The Chicago Bulls revamped their roster this summer under new GM Bryson Graham and head coach Tiago Splitter. With the mandate to kickstart the new era of Bulls basketball, the front office built an exciting team with a lot of young players with upside.
Chicago's deep roster will squeeze some of the players lower on the totem pole. One of those players is the 21-year-old guard Rob Dillingham.
Rob Dillingham is already on thin ice after Chicago's offseason moves
Dillingham is entering a make-or-break third season in the league. After his tenure with the Timberwolves didn't go as planned, the former eighth-overall pick was traded to the Bulls at the deadline. He got an opportunity in Chicago down the stretch of last season, but wasn't particularly effective.
Now, he is facing an uphill battle for a role next season. Things got harder for Dillingham after the Bulls selected Dailyn Swain with the 15th-overall pick.
On paper, Swain is a shooting guard/small forward-sized player, and that was more the role he played in Xavier and Texas. It turns out, however, that the Bulls may be thinking of him more as a ballhandler and playmaker.
Swain said that he will be "on the ball quite a bit in Summer League and beyond," per team insider Will Gottlieb. Coming on the heels of Splitter's remarks about Swain, this is certainly noteworthy.
Splitter called Swain a great passer and a ballhandler for his size, praising his tight handles and his ability to create for others and get into the paint. He then added that Swain is "a guy that we can put at the point if we want," per the official Bulls account on X.
It certainly sounds like Swain will get some on-ball reps with the Bulls. Since Chicago is more focused on the future than the present, there is no reason why they wouldn't allow the rookie to explore the studio space.
This puts Dillingham in a difficult position. Josh Giddey is the surefire starter at point. Tre Jones is an established backup point guard who has proven himself more than Dillingham on both ends of the floor. As long as Giddey and Jones are both healthy, there is little room for Dillingham in the backcourt.
Sure, he can play next to another point guard as an off-ball threat, but he needs to get significantly better defensively for that to be sustainable. As an undersized guard who has been a defensive liability so far in his career, his fit with another point guard like Giddey and Jones is highly questionable.
There will be plenty of injuries during the long NBA season. Dillingham will get his chances. Unless he makes the most of them right away to start the season, it's difficult to see him rise in the depth chart.
| More Bulls News and Rumors |
Add us as a preferred source on Google