond.
Atlanta and Golden State play with smaller centers, then while Denver's Nikola Jokic stuffs the stat sheet as well as any center in the league, he's not a renowned defender. Time will tell if Carter can keep this up, but that was quite a performance by a 19-year-old playing in his eighth NBA game.
"They're going to be battling each other as top big dudes in the league one day," Zach LaVine said of Carter vs. Jokic. "We're eight games in now. I want to see what he looks like at 80 (games). It's going to be nice."
The Bulls chose Carter with the No. 7 pick of the draft. He essentially played second fiddle at Duke last year to No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley Jr. But during summer league, Carter impressed quickly with his versatility, defense and high IQ.
Those same traits were evident against the Nuggets.
Carter's defense nearly saved the game. With the Bulls clinging to a 1-point lead in overtime, he emphatically blocked a driving attempt by Denver's Malik Beasley with 34 seconds left.
The Bulls missed a shot on the other end, and on the Nuggets' last chance, Carter contested a jumper by Jokic. The shot missed badly, but Paul Millsap got the weakside putback to give Denver the win with 0.1 seconds left.
"I thought Wendell defended the heck out of Jokic on the initial shot," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said.
Early impressions of Carter have been encouraging. He can step out and hit 3-point shots, so he's mobile enough to play against small-ball lineups, but he also can serve as an effective rim protector. The question might be whether he can have success against the bigger NBA centers, but he has plenty of time to learn.
"I feel like on the defensive end, that's something I take a lot of pride in, just not allowing people to score around the basket," Carter said. "I'm all about helping the helper. If someone gets beat, I'm always going to be there to help them."
Early in the preseason, the Bulls decided the best plan of action was to let Carter find his way by playing against the best opponents, and they've left Robin Lopez mostly on the bench so far.
Carter also has been encouraged to take shots, since the Bulls are missing four regulars due to injuries. With this three-game rapid improvement, it looks like Carter appreciates the coaches having faith.
"With the players out, I feel like I've had to come in and do a lot of things that other rookies do not have to do for their team right now," Carter said. "I definitely - not appreciate - but feel blessed to be in that position where I'm able to just grow faster so I can help the team later on down the line."
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Bulls game day
Bulls vs. Indiana Pacers at the United Center, 7 p.m. Friday
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Outlook: The Pacers are off to a 5-3 start with the same nucleus of players as last season. All-star SG Victor Oladipo is the top scorer at 22.0 points per game. Another player from the Paul George trade, SF Domantas Sabonis, has taken a step forward. He's averaging 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds, and posted a career-high 30 points in Wednesday's victory at New York. SF Bojan Bogdanovic, C Myles Turner, PF Thaddeus Young and SG Tyreke Evans give Indiana six players averaging in double figures. The Bulls split their two home games with the Pacers last season.
Next: Houston Rockets at the United Center on Saturday, 7 p.m.
- Mike McGraw