Is Wendell Carter officially a bust?

[HouseOfLight]

This pretty much sums things up....

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/why-wendell-carter-jrs-lackluster-play-clouds-bulls-frontcourt-future

Terrible article by a laughable author. Only the most casual of marks would buy into anything penned in that piece. WCJ will be fine

[WindyCityBorn]

This pretty much sums things up....

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/why-wendell-carter-jrs-lackluster-play-clouds-bulls-frontcourt-future

Terrible article by a laughable author. Only the most casual of marks would buy into anything penned in that piece. WCJ will be fine

Fine as a backup. He sucks as a starter and needs to be replaced if we are serious about winning next season. He brings nothing to table. No offense and average at best defense.

[kodo]

This pretty much sums things up....

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/why-wendell-carter-jrs-lackluster-play-clouds-bulls-frontcourt-future

Terrible article by a laughable author. Only the most casual of marks would buy into anything penned in that piece. WCJ will be fine

KC Johnson has been the most reliable source for direct quotes from the team & org for many years. The org can lie to the public, but KC generally reports straight from the Bull's mouth, whether you believe them or not.

This piece is no different, he's writing direct quotes from Wendell, Donovan, Zach Lavine. Wendell is pretty critical of his own play, so I don't see how anyone can argue with Wendell himself on how he's playing.

It was good to read that Zach and the rest of the team are still 100% behind Wendell. Win or lose, the team looks it has a good locker room this year.

[HouseOfLight]

WCJ will be just fine. He got dealt a rough hand, but once he regains his health & strength, he’s going to be back on track. He’s clearly still hurting out there, you can see him grimacing & he was unable to work out/condition properly due to the injuries. It’s Not easy to learn the NBA C position while attempting to recover from injuries & get back into shape in the process. He’s got a bunch of qualities that are unteachable & that he will be able to implement once he gets back to peak physical form. He makes the right plays out there but he’s just out of shape & a bit lethargic due to the injury recovery

The one thing I’d be concerned about with Wendell is his ability to be coached & his overall attitude. There have been several red flags regarding his ‘tude, but the one that stuck out recently was a quote he made about Donovan. He said something along the lines of: “BD is willing to admit he doesn’t know everything”. I dunno, just sort of came off as subtly disrespectful, like when he made the antagonistic statement re: wanting to start at PF, and then it was revealed that he actually did have heat with Markkanen behind the scenes

But as far as his potential goes, He still has an Al Horford-meets-Antonio Davis type ceiling, he just needs to focus on staying healthy & building his body back up

None of these guys are getting traded until at *least* this off season. AK is going to give all of the Paxson players ample time to redeem themselves & hopefully find success in Chicago. Most of these people got dragged unwillingly into the hostile, mega toxic cesspit that was the Jerry/Paxson/Forman nightmare, and they were forced to play under/take orders from one of the worst coaches in NBA history.

Playing under the previous regime unnecessarily hurt their individual stocks, brands, and overall livelihoods. Tossing them to the curb like damaged goods would be a really bad move as far as talent relations are concerned, and AK knows that. It looks admirable to the rest of the league if he says “hey, you know what, it isn’t your fault that you had to endure that over the past few years. We’re going to allot you ample time to learn properly in a healthy environment, and to replenish your collective stocks”

Of course winning will be important in the long run, but Chicago has so many more crucial things to repair. Michael, Arturas, & Marc are attempting to undo 20+ years of one of the worst front offices & most toxic environments in all of professional sports. That starts & ends with gaining the respect & admiration of players, something that Jerry/Paxson/Forman went out of their way to NOT do, which is what buried the entire franchise

I’m not saying some of these players won’t get moved, but I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon

[HouseOfLight]

This pretty much sums things up....

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/why-wendell-carter-jrs-lackluster-play-clouds-bulls-frontcourt-future

Terrible article by a laughable author. Only the most casual of marks would buy into anything penned in that piece. WCJ will be fine

KC Johnson has been the most reliable source for direct quotes from the team & org for many years. The org can lie to the public, but KC generally reports straight from the Bull's mouth, whether you believe them or not.

