Projected starting five if the Chicago Bulls draft LaMelo Ball
Center: Wendell Carter Jr.
The other Bulls player that still has a lot of potential and promise left to fulfill during his run in the Windy City is the third-year former Duke Blue Devils center Wendell Carter Jr. In his second year in the NBA, WCJ had his season defined by more injury problems and especially poor usage on defense.
Although, one of the few positive aspects of Boylen’s usage of his players on offense in the season that was for the Bulls was how he started to let WCJ facilitate the offense from the elbow more often and allow him to start expanding his shooting range.
WCJ has an underrated shooting stroke and fantastic court vision for a five. He’s not at the point quite yet where he could be considered a true threat as a stretch-five. But he could set a realistic goal at this point in time to fulfill a role similar to that of Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner and/or Boston Celtics big man Al Horford.
Too often was WCJ found having to cover the tracks of other blitzing Bulls defenders on the perimeter that were unable to come up with the steal or stop the opposing ball handler from driving past them into the lane. That’s a large part of the reason why WCJ averaged 3.8 personal fouls per game, and more than six fouls per 100 possessions this season.
Next. 3 areas Lauri Markkanen can most improve his game. dark
Carter Jr. played in 43 games for the Bulls in the season that was (starting in every single one of them for the second year in a row). He averaged 11.3 points per game, 9.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks. And he shot 53.4 percent from the field, 20.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 73.7 percent from the free-throw line. That amounted to an effective field goal percentage of 54.2 and a 59.0 true shooting percentage.