The Chicago Bulls made their 4th overall pick in the NBA draft a formality. People had been predicting for weeks that they would likely take North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson. Sure enough, the top three broke precisely as expected, sending him to the Windy City as, hopefully, their future franchise cornerstone. Opinions from draft experts on Wilson largely followed the same line. They saw an elite athlete with size and length who could run the floor like a gazelle. He played above the rim, gave constant effort on defense, and always seemed to bring his best against top opponents.
So what about the coaches who watched him or had to go against him? Maybe they see something different. Jeff Borzello of ESPN spoke to a few of them about Wilson. The answers he got back were centered around the same thing: awe at the potential. To them, there isn’t anything the Bulls’ new rookie can’t do from a physical standpoint. He has every tool imaginable. The only thing in his way is a consistent shooting stroke. One coach even mentioned a familiar name as a comparison.
Caleb Wilson plays a lot like Giannis.
“He’s taller than you think, he’s longer than you think,” one coach said. “In the open court, he was down the court in three dribbles. It felt like a college version of Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. Full speed, with the ball in his hands. Is he a finished product? Absolutely not, but that’s what’s exciting. His skills can still develop. The passes off the dribble in motion, I didn’t think he had that in his game. He’s just scratching the surface, but his combination of positional size — can he slide down to the 3, can you play him as a small-ball 5 — length, athleticism, ball skills, I was blown away.
“Every possession, flying all over the place, blocking shots, getting steals, out on the break.”
That comparison might be on the nose.
People forget that Giannis was far from a finished prospect when he arrived in the NBA from Greece. He was a skinny kid at 6’9″, 196 lbs. Like Wilson, he had a reputation as an elite athlete who attacked the rim offensively. Unfortunately, he wasn’t much of a shooter. Until he bulked up and showed he could hit from range, people wouldn’t see him as much more than a slasher who could play defense. We all know how that worked out. Giannis bulked up to 240 lbs over the next couple of years, becoming one of the NBA’s dominant forces.
That is the same path Caleb Wilson now faces. The good news is he sits at 211 lbs, so it probably won’t take him as long to bulk up to a proper weight. He’s also proven himself against high-level competition, unlike Antetokounmpo. It comes down to that jump shot. Improving it will determine how high his ceiling goes. It will take time, effort, and dedication. Wilson insists he’s up for the challenge. We will likely have a strong idea how true that is by the end of his rookie season. The good news is? Plenty of future stars have walked this path.
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| Player | College FG% | NBA Career FG% | College 3PT% | NBA Career 3PT% | College FT% | NBA Career FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kawhi Leonard | 44.9% | 49.9% | 25.0% | 39.1% | 74.4% | 86.3% |
| Jaylen Brown | 43.1% | 47.8% | 29.4% | 35.8% | 65.4% | 73.9% |
| John Stockton | 49.5% | 51.5% | N/A* | 38.4% | 71.9% | 82.6% |
| Steve Nash | 43.0% | 49.0% | 40.1% | 42.8% | 86.7% | 90.4% |
| Zach LaVine | 44.1% | 47.0% | 37.5% | 39.1% | 69.1% | 83.5% |
| Khris Middleton | 43.1% | 45.7% | 32.1% | 38.8% | 76.8% | 87.9% |
| DeAndre Jordan | 61.7% | 67.3% | N/A | 0.0% | 43.7% | 47.5% |
Tiago Splitter should help him with this.
Chicago’s new head coach comes over from the Portland Trail Blazers, where he put together a surprise winning season. Before all of that, he was a player himself. During a long career in the NBA, he was a 55% shooter. As a big man himself, he can give Wilson lots of tips on how to improve his mechanics and efficiency. One can also presume he will hire a shooting coach at some point. The Bulls fired Peter Patton in 2024, a move many criticized. Gregg Popovich always had a shooting coach on his staff in San Antonio. You can imagine Splitter will bring one in to help Wilson and others.
Chicago must do everything in their power to give this young man what he needs. The potential benefits are massive in scope. Everybody knows how popular and profitable the Bulls become when they have a superstar. We saw it with Michael Jordan and again with Derrick Rose. Wilson feels like the closest talent-wise that the organization has gotten in a long time.
