Bulls' offense won't change without Caleb Wilson

With one win in the Bulls’ first 10 games, fans were coming to grips with the idea that this season would be about Caleb Wilson’s development and his pursuit of the NBA Rookie of the Year award.

Both are on hold after Wilson, the fourth overall pick in the draft, had surgery Thursday for a broken right hand he suffered Wednesday against the Spurs. For at least a month, fans will have to put their focus on something else — and that won’t be easy on this team.

Wilson entered the game Friday against the Hawks as the Bulls’ second-leading scorer, averaging 18.9 points, just behind team leader Norman Powell (19.3). Among rookies, Wilson was third in scoring, first in steals per game (1.8) and second in blocked shots (0.9). He was among the early leaders for the top rookie honor.

“To see a guy that’s just come in, he’s played 10 games in the NBA, he’s playing really well and then to get injured like that, it sucks,” Josh Giddey said.

“He’s frustrated, just like all of us,” coach Tiago Splitter said.

Wilson has been unlucky with his hand health. At North Carolina, he broke his left hand in February, and after being cleared to work out, he broke his right thumb on a dunk in March. It’s widely believed that had Wilson not gotten hurt, he wouldn’t have fallen to the Bulls.

That’s one break that went the Bulls’ way. Splitter said he asked Wilson about his rash of hand injuries.

“It’s just bad luck, a freak injury,” Splitter said. “Just have to be patient.”

The Bulls hadn’t been so patient on the court with Wilson. They had been throwing a lot at him, and he had been responding with not just numbers but development. He also had been jelling with his teammates in Splitter’s uptempo offense.

Now that offense, which finally has been working as it's supposed to — better shooting certainly has helped — is without a key cog. But Splitter said he won’t change the offense, though others will have to make up for the team-high 16 shots Wilson took per game.

“Of course, we’re going to miss him, but it doesn’t change what we want to do,” Splitter said. “Everybody else is going to have more shots. I don’t expect just one guy to be more aggressive. Naturally, the game’s going to find the shots, and the players are going to take those shots. I’m not worried about that.”

“It’s a big hole to fill,” Giddey said. “He was very productive for us on both sides of the ball. I don’t think it’s as simple as just putting someone in to replace Caleb. It’s going to have to be by committee. It allows opportunities for other guys to come in and play a bigger role.”

Two of those players will be big men Nic Claxton and Jalen Smith, who Splitter said will see more time together now that Claxton is closer to playing normal minutes. He was restricted to about 16-20 minutes in his first two games back from a hamstring injury that cost him a month. Splitter said the team wants him to play about 20-24 minutes.

Fortunately for the Bulls, Powell returned from back spasms that kept him out of two games. The veteran guard entered the game averaging the second-most shots on the team with 13, though he had made only 40% of them, 70 points below his career average.

As for Wilson, Splitter said he’ll stay involved with the team, being at practice and watching video. Splitter said that was important for Wilson, as well as seeing the game from a different perspective. With a hand injury, he’ll be able to stay in shape, though not exactly game shape. Splitter had an idea interesting idea for Wilson.

“Maybe work on the left hook or something like that,” he said.