This piece is no different, he's writing direct quotes from Wendell, Donovan, Zach Lavine. Wendell is pretty critical of his own play, so I don't see how anyone can argue with Wendell himself on how he's playing.

It was good to read that Zach and the rest of the team are still 100% behind Wendell. Win or lose, the team looks it has a good locker room this year.

Johnson having reliable sources.....somehow makes him a good author? Okay...

His articles are typical doom-n-gloom nonsense. What is WCJ supposed to say? He’s been playing poorly....and he acknowledges that he’s played poorly. That isn’t news nor a revelation, it’s identifying the obvious

Implying that WCJs future is “clouded” because he’s a 21 year old who’s attempting to learn one of the hardest roles in pro sports while recovering from injuries that prevented him from practicing & working out is absolutely laughable, and it isn’t “summing anything up”, as the user above implied. Pretty standard injury recovery funk that almost every single athlete on the planet endures, lol. WCJ is going to be fine

Seriously, *21 YEARS OLD* while simultaneously trying to learn to start @ C and deal with the fallout of injuries...after being “coached” by Jim Boylan & Fred Hoiberg for two years straight. Get real, guys

[WindyCityBorn]

WCJ will be just fine. He got dealt a rough hand, but once he regains his health & strength, he’s going to be back on track. He’s clearly still hurting out there, you can see him grimacing & he was unable to work out/condition properly due to the injuries. It’s Not easy to learn the NBA C position while attempting to recover from injuries & get back into shape in the process. He’s got a bunch of qualities that are unteachable & that he will be able to implement once he gets back to peak physical form. He makes the right plays out there but he’s just out of shape & a bit lethargic due to the injury recovery

The one thing I’d be concerned about with Wendell is his ability to be coached & his overall attitude. There have been several red flags regarding his ‘tude, but the one that stuck out recently was a quote he made about Donovan. He said something along the lines of: “BD is willing to admit he doesn’t know everything”. I dunno, just sort of came off as subtly disrespectful, like when he made the antagonistic statement re: wanting to start at PF, and then it was revealed that he actually did have heat with Markkanen behind the scenes

But as far as his potential goes, He still has an Al Horford-meets-Antonio Davis type ceiling, he just needs to focus on staying healthy & building his body back up

None of these guys are getting traded until at *least* this off season. AK is going to give all of the Paxson players ample time to redeem themselves & hopefully find success in Chicago. Most of these people got dragged unwillingly into the hostile, mega toxic cesspit that was the Jerry/Paxson/Forman nightmare, and they were forced to play under/take orders from one of the worst coaches in NBA history.

Playing under the previous regime unnecessarily hurt their individual stocks, brands, and overall livelihoods. Tossing them to the curb like damaged goods would be a really bad move as far as talent relations are concerned, and AK knows that. It looks admirable to the rest of the league if he says “hey, you know what, it isn’t your fault that you had to endure that over the past few years. We’re going to allot you ample time to learn properly in a healthy environment, and to replenish your collective stocks”

Of course winning will be important in the long run, but Chicago has so many more crucial things to repair. Michael, Arturas, & Marc are attempting to undo 20+ years of one of the worst front offices & most toxic environments in all of professional sports. That starts & ends with gaining the respect & admiration of players, something that Jerry/Paxson/Forman went out of their way to NOT do, which is what buried the entire franchise

I’m not saying some of these players won’t get moved, but I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon

It’s pure delusion at this point to think Carter has any hope of being half of what Horford was. I see no high level offensive skill.

