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When the Chicago Bulls selected Noa Essengue with the 12th overall pick, the expectation was that the French forward would be brought along slowly. After all, he\u2019s only 18 years old, the second-youngest player in the draft. He was also one of the draft cycle\u2019s fastest risers, gaining momentum late as his stock surged all the way until draft night.<\/p>\n
Thus, there\u2019s an understanding that Essengue likely won\u2019t see the floor much, if at all, early in the season. For example, even last year\u2019s All-Rookie Second Team honoree, Matas Buzelis, didn\u2019t receive consistent minutes until February. And Essengue enters even further behind where Buzelis was in his development, having played in Germany\u2019s Basketball Bundesliga, starting in only 21 of 60 games.<\/p>\n
Yet, Essengue brings a host of intriguing skills. At nearly 7 feet tall, he moves like a gazelle in transition, using long strides to attack the rim with ease. His length also makes him a force on defense, particularly as a weakside presence. He covers so much ground that he functions almost like a free safety on the basketball court.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Essengue\u2019s unique ability to draw fouls could go a long way toward improving Chicago\u2019s lackluster free-throw rate, which ranked 29th in the association. His free-throw rate of 75.1 percent was impressive\u2014nearly 12 percentage points higher than the NBA leader.<\/p>\n
Still, as Essengue\u2019s Summer League performances showed, there\u2019s plenty of room for improvement. From his slender frame to his shooting touch, multiple aspects of his game need rounding out.<\/p>\n
No matter how much Essengue still needs to develop to earn playing time, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan offered a promising remark during Chicago\u2019s media day: \u201cHe’s a great kid, and he’s a really good worker. He\u2019s got instinctively a pretty good feel for how to play\u2026 He really knows how to play the game, and that\u2019s a huge advantage for a young player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting to the right spots, reading rotations, and staying adaptable are essential for young players\u2014and all stem from being instinctual. If Essengue demonstrates that from day one, there\u2019s a good chance he\u2019ll see the floor, even if his counting stats leave much to be desired.<\/p>\n
The Bulls\u2019 forward unit is suddenly deep after opening last season painfully thin. That means Essengue won\u2019t be forced into action. Still, if anything can be taken from Donovan\u2019s remarks, it\u2019s that Chicago could turn to him for spot minutes here and there early in the season.<\/p>\n During the Chicago Bulls media day, Head Coach Billy Donovan spoke highly of Noa Essengue, noting his instincts as what stand out most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":106072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n