Chicago Bulls: Complete 2018 offseason grades

Drafting Wendell Carter Jr.

The Bulls did all they could to try to move within the top five picks of the 2018 NBA Draft. They gave younger players more floor time during the second half of the season. They even explored trade options with a couple of the teams that were slotted ahead of them, but neither attempt proved to be successful.

So with the No. 7 pick, the Bulls selected Wendell Carter Jr. from Duke University. Although Carter wasn’t the primary scoring option on a loaded Blue Devils’ roster, he did manage to produce 13.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest.

Additionally, he shot 56.1 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Carter continued his solid play during NBA Summer League, posting averages of 14.6 points and 9.4 boards per outing.

Even more important, Carter proved that the shot-blocking ability he displayed during his lone season at Duke was not a fluke, averaging 2.6 per game in Las Vegas.

When the news broke about the Bulls using their first pick on Carter, he was presumed to just be a safe pick. Based on what we’ve seen so far (and yes, it’s only Summer League competition), Carter certainly has the potential to be another building block for this franchise.

Grade: B+