{"id":107922,"date":"2025-10-06T07:03:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T07:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=107922"},"modified":"2025-10-06T07:03:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T07:03:15","slug":"%e2%9a%a0%ef%b8%8fbulls-caution-rookie-noa-essengue-faces-modest-expectations-this-season-development-prioritized-but-one-surprise-move-could-shake-up-the-team-ll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=107922","title":{"rendered":"\u26a0\ufe0fBULLS CAUTION: Rookie Noa Essengue faces modest expectations this season, development prioritized, but one surprise move could shake up the team \u2026ll"},"content":{"rendered":"
Chicago Bulls team president Arturas Karnisovas has revealed that he doesn’t have “high expectations” for his rookie lottery pick Noa Essengue in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

\"Sports<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old Frenchman is the youngest player in the 2025 draft not named Cooper Flagg, the Dallas Mavericks’ top pick out of Duke. Unlike Flagg, however, the No. 12 pick this summer is expected to be more of a long-term, developmental project at the NBA level.<\/p>\n

Essengue is already incredibly athletic, and boasts exciting physical gifts. In three Summer League clashes with the Bulls this past July, the 6-foot-10 forward\u00a0averaged 12.7 points on .419\/.267\/.615 shooting splits, plus 5.3 boards, 1.3 swipes, 0.7 rejections and 0.7 dimes per.<\/p>\n

Bulls decision makers preaching patience with Noa Essengue<\/h2>\n

Karnisovas got honest about Essengue’s growth this season,\u00a0Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to put high expectations on what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Karnisovas said. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to see how [Essengue] does the rest of training camp and how he does in the preseason. We\u2019ll make those decisions then.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan reflected on Essengue’s first week of training camp for Chicago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s processes [rookies] go through that you have to help them with other than ballhandling, passing, shooting,\u201d Donovan said.<\/p>\n

Essengue has room to build out his physicality, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to have to get better with his strength; he\u2019s going to have to get better guarding the ball one-on-one,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cI think as young as Essengue is, this is going to be a process for him.\u201d<\/p>\n