NEWSLETTER
Wendell Carter Jr. has gone from Captain Hook to Peter Pan. Held to a minimal, grunt-work role for most of last season, it sure sounds like new head coach Billy Donovan is ready to set him, and the rest of the Bulls young players, free.
Every player plays well in a certain style of play, and I feel like the style of play I’ve been presented with of how we’re going to play as a team I feel like it’s going to be amazing. After playing with most of these guys for two years now I know what they’re good at, what they’re not good at, and I feel like Billy has kind of catered to that.
Sounding all sorts of optimism about the Bulls immediate future, the 22-year-old big man spoke with media on Day 3 of training camp. Many haven’t shied away from predicting Carter Jr. to benefit the most from Donovan’s presence, myself included, and I think some may be ready to double-down on that thought after what he had to say.
Despite his inability to stay healthy for a full season, Carter Jr. has already proven he is one of the league’s elite, young defenders. His seven-foot-five wingspan and quick feet have already helped him go toe-to-toe with some of the league’s best big men. Whether or not that can continues isn’t really a question for the Bulls new coaching staff, and Carter Jr. said as much on Thursday. In fact, he said there is reason to believe his defensive game can take an even healthier step forward under Donovan’s new system (no more blitz coverage? Cool!).
All right, but let’s not harp on Carter Jr.’s defensive capabilities. The real reason the Bulls 2018 first-rounder could see the biggest leap out of anyone on the roster under Donovan is due to his offensive potential. We are talking about a guy who became a clear-cut lottery pick because of his offensive promise just as much as naturally impressive defensive instincts. In his one season at Duke, Carter Jr. showed NBA scouts he could do a little bit of everything. Whether that be shattering the rim, nailing a 3-pointer, or taking guys off-the-dribble, Carter Jr. flashed very intriguing versatility for a player with his frame.
Over his first couple of seasons in the league, I think it’s safe to say Bulls fans haven’t seen all of that consistently on display, but according to Carter Jr., that’s about to change.
“The talks that we’ve have had for my expectations this year is just for me to be more reliable on the offensive end, allow me to make decisions, be a decision-maker from the free-throw line, and other areas of the court. He’s putting a lot of trust in me on the offensive end.”
Good.
Carter Jr. went on to later describe plans that included him picking and popping, handling along the perimeter, and attacking from the free-throw line. Simply put, he signified a much broader role than we saw him have under the previous coaching staff. And that role appears to include the facilitating help many of us expected. Carter Jr. averaged 2.0 assists in his one season at Duke, and he has failed to reach that mark in either of his two NBA seasons. I know that doesn’t read like a lot, but that passing help can make a huge difference over the course of a game/season. Donovan has shown an affinity for having his big men help distribute over the years, whether it be with Danilo Gallinari, Steven Adams, Domantas Sabonis, or Al Horford, and it looks like he’s starting early when it comes to getting Carter Jr. into a similar mindset.
I don’t want to linger too heavily on Carter Jr.’s ability to promote better ball movement, but I do think it’s one area that demonstrates how much of Carter Jr. there is left to unpack. In his first season with the organization, he averaged a decent 11.9 assist percentage, which put him in the 73rd percentile of NBA talent, per Cleaning the Glass. His AST:USG ratio also sat in the 67th percentile. Again, not anything special, but it inspired room to grow in that department for a rookie. What happened next? Well, his assist percentage dropped to the 20th percentile in and his AST:USG fell into the 16th in 2019-20.
We’re dealing with a small sample size, I get that. But the fact is he has shown competency in that area before, and there is a good chance he can do it again. Under Hoiberg’s first 24 games in the 2018-19 season, he averaged above 2.0 assists per game. After Boylen took over, it went down to 1.4. Now, Lauri Markkanen missed practically all of those games, which is certainly a factor worth taken into consideration. But, again, the point here to make is that there are examples of helping play-make in the past. Hopefully, this season there can be a lot more.
Arguably one of the best comments Carter Jr. made on Thursday actually had to do with Donovan’s proactive nature. Carter Jr. sounded more than pleased with the fact that Donovan was the one to initially bring up a more prominent offensive role (GET THE BALL IN HIS HANDS), which is something Carter Jr. expressed he wanted last season.
He came to me and told me he wants me to be more interchangeable, learn the 4 position, learn the 5 position, and just help us out on the offensive end. He actually came to me about those, so I think that’s a good thing.
I’m sure any player is happy to hear about how their usage rating is bound to go up, but Carter Jr. sounded genuinely happy about the positive influence Donovan is bound to bring to this team. Numerous other players have also sung Donovan’s praises over this first week of training camp, so it appears the initiative the coach showed with Carter Jr. has expanded across the roster.
At the end of the day, anything has to be better than the abysmal offensive showing we saw from this organization last season. So, congrats, the bar is pretty low, Billy. With that said, it sure sounds like Donovan has already made some important tweaks to the style of play and has earned the necessary buy-in from his players. Good news.
If interested in the complete Carter Jr. interview, watch below:
LIVE: Wendell Carter Jr. Training Camp Presser, presented by @BMOHarrisBank https://t.co/Ct5IOPsuQM
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 3, 2020
