Caleb Wilson struggled (to put it gently) in his regular-season NBA debut. But at least one rookie showed up in the Bulls' blowout loss to the Raptors: Tobe Awaka.
Fans had high hopes for Wilson, the No. 4 pick in June's draft. He dominated in his first game at summer league; maybe he would do the same in Toronto?
Not so much.
The 19-year-old committed nine turnovers, shot 33.3 percent from the field and went 1-for-8 from three. He looked completely overwhelmed against Kawhi Leonard and company.
But Awaka was a pleasant surprise. The undrafted center pulled down seven rebounds in just 14 minutes of playing time — six of which came on the offensive glass.
That's the kind of debut Chicago hoped to see.
The Bulls put on an ugly show in season-opening loss to the Raptors
Maybe it would've been better to temper our expectations even further for Wilson. Facing two of the best defenders in the world in Leonard and Scottie Barnes, plus another strong one in Collin Murray-Boyles, was always going to be a difficult test.
Wilson shot 7-for-21 from the field in addition to the aforementioned 1-for-8 from deep. His nine turnovers were obviously way too many, but he wasn't the only one who struggled.
As a team, the Bulls gave the ball away 27 times and forced only 10 Toronto turnovers. Josh Giddey had five turnovers, and he's supposed to be the orchestrator of the offense, the one responsible for getting Wilson and Matas Buzelis easy shots.
It was a bad performance all around. But at least head coach Tiago Splitter received one promising performance.
Tobe Awaka showed how he can contribute as an undrafted rookie
Awaka wasn't even the most anticipated rookie UDFA Chicago had coming into the night. That would be guard Jaylin Sellers, who finished with three points in 14 minutes and 13 seconds of action — weirdly, the exact same number of minutes and seconds Awaka received from Splitter.
But in that time, Awaka grabbed seven rebounds, which tied Giddey for the second-most of any Bull. (Jalen Smith was the star of the night for Chicago and finished with eight). Those seven boards were more than any Raptor.
Despite being undersized at 6-foot-8, Awaka entered the draft as one of the class's elite rebounders. He averaged 9.3 points and 9.1 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game as a senior for the Wildcats and was named the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, a rarity for big men.
Unsurprisingly, he led the country in offensive rebounding rate (20.2).
Smith is an undersized five. Nic Claxton is already injured. Zach Collins is nothing more than a depth piece, and he frequents the injury report more than anyone else on the roster. The Bulls may need Awaka to provide this kind of production consistently this season.
At least for one night, he proved he can do it, and his debut was more promising than Wilson's.
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