Every other day leading up to the 2025-26 regular season, Pippen Ain’t Easy will profile a Chicago Bulls player, reviewing their contributions from last season and projecting their role for the year ahead.
After covering the Bulls’ three two-way signees, we now turn to the rotation players, starting with 6-foot-8 forward Julian Phillips, the 35th overall pick in the 2023 draft. Phillips enters his third NBA season looking to carve out a bigger role.
A second-round pick in 2023, Phillips nonetheless found minutes in Billy Donovan’s rotation. He logged 40 games and 89 points as a rookie, but saw an uptick in playing time as a sophomore. Phillips appeared in 79 games, second most on the team, for the Bulls last season.
Julian Phillips' 2024-25 contributions
The former Tennessee Volunteer averaged 4.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game while converting 44.6 percent of his field goals, 32.7 percent of his three-pointers, and 78.9 percent of his free throws.
Among Bulls who played at least half the season, Phillips ranked fourth on the team in offensive rating and second in defensive rating. He also finished eighth in win shares. However, his player efficiency rating and usage rate lagged near the bottom of the roster, underscoring his limited offensive role.
Phillips’ shot diet came almost entirely from the rim and the arc. Of his 128 field goals, 86 were either threes or dunks—that's roughly two-thirds! In fact, 119 came from within five feet or beyond 20 feet, leaving just nine makes in the close and midrange.
Only 25 of Phillips’s field goals were unassisted, and every one of his 50 threes came off a teammate’s setup. Through two seasons, he’s been almost exclusively a play-finisher, a trend worth monitoring as he enters 2025-26.
At just 21, Phillips has already shown defensive maturity beyond his years. Across 119 games, he’s taken on assignments against top-tier NBA wings and held his ground. While his counting stats are modest, his steal and block percentages both ranked top-five on the Bulls. Tellingly, Chicago’s defense improved by 1.5 points per 100 possessions whenever he was on the court.
What Phillips' role will look like this season
Going forward, the Bulls will lean on Phillips’ defensive versatility. He’s one of the few players on the roster who can credibly guard three positions. At 6-foot-8 and just under 200 pounds, he’s agile enough to stick with guards on the perimeter while still long enough to handle most fours.
With Coby White and Josh Giddey in the backcourt and Nikola Vucevic anchoring the middle, the Bulls badly need versatile wing defenders. That’s why, over the past year, they’ve added Matas Buzelis, Noa Essengue, and Isaac Okoro to the mix.
However, those additions have pushed Phillips and fellow wing Dalen Terry further down the depth chart. Even though Phillips offers the multipositional defensive versatility the Bulls covet, the team has invested significant resources in acquiring Buzelis, Essengue, and Okoro. That leaves Phillips as the fifth forward, not accounting for Essengue, who isn't likely to play a significant role this season.
Despite Chicago’s influx of forwards over the past year, Donovan will need to find minutes for Phillips. He likely won’t play as much as last season, when he appeared in 79 games, but can be expected on the floor whenever Ayo Dosunmu, Kevin Huerter, Patrick Williams, or projected starters Buzelis and Okoro miss time.
Keeping 21-year-old Phillips in the rotation will pay off down the line. Though currently buried on the depth chart, roster turnover is constant in the NBA, and the Bulls could see several players depart next offseason—particularly Dosunmu and Huerter, both entering the final years of their contracts.