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The Chicago Bulls released their 2023 NBA Summer League roster last week.
Your 2023 Summer League Bulls 😎 pic.twitter.com/YwhXCyvl3v
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) June 30, 2023
From former college stars in UConn center Adama Sanogo to members of last year's Windy City Bulls squad, Summer League Head Coach John Bryant will have plenty of talent to call upon as Chicago plays through its Summer League schedule.
The 2022 roster went 4-1 behind a roster that featured center Marko Simonovic, former Illinois forward Malcolm Hill and guard Carlik Jones. They earned the same record as the Portland Trail Blazers and the Toronto Raptors while taking spots over the New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks and Washington Wizards.
Who are some prospects to look out for in the 2023 NBA Summer League?
Dalen Terry
Terry, the former No. 18 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, played in 38 games for Chicago last season. He averaged 2.2 points, one rebound and 0.6 assists per the 5.6 minutes he played per game. He scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished six assists in a February game against the Milwaukee Bucks, grabbing five boards on offense as Chicago fell in a 112-100 loss to Milwaukee.
After participating in last year's Summer League, having another chance to showcase his skills could allow him to shine and ultimately prove that he deserves more minutes off the Bulls bench.
Adama Sanogo
Sanogo, a former four-star recruit from Bamako, Mali, initially committed to UConn over offers from Arizona State, Creighton, Marquette, Maryland, Maryland, Nebraska, Oregon, Rutgers and Xavier, among others, according to 247Sports. He joined a 2020 Huskies recruiting class that featured now-Milwaukee Bucks guard Andre Jackson.
The 6-foot-9 center led the Huskies in points and rebounds per game last season. He showed significant improvement between his first and third seasons with UConn, jumping to 17.2 points and 7.7 rebounds this season after averaging 7.3 and 4.8 during the 2020-21 season.
Sanogo signed a two-way contract with Chicago last month. He and Wisconsin Herd center Jontay Porter could provide some much-needed size to the Bulls' Summer League roster. Sanogo's experience in the collegiate ranks could help him transition to professional play.
Julian Phillips
Phillips was selected with the No. 35 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Chicago traded second-rounders in 2026 and 2027 to choose the former 5-star recruit in last month's draft, adding a solid defender to a Bulls group that took seventh place in the NBA with 111.8 points allowed per game.
“Our group liked him,” Karnišovas said of Phillips, via NBC Sports. “He's an ex-McDonald's All-American. Freshman. 19 years old. Multi-positional defender. One of the best athletes in the draft. 43-inch vertical.
“He can step in right now and probably can defend on our level. He has a lot of things to obviously improve. We're looking forward to it. He's very young but he's very talented.”
Phillips's defense will pair nicely with Terry, whose defensive ability caught the eye of Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin in January.
“He had all the potential to get to the league. But not only to get to the league, to stay in the league,” Mathurin said, via NBC Sports. “It's only going to get better from here. I feel like opportunity will come his way because he's really good defensively. And defense can be a thing for any player to get minutes and trust from the coaching staff.”
Javon Freeman-Liberty
Freeman-Liberty, a Chicago-born guard and a former standout for Valparaiso and DePaul played in 35 games for the Windy City Bulls during the G League's regular season and its Winter Showcase. He earned 14.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game last season.
Freeman-Liberty can work well with his Windy City Bulls teammate in forward Henry Drell, who earned a roster spot on the team's 2022 run in the Summer League. The 6-foot-4 guard can add an extra scoring punch, a point Windy City head coach Henry Domercant highlighted in a January article.
“He's a rookie, and so his play continues to get better and better, and everyone knows he's a scorer; he was a scorer in college as well, but I think his athleticism, also his aggressiveness and his decisiveness,” Domercant said, via NBC Sports. “He really forces the issue to put pressure on teams.”
