Chicago Bulls: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards

Rookie of The Year: Wendell Carter Jr.

The Bulls’ reward for having the sixth-worst record in the league was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. With that pick, the Bulls selected Wendell Carter Jr. from Duke.

Although he was overshadowed by teammate Marvin Bagley III, Carter managed to produce averages of 13.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest. Proving that his success at the collegiate level was not a fluke, Carter went on to post averages of 14.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per outing on slash lines of .551/.429/.696 in NBA Summer League competition.

Meanwhile, with the No. 22 pick, the Bulls selected Boise State wing Chandler Hutchison. In spite of the slow start to his collegiate career, Hutchison came on strong the last two seasons. During his junior campaign, Hutchison averaged 17.4 points per contest, which was a nearly a 10-point jump from the prior year.

In his final season at Boise State, Hutchison put up 20.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game on 47.5 percent shooting from the field and 35.9 percent from beyond the arc. Flashing the potential to be a do-it-all player, the Bulls felt pretty good about their selection.

Hutchison struggled with his shot a bit in Summer League, though, converting just 39.5 percent of his attempts, but he did average 11 points and seven boards per contest, along with knocking down 50 percent of his looks from 3-point range.

Based on the numbers, the Bulls’ best rookie is Carter, but the chances of him winning the Rookie of the Year award are probably not all that great as he may be coming off the bench for a good portion of the season.