The Caleb Wilson takeover for the Bulls has begun ... ready or not

BOSTON – Sometimes a takeover must be hostile.

Like when Jimmy Butler had to flex the alpha gene and grab the baton from Derrick Rose.

Sometimes, however, it’s just Darwinism – the natural order of things; survival of the fittest with no age requirement.

So when 20-year-old rookie Caleb Wilson speaks about “trying to find a balance because I want to be a good teammate, but I also want to win,” when it comes to taking over games, while it’s not the usual bravado from a player with six NBA games under his belt, the Bulls’ Caleb Wilson is proving to be far from usual.

That was again on display in Friday’s 125-111 loss to the Celtics in which Wilson and his teammates showed up lethargic and unfocused. By the time the wake-up call kicked in the second half, the deficit was too big.

That didn’t sit well with Wilson, who finished with 23 points, but came out of the halftime locker room with a more aggressive attitude.

“I always feel like I can be aggressive and take over a game but so I’m just going to do that from the jump,” he said afterwards.

Not all he said.

“I’m 20 and I’ve never been a loser in my whole life so I’m going to try my best to make sure that doesn’t happen, and I’m not ever going to accept being a loser,” Wilson said when asked of a second-half play in which he dove to the floor for a loose ball, didn’t get it, and immediately jumped to his feet to defend veteran Paul George. “This is my job to be a leader on this team and it’s all going to start with me, I know that. It’s partially my fault that we started off the way we did, whether I’m the youngest on the team or not. I take ownership for that and it won’t happen again.”

A young guy stepping out of bounds? In most NBA locker rooms, maybe. The Bulls aren’t most locker rooms, however.

It can’t be stated enough: This is a rebuild and rebuilds are painful. The front office is new and the coaching staff is new, so they don’t have allegiance to any player on this roster except one – Wilson. There’s a scenario that in three seasons Wilson could be the only current player still on the roster. Unlikely but not impossible.

Even if the North Carolina product wasn’t a natural leader and coming from a real place, there would be little resistance by the organization to silence him. Wilson is the future and the way it’s playing out lately he is already the present.

That was again on display in that third quarter against the Celtics when Wilson tried to will his teammates to be something better.

“I think his will to play well, to be effective was contagious,” coach Tiago Splitter said. “He took some shots in terms of tough shots, but he made those and he was just trying to be effective and aggressive, especially to start the third quarter.

“He’s a winner, he wants to win. He wants to do the right thing.”

That’s why no one around Wilson was confusing his confidence for cockiness. He knows how good he can be someday but is also aware of how good he’s been just a few weeks into his NBA career.

Even in talking about his defensive improvements, Wilson said, “They don’t ever go at me. Usually when it’s an iso on me I usually hold my own ground. Just need to work on being more attentive off the ball so people can’t get actions off the ball, but once I get that like I’ll be one of the best defenders in the NBA.”

The takeover has begun.