The Chicago Bulls have had a relatively up-and-down summer league thus far. They took down the Toronto Raptors in their first game but lost their second game to the Memphis Grizzlies and Kenneth Lofton Jr., who has been having an incredible summer league.
Javon Freeman-Liberty has been stealing the show for the Bulls so far, putting up solid stats and playing with great energy. Dalen Terry looked better in his second game, as did Adama Sanogo. As for rookie Julian Phillips, he was pretty shaky in his summer league debut against the Grizzlies. He didn’t play against Toronto because he had not yet signed his contract, and when he got out there, he looked shaky.
Considering it was his very first summer league game (and very first NBA-level game in general), that’s OK. As Elias Schuster of Bleacher Nation wrote, some level of should be expected.
“What about Julian Phillips? Well, the newbie did take the court for the first time after reportedly reaching a contract with the team prior to tip-off. To say it looked like the first-ever summer league game for a second-round pick would be an understatement,” Schuster wrote. “He didn’t find his way onto the scoreboard until the fourth quarter when he knocked down a 3-pointer. Other than that, he was semi-active on the glass and snatched 4 rebounds, but it was one of those performances where you pretty much forgot he was out there. To be clear, I’m not necessarily upset about it. Would it have been nice to see him go off and be more assertive? Sure. But it was literally his first-ever game at this level. I’m just happy the two sides got the deal done so he could get out there.”
As Phillips gets games under his belt, he should warm up to the NBA-caliber competition, and his play should improve.
