With a path to playing time seemingly opened by the departures of two veteran wings, young Bulls forward Julian Phillips is hoping to get some extended run this season, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
“Just my leadership and being around the ball,” Phillips said of his goals for his second Summer League with the Bulls this year. “Get loose balls, rebounds. Defense, get my hands on loose balls. Try to be all around.”
With ex-Bulls Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan now traded to contending Western Conference squads, an opportunity could open up for Phillips to earn more rotation minutes this year. Phillips, for his part, seems grateful for the lessons learned from those two vets during his rookie season in 2023/24.
“They both helped and taught me a lot, so I appreciate them for everything,” Phillips said. “It’s not our job to worry about the roster decisions. That’s up to the front office. Our job is to be ready to play. We got a lot of great guys and we’ll be ready for it for sure.”
There’s more out of the Windy City:
- The Bulls have received poor marks for their trades of Caruso and DeRozan from Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, primarily for their minimal returning assets in each deal. Cowley adds that two of the club’s other pricey veterans, shooting guard Zach LaVine and center Nikola Vucevic, may be stuck on a rebuilding Chicago team for a while, as neither seems to have garnered much trade interest around the league.
- During his Summer League debut, a 96-89 win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, rookie Bulls lottery pick Matas Buzelis scored 15 points, grabbed seven boards and blocked two shots. He showed a knack for drawing contact in taking seven free throws during 29 minutes of action, and proved adept at defending the rack. Buzelis, however, was concerned by his 4-of-15 shooting line and some defensive decisions away from the rim, notes K.C. Johnson in another piece. “Honestly, I was very sloppy,” Buzelis said. “I can play a lot better.”
- In case you missed it, Chicago recently waived two-way power forward RaiQuan Gray, acquired in the team’s three-team sign-and-trade deal to offload former All-NBA Chicago swingman DeRozan.