The plan was simple.
Wendell Carter Jr. wasn’t going to make waves while the season was dragging on last year. No, there’s a way to handle business in the NBA, and even just 20 years old at the time, Carter was well versed in that procedure.
The Bulls big man was going to sit down with his coach after the last game, and let him know that there was more to his game than was being used.
That meant playing some four rather than just the five. That meant it would be nice if every so often they would run some offense through him, rather than using him as just a garbage man in the paint or a passer. Simply put: Carter wanted to be developed.
That heart-to-heart with Jim Boylen, however, never took place.
The coronavirus cut the season short for the Bulls, and then Boylen was shown the exit in the wake of a new front office regime taking over.
So where’s Carter’s head now as training camp opens up and Billy Donovan sits in that head coaching chair?
Probably as comfortable as it’s been since the franchise selected him seventh overall in the 2018 draft.
Call it the Donovan Effect.
“[Donovan] actually came to me and told me that he wants me to be more interchangeable and learn the four position, learn the five position,’’ Carter said, when asked if he had to have that talk with his new coach. “He actually came to me about those [concerns I had]. I think that’s a good thing.’’
Maybe a great thing.
That confidence Donovan expressed in improving Carter’s game was tested last month on draft day. NBA rumors are commonplace, but usually not for a player going into his third year with seemingly so much upside.
But there it was for Carter, as multiple reports had the Bulls trading him to Golden State so they could swap their fourth pick with the Warriors at No. 2.
“When I first saw it, I kind of knew it was BS,’’ Carter said in a Zoom call on Thursday. “I didn’t pay much attention to it. Then my family members started hitting me up about it, like, ‘Man, what’s going on? You going to Oakland?’ I’m, like, ‘Man, I feel like I’m good.’ I didn’t pressure the front office at all. At the end of the day, it’s a business. So if it was to go through, I mean, it’s a business. But I had a lot of faith I was going to be here.
“I knew the coaching staff and the front office believed in me from the talks that we’ve had. … deep down in my heart, I knew I was going to be a Bull.’’
And a Bull he still is.
So what does Donovan do to get him to that next level of his development? After all, that’s really what the 6-foot-9 Carter’s wanted.
“I think for Wendell, just watching him and being around him and even communicating with him, I think there’s a lot of different things he can do,’’ Donovan said. “I think he can be a facilitator for us, I think he’s got very good vision, he’s a good passer for a big man. I think, also, him being put in some situations where he can kind of stretch his range a little bit and maybe do a little bit more on the perimeter, I think that will be a big part of his growth and development as a player.’’
Now that’s a simple plan Carter can embrace.
