Caleb Wilson-mania is running wild before a single minute of real 2026-27 Chicago Bulls basketball has been played!
Bulls.com columnist Sam Smith, in an appearance on The Big Picture with David Shepard podcast, offered a provocative take on Bulls rookie Caleb Wilson’s historical franchise stature as an incoming rookie prospect who, according to Smith, is as good a Bulls prospect as he's initially witnessed since Michael Jordan.
NBA Media Day creates so much optimism throughout the league. LONG TIME Chicago Bulls Columnist @SamSmithHoops believes that should absolutely apply to the Bulls coming into this season
— David Shepard (@SheponAir) September 28, 2026
"I've been covering the Bulls longer than you've been ALIVE. Caleb Wilson is the BEST Bulls… pic.twitter.com/AE9lc7tAaD
It goes without saying that Sam Smith is abundantly qualified to offer historical perspective on the Chicago Bulls, as he is a Curt Gowdy Media Award winner who’s covered the Bulls since the 1980s. There is no question about how great an incoming rookie prospect Michael Jordan was for the Chicago Bulls and, frankly, how great a lifetime standard Jordan set for the Bulls.
Caleb Wilson is hopefully on a path to NBA superstardom like his fellow North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball alum and now Bulls alum, Michael Jordan. Las Vegas Summer League started the conversation for Wilson, but the entire 82-game 2026-27 NBA season will put Wilson's place in Bulls history in his initial context.
Between Jordan and Wilson, the Chicago Bulls have selected seven top-five overall NBA Draft picks. Forward Elton Brand was selected number one overall during the 1999 NBA Draft. Forward Marcus Fizer was selected fourth overall during the 2000 NBA Draft, just as Eddy Curry was selected during the 2001 NBA Draft.
Guard Ben Gordon was selected by the Bulls with the third overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. There is also the dubious selection of Patrick Williams, the fourth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
None of the aforementioned Bulls top-five NBA Draft picks warrant a rebuttal to Smith’s Wilson-to-Jordan comparison. Yet, two former Chicago Bulls players are the exception to Sam Smith’s historical assessment of Caleb Wilson relative to Michael Jordan
Jay Williams
Selected, for good reason, number two overall in the 2002 NBA Draft, guard Jay Williams was an NCAA men’s basketball rock star going into his draft, at a time when dominating college basketball games still mattered.
A 2000-01 NCAA national champion with the Duke Blue Devils as a sophomore and the NCAA men’s basketball 2001-02 National College Player of the Year as a junior, Jay Williams carried a strong resume and lofty expectations into the 2002 NBA Draft.
Perhaps these circumstances are obscured by Williams’ horrific motorcycle accident during the 2003 NBA offseason that effectively ended his NBA career. Regardless, Williams was a top-tier NBA prospect who entered the league with NBA All-Star comparisons.
Derrick Rose
Hometown hero Derrick Rose was an electrifying one-and-done NCAA men’s basketball player who came up one game short of winning a national championship with the Memphis Tigers. While Smith does acknowledge Rose in a couched-sort-of fashion, Derrick Rose was a hyped NBA Draft prospect on par with Caleb Wilson.
Rose’s stature as an incoming prospect is forever memorialized in the national media pre-draft debates that persisted over whether Rose or former NBA forward Michael Beasley would be selected number one overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. Rose undoubtedly entered the NBA as a highly touted NBA rookie prospect.
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