[Kukoc-Lauri]

WCJ will be just fine. He got dealt a rough hand, but once he regains his health & strength, he’s going to be back on track. He’s clearly still hurting out there, you can see him grimacing & he was unable to work out/condition properly due to the injuries. It’s Not easy to learn the NBA C position while attempting to recover from injuries & get back into shape in the process. He’s got a bunch of qualities that are unteachable & that he will be able to implement once he gets back to peak physical form. He makes the right plays out there but he’s just out of shape & a bit lethargic due to the injury recovery

The one thing I’d be concerned about with Wendell is his ability to be coached & his overall attitude. There have been several red flags regarding his ‘tude, but the one that stuck out recently was a quote he made about Donovan. He said something along the lines of: “BD is willing to admit he doesn’t know everything”. I dunno, just sort of came off as subtly disrespectful, like when he made the antagonistic statement re: wanting to start at PF, and then it was revealed that he actually did have heat with Markkanen behind the scenes

But as far as his potential goes, He still has an Al Horford-meets-Antonio Davis type ceiling, he just needs to focus on staying healthy & building his body back up

None of these guys are getting traded until at *least* this off season. AK is going to give all of the Paxson players ample time to redeem themselves & hopefully find success in Chicago. Most of these people got dragged unwillingly into the hostile, mega toxic cesspit that was the Jerry/Paxson/Forman nightmare, and they were forced to play under/take orders from one of the worst coaches in NBA history.

Playing under the previous regime unnecessarily hurt their individual stocks, brands, and overall livelihoods. Tossing them to the curb like damaged goods would be a really bad move as far as talent relations are concerned, and AK knows that. It looks admirable to the rest of the league if he says “hey, you know what, it isn’t your fault that you had to endure that over the past few years. We’re going to allot you ample time to learn properly in a healthy environment, and to replenish your collective stocks”

Of course winning will be important in the long run, but Chicago has so many more crucial things to repair. Michael, Arturas, & Marc are attempting to undo 20+ years of one of the worst front offices & most toxic environments in all of professional sports. That starts & ends with gaining the respect & admiration of players, something that Jerry/Paxson/Forman went out of their way to NOT do, which is what buried the entire franchise

I’m not saying some of these players won’t get moved, but I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon

It’s pure delusion at this point to think Carter has any hope of being half of what Horford was. I see no high level offensive skill.

Maybe he have some skills similar what Horford had if he fullfill his potential to the max down the road but Antonio Davis had ten times better body and athleticism in comparison to WCJ. Carter body is like Barkleys in his last seasons with Rockets

[GoBlue72391]

Definitely not a bust. More like a serviceable role player, which is good for the slot he was drafted.

Wendell is the classic “not enough player”

Not enough athleticism, not enough height, and not enough quickness. What he has is intangibles and a decent IQ which will make him serviceable at best. He will still have a 10 year career in this league. He’d be a bust if he was selected in the top 5. But if you were looking for a franchise big at the 7th pick then you were setting your expectations way to high.

As of now, WCJ projects to be a decent bench big. That is not good value for a 7th overall pick.

I don't think anyone was expecting him to be a franchise big man, just a good, solid starter.

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[ZOMG]

Terrible article by a laughable author. Only the most casual of marks would buy into anything penned in that piece. WCJ will be fine

KC Johnson has been the most reliable source for direct quotes from the team & org for many years. The org can lie to the public, but KC generally reports straight from the Bull's mouth, whether you believe them or not.

This piece is no different, he's writing direct quotes from Wendell, Donovan, Zach Lavine. Wendell is pretty critical of his own play, so I don't see how anyone can argue with Wendell himself on how he's playing.

It was good to read that Zach and the rest of the team are still 100% behind Wendell. Win or lose, the team looks it has a good locker room this year.

Johnson having reliable sources.....somehow makes him a good author? Okay...

