Chicago Bulls: 3 players who benefit most from Karnisovas hire

3. Wendell Carter Jr., Center

No single Bulls player really started off hotter during the 2019-20 regular season than second-year former Duke Blue Devils center Wendell Carter Jr. He was a double-double machine out of the gates, but about two dozen games in his production started to slip. WCJ ran into problems on both ends of the floor, namely tough foul calls (or lack thereof on offense) and poor usage.

The blitzing style defensive scheme that head coach Jim Boylen likes to utilize puts too much pressure on big men like WCJ that are forced to make up a lot of ground for lacking off-ball coverage. On one hand, the Bulls did draw a lot of turnovers from the scheme. But WCJ got into too much foul trouble early on in games and he was covering ground for two or three players at once.

If the Bulls play a more even-keeled defensive scheme and give more help with better perimeter defenders, then the efficiency of Carter Jr. on that end of the floor could skyrocket next season. Adding more two-way forwards could do wonders for not just WCJ, but this entire Bulls rotation.

In 43 games played this season, Carter Jr. averaged 11.3 points per game, 9.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks, while shooting 53.4 percent from the field and 73.7 percent from the charity stripe. The Bulls need to take some of the pressure off of WCJ on defense, and let him expand his shooting range and court vision on offense.