Heading into Tuesday night, the Chicago Bulls were 1-1 in Summer League. They won their first game against Toronto Raptors but dropped their second game to the Memphis Grizzlies. In turn, their game against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday would determine whether or not they would remain in the race for a top-four spot, putting them in the playoffs.
With their Summer League season on the line, the Bulls delivered. They picked up a 107-99 win over the Kings, exploding in the fourth quarter with an offensive barrage. They overwhelmed Sacramento, and the Bulls’ players showed some great signs of development, too.
Let’s take a look at some of the top notes from the contest.
Bulls Summer League Notebook: The duality of Dalen Terry
Against the Kings, Dalen Terry’s struggles scoring the ball continued. Once again, he was woefully inefficient, but he made up for it in other areas.
Terry was a great facilitator against Sacramento (five assists), whipping some crisp passes around the court, and he also attacked the glass (seven rebounds). And on the defensive end, he was active, energetic, and effective.
Chicago would love to see his three-point shot and overall efficiency improve, but his hustle and talent are clearly there.
Bulls Summer League Notebook: Quality three-point shooting
This past season, the Bulls were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA. But on this Summer League squad, they have plenty of shooters.
Against the Bulls, Julian Phillips shot 3-for-3, Nate Darling shot 4-for-6, Javon Freeman-Liberty shot 3-for-6, Jontay Porter shot 2-for-5, Henri Drell shot 2-for-4, and Yago Dos Santos shot 1-for-2. As a team, the Bulls shot 16-of-30 (53.3%) from distance.
Outside of the obvious (Phillips and Freeman-Liberty), Darling and Drell should be the most intriguing for the Bulls. But for a Chicago squad in desperate need of shooters, all of these guys are certainly making their mark.
Bulls Summer League Notebook: Julian Phillips' bounce back
In his Summer League debut against the Grizzlies, Phillips struggled. The rookie looked a bit slow on the court, which made sense as it was his first taste of NBA action.
But in this one, he was much better. There’s still room to grow, but Phillips’ presence was felt against the Kings, and it was reflected in the box score.
Phillips finished the game with 16 points and four rebounds on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from distance. And for a guy who didn’t shoot the ball too well in college (23.9%), it’s encouraging to see some threes go down. (And his shot form looked great, too.)
