NEW YORK – It’s not necessarily a conversation Wendell Carter Jr. wants to have when the season-ending exit meetings go down.
It’s a conversation he feels like he has to have.
Carter grew up playing the four, he played the power forward spot in high school, and he played the four in his one season at Duke, interchanging with then-fellow big man Marvin Bagley III. Yet, since making him the No. 7 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, the Bulls have found Carter’s skillset more conducive to be their starting center.
“Absolutely,’’ Carter said to the Sun-Times, when asked if he would talk to his bosses about a possible position change when this regular season comes to an end. “Coach [Jim Boylen] understands that I’m a great defender no matter who I’m guarding, but he also understands that one of the reasons we’re in the black is because of my size, because I’m not as tall. I mean I’m more mobile than most fives, so I’m able to be up, slide, all that.
“I mean I’ve been playing the four all of my life. Even when I was at Duke, me and Marvin were kind of interchangeable at the four, so I don’t know. It’s definitely a conversation I’m going to bring up for sure, but as of right now I’m just trying to make it work with where I’m at.’’
On most nights, when healthy, he does make it work.
Then Saturday in New York happens.
Drafted at 6-10, once the NBA clamped down on the exaggeration of sizes that was a common practice for years, Carter magically shrunk to 6-9. But because he is close to 280 solid pounds with a 7-5 wingspan, he gets by.
That is until a true 7-footer with some athleticism is thrown at him like the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson or he has to go against a center that not only has height on him, but can match his muscle.
Carter started off the Knicks game with a solid matchup, getting former Bull Taj Gibson the first few times down the floor. Because Carter was on a minutes restriction, fresh off a right ankle injury that had him on the shelf since Jan. 6, he was on shorter stints throughout the game.
When he did get Robinson, it didn’t go well. Not that it did for any Bulls big, as Robinson finished the game 11-for-16 from the field for 23 points, as well as grabbing 10 boards – seven on the offensive side.
In a perfect world, Carter would have the same situation he had at Duke, where he plays alongside a 6-10, 6-11 interchangeable big man. The hope was 7-footer Lauri Markkanen would expand his game to fill that void, but whether it was health issues or his role in the offense, it never happened this season.
Maybe that changes next year. Carter hopes so.
“Are you saying could he play some four someday? Probably,’’ Boylen said of Carter. “I think he could, but he’s missed 50-some games in two years, so before we get there we just gotta get him healthy and get him into a rhythm.’’
Carter is all for that. But also wants some winning to start happening. Yes, he’s only a second-year player, but he’s definitely looking to have a voice in this rebuild moving forward. Losing just isn’t cutting it.
“Everybody has got to be able to look at themselves and know that even though we go out there and play well individually, we didn’t play well as a team,’’ Carter said. “If we can’t get everybody to understand that individual stats, someone doing something individually very good, doesn’t lead to wins. Including myself, we’ve got to learn that none of that [bleep] matters if you’re not winning.’’
