Chicago Bulls: Wendell Carter Jr. early NBA Summer League review

The Chicago Bulls selected Wendell Carter Jr. with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. So far, the rookie has been exceeding expectations in NBA Summer League.

A year ago, the Chicago Bulls shocked the sports world by sending three-time All-Star Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In return, they received Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick, which turned into Lauri Markkanen.

For the second straight year, the Bulls had the seventh overall pick in the NBA Draft. This time around, they selected Wendell Carter Jr. from Duke. During his lone season with the Blue Devils, Carter’s averages included 13.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest.

Forced to play in the shadow of teammate Marvin Bagley III, who was taken at the No. 2 spot by the Sacramento Kings, there were some concerns pertaining to whether or not Carter’s skill-set would translate at the NBA level.

In a word: Absolutely.

In his first NBA Summer League game, Carter wasted little time showing he is the real deal. He scored 16 points and hauled in nine rebounds. Carter also came away with five blocked shots, four of which occurred in the opening quarter.

Thanks to Carter’s effort at both ends of the floor, the Bulls kicked off Summer League play with an 86-81 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Here is what Fred Hoiberg had to say following Carter’s Summer League debut.

"“You’ve got a guy who has a very unique skill set in Wendell Carter,” Hoiberg told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s a guy that can step out on the floor and knock down shots, [has] good footwork on the block, a left and right hand and great defensive instincts. And the other thing is, he’s ahead of his years from a physical standpoint. He’s got a very good level of physicality for a 19-year-old player.”"

In the Bulls’ next outing against the Los Angeles Lakers, Carter had a somewhat quiet game, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds. However, he continued to show his prowess at the rim, turning away four shots in a losing effort, as the Lakers came out on top 69-60.

If you were tempted to think you had seen the best of Carter in this tournament, you would be mistaken and the next two games would support that sentiment.

Carter had his best outing to date against the Atlanta Hawks. In that contest, his final stat line included a team-high 23 points (on an efficient 9-for-13 from the field), six rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Unfortunately, Carter’s production wasn’t enough to prevent the Bulls from losing their second straight game despite leading by a double-digit margin after the first 12 minutes of action.

In the team’s most recent outing against the Dallas Mavericks on July 11, Carter put together yet another solid performance. He poured in 19 points, pulled down nine rebounds to go along with a pair of assists and one steal, enabling the Bulls to snap their two-game skid with a 95-83 victory. Although Carter didn’t have any rejections in this contest, he is still averaging an impressive 2.8 blocks per contest.

All in all, Carter is showing Bulls fans that not only can he be a capable scorer, but he can hurt opposing defenses in multiple ways. He can face up or take opposing bigs down in the post. He has nice a turnaround jump shot and he can extend his range beyond the arc, as he has converted three of six attempts from 3-point range.

Another attribute about Carter’s game that may go unnoticed is he moves well without the basketball, as demonstrated in this dribble hand-off scenario between him and Chandler Hutchison.

Yes, it’s only Summer League. Too much stock shouldn’t be put into these outings being that the games don’t count. At the same time, this is all we have to go by until the regular season begins.

At this point, Carter has exceeded expectations. This especially holds true in terms of his ability to defend smaller players on the perimeter.

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If he continues to get better, the Bulls will have found the perfect complement to Markkanen, giving the team a formidable 1-2 punch in the frontcourt for years to come.