Each day until the 2025 NBA Draft, Pippen Ain't Easy will profile one prospect who makes sense as a fit for the Bulls in either the first or second round. These players could fill a need, such as on-ball defense or rim protection, or could fit an archetype that Chicago lacks on its current roster, like an athletic big man or 3-and-D wing.
Some athletes are born with rare physical gifts that most human beings don't possess. French forward Noa Essengue is one of them.
As evidenced by this year's NBA Finals, teams can't hope to be legitimate championship contenders without a level of youth, athleticism and defensive versatility. Ask Tyrese Haliburton, who's seen the Oklahoma City Thunder throw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace at him with Chet Holmgren on standby to help.
Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, has been guarded by Indiana's Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Ben Sheppard and Pascal Siakam. Even the league's MVP has been stifled for large portions of the series.
The Chicago Bulls, meanwhile, finished the season with a healthy group of ... Kevin Huerter? Matas Buzelis? Patrick Williams? Julian Phillips? Dalen Terry?
It's not difficult to see why Oklahoma City and Indiana are in the Finals and Chicago fielded one of the league's worst defenses.
A prospect like Essengue would be a massive upgrade for the Bulls if they grab him with the No. 12 pick nine days from now.
Noa Essengue 2025 NBA Draft scouting report
Essengue is only three days older than Cooper Flagg, making him the second-youngest player in this year's class. But while Flagg spent his 18-year-old season playing college basketball, Essengue was battling professionals in one of the top leagues in Europe, playing with Ratiopharm Ulm of the Basketball Bundesliga.
Ulm is currently second in the Bundesliga, and Essengue is fourth on the team in minutes played. He has a legitimate role for one of the best teams in one of the best leagues in the world.
Essengue is averaging 12.4 points and 5.3 rebounds, but he's not Ulm's offensive focal point. Fellow 2025 draft prospect and teammate Ben Saraf is more statistically productive. It's Essengue's measurements and movement skills that set him apart: He's 6-foot-10 barefoot, with a 7-foot-¾ wingspan and a 9-foot-1¾ standing reach, but he moves like a 6-foot-6 wing.
Offense
Essengue is an extremely raw prospect with a lot of developing to do, but with his combination of height, length, fluid movement skills and age, there's a ton for franchises to be excited about. At this point, most of his strengths lie on the defensive end, but he's not averaging double figures in scoring in the Bundesliga by accident.
The native of Orleans, France, combines his natural gifts with solid footwork. He's most threatening in transition, where his long strides and high motor help him get up the floor quickly on fastbreak opportunities. His length and athleticism make him an easy lob target, and he seems to have a built-in awareness of how to find the open areas on the floor.
That same awareness helps him in the halfcourt, where he scores off smart cuts and on defensive breakdowns. He has enough ball-handling ability to get by his defender and use his length to finish on straight-line drives and when attacking closeouts.
That's about where his offensive game stalls out right now. He shot just 29.4 percent from three and doesn't have a deep bag of skills. He's shown flashes of an off-the-bounce game, but his handle isn't tight enough for someone his height. He plays with physicality, but he's incredibly thin, which limits his effectiveness in the post.
He'll never be a go-to scorer in the NBA, but if he can develop into a 3-point threat down the line, it should be enough to keep him on the floor given his defensive abilities.
Defense
Essengue's offensive game may take some time to develop, but it shouldn't be long until he becomes an impactful NBA defender. His massive wingspan, athleticism and thirst for defense point to a high-level, versatile defender, perhaps an All-NBA-caliber one in time.
Essengue moves quickly enough laterally to switch onto smaller players, an ability aided by his long arms. He needs to get stronger to be able to bang in the post, but he's capable of guarding at least four positions, sometimes on the same possession.
He has active hands that help cause havoc when reaching in as a help defender; he averaged 2.1 steals per-36 minutes last season with Ulm.
If you look in the dictionary under "versatile defender," a picture of Essengue would be staring back at you.
Noa Essengue's fit with the Chicago Bulls
Chicago doesn't have a Caruso (anymore), Nesmith, Dort or Nembhard to defend an opposing team's best player. Essengue possesses not only the physical ability to guard one, but to engulf one.
What serves him well on the defensive end will make him a perfect fit in the Bulls' up-tempo, transition offense. Essengue will get to the rim by outrunning most bigs or going up and over smaller players. He can also poke the ball loose and cause deflections or steals and get the fastbreak started himself.
He's only 18 years old and needs to add strength and improve his shooting, but Essengue fits the physical profile that Chicago should be looking for. If he comes close to hitting his ceiling and Matas Buzelis continues to develop, the pair would pose serious defensive issues for opposing teams and cause coaches nightmares with their potential in transition.
For more prospect profiles and all things draft-related, check out Pippen Ain't Easy's Chicago Bulls draft page. A new prospect's scouting report will be added daily.