The Chicago Bulls drafted Chandler Hutchison in the first round of the 2018 NBA draft, and no one is talking about him. That’s perfectly fine, though.
The Chicago Bulls had a busy offseason. They signed Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker to lucrative deals in free agency, and they had two first-round draft picks in the 2018 NBA draft.
For some reason, though, no one seems to be talking about the second of their two draft picks, Chandler Hutchison.
On draft night, there was some speculation about what the Bulls would do with their two picks. I thought they would trade up to select a guy like Mohamed Bamba (or Luka Doncic in my dream scenario). But, as we know now, that didn’t happen. The Bulls stayed put at No. 7 and No. 22.
With the 7th overall pick, the Bulls selected Wendell Carter Jr., the electric big man from Duke. The Bulls are hoping he can anchor their defense and also be an all-around offensive player for years to come.
With the 22nd overall pick, they selected Chandler Hutchison from Boise State University. At the time, most people thought this was a solid choice. Bulls fans thought they might have found a potential starter late in the first round. That’s always exciting, right?
Well, when free agency heated up, the Bulls signed Jabari Parker to a 2-year, $40 million deal and all the talk about Hutchison came to an abrupt stop.
But why?
Hutchison was still a first-round pick, wasn’t he? Shouldn’t he be getting just as much hype as guys like Lonnie Walker IV and Josh Okogie?
The thing is, when you have multiple first round picks and then go add a former No. 2 overall pick in free agency, people tend to forget about the guy you drafted in the later part of the first round. That’s the perfect situation for Hutchison to be in, though.
Hutchison will likely get the opportunity to be one of the main guys off the bench and he’ll probably even get some run with the first unit in certain situations. Just because people stopped talking about him, doesn’t mean his opportunity disappeared.
The opportunity is still there, but the pressure is gone.
It’s easy to get really excited about rookies. After spending all summer speculating about who your favorite team might draft, you want to see that player thrown out on the court right away. But sometimes, as fans, we have to be patient and let them ease their way into NBA basketball.
So the good news for Hutchison is that instead of coming in and having fans assuming he can be a starting caliber small forward right away (which is a bit unrealistic), the expectations will be tempered.
Fans want to see Jabari Parker and Zach LaVine find their rhythm together. That will be the main focus when talking about Chicago wings. All Hutchison has to do is come off the bench and show that he can impact the game in a positive way, whether that be scoring the ball, creating shots for his teammates or being a defensive stopper.
Chandler Hutchison is flying under the radar, and that’s exactly where he should want to be.