Caleb Wilson wants to dunk.
No, you don’t understand. A lot of rookies want to dunk. It’s the NBA. It’s fun. Who wouldn’t want to dunk it once or twice? But that’s not the thing for Wilson. He wants to dunk the ball every time. He wants to dunk it on someone every time.
Four minutes into Saturday’s 124-120 loss to the Washington Wizards, Wilson got his first taste of the kill at the United Center. He stooped over to poke the ball out of the hands of Bilal Coulibaly and immediately looked to the basket. There wasn’t a question of what to do — just how to do it. Wilson bounced the ball once, took two steps to plant properly and leaped into the air with the unburdened buoyancy of a child jumping off a swing. His first dunk on his home court was simple and emphatic, greeted by a roar from a fanbase still getting to know the newest face of the franchise.
Wilson proceeded to dunk five times in the ensuing half. A one-handed slam in transition. A nasty reverse with a hanging finish like he was dangling off a pullup bar. That doesn’t even take into account the attempts that were thwarted by slaps to the wrist and forearm, earning a trip to the free-throw line rather than another moment of glory. Wilson will take those points too. He made 9 of 11 free throws. But he doesn’t go to the rim to hunt whistles. The rookie cares only about big game.
“I’m just being aggressive,” Wilson said. “They’re a team that’s really big, and our opportunities are in transition because they have so much size, so I was just using that to my advantage to try to get downhill and create opportunities for myself.”
Wilson is a work in progress. The officials caught him with the ultimate rookie whistle — a defensive three-second call — midway through the first half. His shot is still incredibly shaky from behind the arc, consistently hitting the front rim as he missed his first seven 3-point shots before hitting his first to cut the Bulls deficit to six points with 54 seconds remaining. The dunks lost steam in the second half as the Bulls offense lost its momentum.
But three games into his NBA career, Wilson also is showing signs of budding stardom. The highlights certainly pop. Wilson racked up 30 points and 14 rebounds for his first NBA double-double. He blocked a shot and stole the ball twice. Perhaps most endearing is the way Wilson urgently attempts to erase his mistakes.
In the first quarter, he committed a turnover while attempting to advance the ball at half-court. The Wizards’ Justin Champagnie failed to finish a layup to capitalize on the play. Wilson immediately took off on the other end of the court, taking a straight-line drive to crush a dunk against the rim and draw a foul in the process. He doesn’t mind erring — as long as it’s followed by something bigger, something better to wipe away the memory of where he went wrong before.
Chicago, meet Caleb Wilson. He’s pleased to make your acquaintance — and he’ll be here for a while.
Here are four takeaways from the loss.
1. Third-quarter collapse
The Bulls offense is developing a habit of stalling out. Midway through a perfectly routine performance, something catches and the entire system grinds to a halt. In Saturday’s game, that hitch happened in the third quarter. The Bulls scored only 20 points in that 12-minute span while allowing 40 points to the Wizards.
The problem was not isolated. The Bulls rely heavily on movement to fuel their offense, pitching passes and handing the ball off in quick succession to work inside out and create organic opportunities. But when that motion stops, the options for scoring become limited. All five players in the starting rotation scored two points apiece in the third quarter. The Bulls went 7-for-23 in that span while turning the ball over five times. By the end of the quarter, they trailed by 15 points.
These offensive woes were once again worsened by the Bulls’ lack of shooting accuracy. They went 12-for-43 in another sub-30% night from 3-point range. Despite a furious comeback attempt in the fourth quarter — cutting the lead as few as three points off a Matas Buzelis 3-pointer with 23 seconds to play — the Bulls had dug themselves too deep a hole.
“It was good, man, it was just too late,” Buzelis said. “The third quarter is very important in NBA basketball. It has to start from there, set the tone and put teams away like that.”
2. Over the top
Facing the Wizards gave the Bulls their first true lob threat of the season. The Wizards fed Chicago native Anthony Davis a healthy portion of passes over the top, which challenged the weakened rim protection of a team missing starting center Nic Claxton. Davis scored 19 points, 12 of which came in the restricted area.
The pathway to the rim remained perilous for the Bulls throughout the game. Bilal Coulibaly launched himself over Zach Collins for a demoralizing dunk — plus a foul — in the first quarter, capitalizing on the Bulls center’s slow reaction to rotate into the middle of the paint. The Bulls were blocked six times at the rim. The Wizards scored 62 of their 120 points in the paint.
3. A missing star
The home opener originally promised to be a clash of true star power in Wilson against No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa. The two are expected to jockey for the Rookie of the Year award — alongside Cameron Boozer and Darryn Peterson — all season. But that rivalry will have to wait for another day.
Dybantsa sat out for the third straight game with a sprained left ankle, an injury that occurred during the preseason. The Wizards (1-2) have not announced a clear timeline for the rookie’s return, although his injury is not considered long term.
4. Noa Essengue sidelined
One night after a standout defensive performance against the Milwaukee Bucks, the second-year forward was unable to play due to a head injury. Essengue believes the injury is a result of a collision that occurred during the Bucks game in which he drew an offensive foul on Ryan Rollins in the fourth quarter.
Bulls coach Tiago Splitter said Essengue was experiencing some concussion symptoms, including light sensitivity. However, he was not placed in the league’s concussion protocol and was listed out with a “right head contusion” on the injury report. The Bulls did not specify when they expect Essengue to return.
Splitter noted that the forward’s usage will be a matchup-specific decision, which was reflected by the fact he played 17 minutes in Milwaukee after logging fewer than 10 as a late-game addition in the season opener against the Toronto Raptors.