The highs and lows for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Las Vegas Summer League amounted to question marks arising for a few former first round picks.
The five games that the Chicago Bulls got to play in for this year’s NBA Las Vegas Summer League showed a lot about what John Paxson and Gar Forman were able to add to this roster and grow the young core. In the 2019 edition of Summer League in Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion, both on the campus for the UNLV Rebels, the Bulls had first round picks from the last two NBA Drafts showing out.
The highlights of the players participating for this Bulls team in Summer League included former North Carolina Tar Heels point guard Coby White, Arkansas Razorbacks center Daniel Gafford, Boise State Broncos wing Chandler Hutchison, and G-League standout point guard Walt Lemon Jr. White and Gafford were the two selections from GarPax and the Bulls in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Last year’s two first round picks for the Bulls, Hutchison and former Duke Blue Devils center Wendell Carter Jr., both intended to play in Summer League. A sports hernia injury that Carter Jr. reportedly needed surgery to recover from held him out of Summer League. Hutchison did play throughout the five games, though.
On July 13, the Bulls concluded the five game run in Vegas at the Cox Pavilion with a loss to the Orlando Magic in a consolidation matchup. That led them to finish up with a record of 2-3. The two wins came over the Los Angeles Lakers (the Bulls Summer League opener) and the hapless Charlotte Hornets.
With the 2019 NBA Las Vegas Summer League now in the books for the Chicago Bulls, I dive into the five takeaways and thoughts from the five games that transpired in early July.