The Chicago Bulls didn't draft Noa Essengue with the expectation that he would be a day one starter or make a big immediate impact. He's 18 years old, and although he has stunning physical attributes, his lack of experience was always going to be his biggest obstacle to overcome early.
So, no, you shouldn't panic about Noa Essengue after three weeks — although it's fair to get a little nervous when watching Derik Queen, the player taken one spot after Essengue, start to break out in New Orleans.
Queen has seen his minutes per game increase in the past five games, and he's delivered with that added responsibility. He's scored in double-figures each of those games, including a 26-point 7-rebound, 4-assist performance in his most recent game. He looks like the athletic, versatile, skilled big man the Pelicans hoped he'd be.
Bulls fans are getting nervous as Derik Queen starts to break out
Nikola Vucevic is still a good NBA center, but he is 35 years old. If the Bulls had drafted Queen, there's a clear path to him taking over the starting position as soon as next year. Plus, Bulls fans were already skeptical of Essengue being redundant alongside Matas Buzelis, another long, athletic frontcourt player.
So there are some fair reasons to be nervous about how the Bulls handled the Draft; but at the moment, none of them have anything to do with Essengue himself, who is right on schedule for what the Bulls expected from him. He dominated in his G League debut, which is still impressive from an 18 year-old, and he's currently back on the Bulls roster for Friday's NBA Cup game. Could we see his NBA debut this weekend?
Noa Essengue will require lots of patience from Bulls fans
Matas Buzelis developed faster than even the most optimistic Bulls fan could have predicted, so it's not crazy for Bulls fans to expect the same from this year's first-rounder, too. But Essengue needs time to develop, and being a little cautious instead of throwing him to the wolves will likely serve him well in the long run.
Yes, watching the rookie picked one slot later will always raise a bit of nervousness from the fanbase, but three years from now, when Essengue is 21 and developing into a cornerstone for the Bulls, we'll have long forgotten the first few weeks of his career when he didn't crack the court.
At least, I'm pretty sure. No one bookmark this for three years from now, please.