His articles are typical doom-n-gloom nonsense. What is WCJ supposed to say? He’s been playing poorly....and he acknowledges that he’s played poorly. That isn’t news nor a revelation, it’s identifying the obvious

Implying that WCJs future is “clouded” because he’s a 21 year old who’s attempting to learn one of the hardest roles in pro sports while recovering from injuries that prevented him from practicing & working out is absolutely laughable, and it isn’t “summing anything up”, as the user above implied. Pretty standard injury recovery funk that almost every single athlete on the planet endures, lol. WCJ is going to be fine

Seriously, *21 YEARS OLD* while simultaneously trying to learn to start @ C and deal with the fallout of injuries...after being “coached” by Jim Boylan & Fred Hoiberg for two years straight. Get real, guys

He'll be 22 next month. Not that it matters much, but I just see people constantly talking about him like he's some teenager.

[mack2354]

I love WCJ, I really do but he's undersized and his confidence is shot. If we care about the playoffs, keeping Zach happy, Coby, PWill, and Lauri's development then we need to get Drummond here. Actually any veteran Center will do. Find a Garrett Temple of 7 footers and bring them on.

OPJ has been great for us in the past when healthy. If he gets back into form I could see him starting in the rookie's place and really improving that unit.

When I ask myself if Drummond is the bigger upgrade over WCJ or is OPJ the bigger upgrade over the rook I think the center position is our biggest need.

I'd keep WCJ long term. He's still young and can evolve to the Al Horford clone we expected of him. I just don't want him sabotaging the starting lineup for the next 3 years waiting for that day to come.

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[chefo]

The whole Al Horford comparison never made sense to me, going to before the draft.

I'm not sure who came up with it, but in college, they played nothing alike. Al's one and primary selling point coming out of college was that he was an absolute athletic beast in being able to stay with people on the outside on switches, while being strong enough to handle most bigs. Same was true for Jo, but Al was also thought to have a non-broken jumper. If you watched the Gators play that final championship year, they were an absolute terror on D to score against if you were a G or F. With Brewer, Jo and Al playing big minutes and you couldn't drive on any of them, or shoot over them. Most teams couldn't crack 60 against them... and when they were dialed in (and not hung over), they just destroyed people with their defense.

When I watched the Allen, Bagley, WCJ Blue Devils, a defensive juggernaut is about the last thing that came to my mind. I wouldn't call them porous, they were a decent team, but I didn't think them a Syracuse or Villanova, or something--they overwhelmed teams with Bagley, Allen and Trent scoring.

Furthermore, WCJ never stood out that much to me that I can remember. Bagley was all over the place and the star of that team. WCJ was a good cog player, but he kind of sucked in the tourney and I was really surprised that he was talked as a first round pick, let alone a consensus high lottery talent. I think in our pre-draft threads, I wrote as much. I thought that was much more great PR from whomever his family hired to market him, than him actually being a dominant college big... because he wasn't.

Now, WCJ was much younger than Al, but I literally saw nothing alike in their games. Al was much more slender and a vastly better athlete--and he played PF at FL. The Hawks repurposed him into a C because they had nothing better at the spot and him and Josh Smith were both athletic enough for them to get away with it most of the time.

Also, by his sophomore year, Al was already a very good player on a good team, and after, he was one of the best players on a pretty good to excellent Hawks teams. So, he was an impactful player from very early on. WCJ is three years in, and the best he's ever looked so far has been adequate, but nothing special, on a really bad team. I get that he's been unlucky to get stuck with Jimbo and Fred, but still, he's been given a ton of reps with the ball in his hands, both as a rook and this year. He's been unable to do much, despite in essence being force fed opportunities his first and 3rd year here.

At his lows, he's been almost unplayable bad this year--you can't have 5-6 game stretches where you average like 6&6 as a starter while your matchup is pretty much having a career night every game.

I see the Horford comparison even less than I did three years ago. I mean, they're almost like polar opposites--Al was a GREAT lateral athlete and a decent vertical athlete who saw the game extremely well--hence his high assists numbers. He was a prolific mid-range shooter who never hesitated to let it fly pretty much his entire career. He had great hands and could catch almost anything his guards threw near him. Does that description read ANYTHING like WCJ?

Old man Al is better than him at pretty much everything and he is about ready to hang them up after his deal is up.

