Caleb Wilson Just Dropped 35 Points in a Summer League Debut and Bulls Fans Should Be Excited
Caleb Wilson gave Chicago Bulls fans a reason to believe again. His Las Vegas Summer League debut was 35 points on 7-of-11 from three, which is the second-highest scoring debut in Summer League history since the event began in 2004.
Wilson was the fourth overall pick this year. He went behind AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer. Some fans thought the Bulls reached. Two weeks in, no one is saying that anymore.
The 35-point night was not a fluke either. Wilson has been shooting the ball at a rate that changes the whole conversation about his ceiling. Pre-draft, the knock on him was that his three-point shot was inconsistent. In Summer League, it has been unstoppable.
What makes Wilson exciting for Chicago is what he brings on top of the scoring. He is 6-foot-9. He can guard multiple positions. He passes well for his size. He is exactly the kind of modern NBA forward the Bulls have been trying to add for years, and they got him at a discount because most of the pre-draft attention was on the top three prospects.
The Bulls have needed a jolt. The post-DeMar DeRozan, post-Zach LaVine era has not been a fun one. Coby White is a good player but not a franchise cornerstone. Josh Giddey is an interesting piece but still developing. Ausar Thompson is on the Pistons now. The Bulls needed someone who could grow into a legitimate NBA star, and Wilson looks like he could be that.
The Grizzlies won that Summer League game, so let’s not oversell one performance. Wilson scored 35 and his team still lost by one. Boozer, on the other side, put up 23-6-4 and controlled the game. That is a preview of what these two are going to be for the next decade. Wilson is the more explosive scorer. Boozer is the more well-rounded player. Both are going to matter.
The bigger picture for Chicago is that they now have a foundation. White as the lead ball-handler. Giddey as the connector. Wilson as the wing scorer. Add Nikola Vucevic being run out on his last year of a deal and either extended or replaced, and the Bulls have something resembling a plan.
The playoff run is still probably a year away. The Eastern Conference is not going to be easy, especially if LeBron ends up in Philadelphia, Cleveland, or Miami. But the Bulls no longer look like a franchise stuck in the middle. They look like a franchise trending up.
Wilson’s 35 in Vegas is a Summer League moment, and Summer League is famously unreliable. But when a big-bodied wing shoots seven-for-eleven from three in his first NBA game, that is not just noise. That is a signal.
Bulls fans have not had many signals to feel good about in the last few years. This one is worth being excited about.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
