The former Duke Blue Devils 6-foot-9 center heading into his third year with the Chicago Bulls, Wendell Carter Jr. is putting in some real work right now.
Throughout the hiatus that turned into the beginning of the 2020 offseason for the Chicago Bulls, and the rest of the bottom eight teams in the NBA this year, some of their top players had to do their best to keep ready for whatever lies ahead for next season. For a good portion of the hiatus, the Bulls also didn’t know whether they would be competing in whatever restart plan the NBA was able to put together.
But the NBA wound up running with a 22-team restart plan, where games started back on July 30, at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL. And the Bulls were one of a whopping six teams in the Eastern Conference that did not get to participate in the restart plan. Only two teams from the Western Conference were far enough out of playoff contention not to compete in the season’s restart.
The lone team out of the East that is competing in the restart at Disney World this month is the Washington Wizards. But there is a chance that the Bulls get to compete in some regard at Disney World, if the NBA winds up letting the bottom eight teams do OTA’s in the “bubble”.
Some of the top players in this Bulls young core this offseason are still keeping busy with their work to continue to improve. A video was released on YouTube over the weekend with a particular set of workouts and a practice routine for the Bulls to-be third-year center Wendell Carter Jr. And Carter Jr. was able to show off some impressive moves and improved shooting from the mid-range in this workout video.
It’s great to see top young Bulls players like WCJ putting in work while his team is in the midst of a lengthy 2020 offseason. The Bulls haven’t played in any meaningful game action since back on March 10, in a home win at the United Center over the divisional foe Cleveland Cavaliers.
It could wind up being eight or nine months between games for the Bulls if the 2020-21 season tips off as planned now in early December 2020. That’s why it’s so important for their best and most talented young players like WCJ to keep improving during this very lengthy hiatus.
During his 43 games played with the Bulls this season, he averaged 11.3 points per game, 9.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks. He shot 53.4 percent from the field, 20.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 73.7 percent from the free-throw line. Carter Jr. was hot out of the gates in the season that was for the Bulls, but definitely cooled off down the stretch.