Just apples and oranges.

[kodo]

Al Horford is a fair comp, Horford's career offensive output was 13 ppg. Wendell is averaging 11 at 26 mpg, if he was playing 30+ like Al did he'd probably be right there. Both were thick, good rebounders. Al didn't develop a lot of his value til much later in his career, he was mainly a rebounder til then.

I always said the Al Horford comparisons are exactly why we wouldn't want him, because Al didn't really become valuable til well after his rookie contract. I can also see Wendell being a solid NBA vet 8 years from now.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

I never liked the Horford comp because of the athleticism gap. Florida Horford had speed and vertical burst. Go back and watch Wendell’s Duke tape and find instances of him attacking close-outs. I remember looking pre-draft and maybe finding one.

Comparing big prospects based on productivity is a trap. Too many guys are capable of putting up numbers in the right situation.

[ZOMG]

If you watched Wendell at Duke, you saw that he was a typical fake NCAA big man. At 6'9'' and a LOT lighter than he's now, he had enough size and quickness to bully the future accountants and gym teachers he faced back then in the low post. I'm sure GarPax had some concerns about his size translating in the NBA, but they fell into the trap of thinking Carter was a good 3pt shooter even though his volume was minuscule and he happened to have an outlier shooting season anyway.

[sco]

If you watched Wendell at Duke, you saw that he was a typical fake NCAA big man. At 6'9'' and a LOT lighter than he's now, he had enough size and quickness to bully the future accountants and gym teachers he faced back then in the low post. I'm sure GarPax had some concerns about his size translating in the NBA, but they fell into the trap of thinking Carter was a good 3pt shooter even though his volume was minuscule and he happened to have an outlier shooting season anyway.

I think that, Carter, like Lauri both flashed a lot of promise as rookies with good quickness and bounce, and the Bulls org either encouraged them (or didn't discourage them) to bulk up. In Carter's case, he had very good close-out speed and shot blocking, that seemed to go away when he bulked up.

[VolumePoster]

WCJ will be just fine. He got dealt a rough hand, but once he regains his health & strength, he’s going to be back on track. He’s clearly still hurting out there, you can see him grimacing & he was unable to work out/condition properly due to the injuries. It’s Not easy to learn the NBA C position while attempting to recover from injuries & get back into shape in the process. He’s got a bunch of qualities that are unteachable & that he will be able to implement once he gets back to peak physical form. He makes the right plays out there but he’s just out of shape & a bit lethargic due to the injury recovery

The one thing I’d be concerned about with Wendell is his ability to be coached & his overall attitude. There have been several red flags regarding his ‘tude, but the one that stuck out recently was a quote he made about Donovan. He said something along the lines of: “BD is willing to admit he doesn’t know everything”. I dunno, just sort of came off as subtly disrespectful, like when he made the antagonistic statement re: wanting to start at PF, and then it was revealed that he actually did have heat with Markkanen behind the scenes

But as far as his potential goes, He still has an Al Horford-meets-Antonio Davis type ceiling, he just needs to focus on staying healthy & building his body back up

None of these guys are getting traded until at *least* this off season. AK is going to give all of the Paxson players ample time to redeem themselves & hopefully find success in Chicago. Most of these people got dragged unwillingly into the hostile, mega toxic cesspit that was the Jerry/Paxson/Forman nightmare, and they were forced to play under/take orders from one of the worst coaches in NBA history.

Playing under the previous regime unnecessarily hurt their individual stocks, brands, and overall livelihoods. Tossing them to the curb like damaged goods would be a really bad move as far as talent relations are concerned, and AK knows that. It looks admirable to the rest of the league if he says “hey, you know what, it isn’t your fault that you had to endure that over the past few years. We’re going to allot you ample time to learn properly in a healthy environment, and to replenish your collective stocks”

Of course winning will be important in the long run, but Chicago has so many more crucial things to repair. Michael, Arturas, & Marc are attempting to undo 20+ years of one of the worst front offices & most toxic environments in all of professional sports. That starts & ends with gaining the respect & admiration of players, something that Jerry/Paxson/Forman went out of their way to NOT do, which is what buried the entire franchise

I’m not saying some of these players won’t get moved, but I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon

It’s pure delusion at this point to think Carter has any hope of being half of what Horford was. I see no high level offensive skill.

