On Thursday, the Chicago Bulls announced their Las Vegas Summer League roster. The list of 11 players includes several players who are expected to play a significant role for the Bulls now and in the future along with a handful of longshots and D-League bound fringe ballers.
The Bulls will play at least five games in Las Vegas between July 9 and July 18, the first three games are already scheduled, beginning with a matchup on July 9 against the Boston Celtics.
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A lot of people may be familiar with names like Bobby Portis, but not everyone knows players like Aleksandar Marcius. Over the next few days we will give you the 4-1-1 on each of the players on the Bulls roster for Summer League.
Who: Tre Demps
Position: Guard
Age: 23
Background: Demps was a five-year guard for Northwestern in the Big Ten Conference. He got a fifth year because of a red shirt as a freshman after playing just a couple of games. While Tre might not ring any bells, Demps might. And yes, there is a connection. Tre is the son of Dell Demps, former NBA player and currently serves as vice president and general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Demps had an unassuming career at Northwestern. While he performed well for a majority of his time in college, he never had a breakout campaign and actually had a rough patch in the middle of his senior season when the team went on a losing skid. While his shooting numbers are not particularly good, he still managed to average 15.3 points per game as a senior. Demps also averaged 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists during the 2015-16 campaign that started out well before the team unraveled in January. That time was particularly rough for Demps who shot under 30-percent in five games that month, which is probably why his overall shooting numbers don’t look very good. Still, Demps averaged 37 minutes per game in his senior year and was a cornerstone of what success the Wildcats did achieve.
Outlook: Demps was likely added to the roster due to the team’s familiarity with him. He played just north of Chicago in Evanston, Illinois during his college days. The outlook for Demps might be better if we didn’t already have one game to make an assessment on. In the one summer game the Bulls have played so far, a 71-62 win over the Boston Celtics, Demps was a Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision (DNP-CD). While that isn’t good, it is probably worse because Spencer Dinwiddie showed up on the bench for the game against Boston, though he wasn’t announced as part of the roster leading up to the Las Vegas games.
Next: Summer League: Bulls vs. Sixers Preview
Though he comes from NBA pedigree, Demps has a lot of work to do. A player with below-average field goal percentage, he will need to really improve his shooting and develop into an above-average facilitator if he wants to have a shot at the league. His addition to this roster has to do with his proximity to the Chicago area and the likelihood that they want to see him up close as a potential addition for their D-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls. It doesn’t seem likely that Demps will be a DNP-CD for the entirety of the LVSL, they’ll need to see him in some real game situations to truly evaluate his potential for the D-League, but I wouldn’t expect to see him in close contests or must-win situations. The Bulls will prefer to see what Jerian Grant and Spencer Dinwiddie can do in those situations.