He doesn’t have similar skills. He has similar limitations. It’s one of the most common errors in player comparison that I see.

[chefo]

WCJ will be just fine. He got dealt a rough hand, but once he regains his health & strength, he’s going to be back on track. He’s clearly still hurting out there, you can see him grimacing & he was unable to work out/condition properly due to the injuries. It’s Not easy to learn the NBA C position while attempting to recover from injuries & get back into shape in the process. He’s got a bunch of qualities that are unteachable & that he will be able to implement once he gets back to peak physical form. He makes the right plays out there but he’s just out of shape & a bit lethargic due to the injury recovery

The one thing I’d be concerned about with Wendell is his ability to be coached & his overall attitude. There have been several red flags regarding his ‘tude, but the one that stuck out recently was a quote he made about Donovan. He said something along the lines of: “BD is willing to admit he doesn’t know everything”. I dunno, just sort of came off as subtly disrespectful, like when he made the antagonistic statement re: wanting to start at PF, and then it was revealed that he actually did have heat with Markkanen behind the scenes

But as far as his potential goes, He still has an Al Horford-meets-Antonio Davis type ceiling, he just needs to focus on staying healthy & building his body back up

None of these guys are getting traded until at *least* this off season. AK is going to give all of the Paxson players ample time to redeem themselves & hopefully find success in Chicago. Most of these people got dragged unwillingly into the hostile, mega toxic cesspit that was the Jerry/Paxson/Forman nightmare, and they were forced to play under/take orders from one of the worst coaches in NBA history.

Playing under the previous regime unnecessarily hurt their individual stocks, brands, and overall livelihoods. Tossing them to the curb like damaged goods would be a really bad move as far as talent relations are concerned, and AK knows that. It looks admirable to the rest of the league if he says “hey, you know what, it isn’t your fault that you had to endure that over the past few years. We’re going to allot you ample time to learn properly in a healthy environment, and to replenish your collective stocks”

Of course winning will be important in the long run, but Chicago has so many more crucial things to repair. Michael, Arturas, & Marc are attempting to undo 20+ years of one of the worst front offices & most toxic environments in all of professional sports. That starts & ends with gaining the respect & admiration of players, something that Jerry/Paxson/Forman went out of their way to NOT do, which is what buried the entire franchise

I’m not saying some of these players won’t get moved, but I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon

It’s pure delusion at this point to think Carter has any hope of being half of what Horford was. I see no high level offensive skill.

He doesn’t have similar skills. He has similar limitations. It’s one of the most common errors in player comparison that I see.

Spot on. Just because Al was undersized for a C, but managed to get away with it, doesn't mean everybody else can.

BTW, the Hawks were criticized for playing him at C for the first half of his career there because he was considered too small and frail to be a full-time C. People legit wanted Josh Smith gone so that Al can play PF full-time. He was a good rebounder, however, and an excellent team defender so the Hawks didn't care much about people thought.

[basketballRob]

Carter looks like he does not want to be here? Just trade him so he can play his desired position....Gar pax created this twice Portis/Niko now Carter/Lauri

What's his desired position?

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[ZOMG]

Carter looks like he does not want to be here? Just trade him so he can play his desired position....Gar pax created this twice Portis/Niko now Carter/Lauri

What's his desired position?

Back at Duke, where his parents keps Coach K in line

[basketballRob]

Carter looks like he does not want to be here? Just trade him so he can play his desired position....Gar pax created this twice Portis/Niko now Carter/Lauri

What's his desired position?

Back at Duke, where his parents keps Coach K in line

Would he rather play PF than center?

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