Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan said rookie Noa Essengue will be assigned to the G League to practice and play games with the Windy City Bulls, starting on Saturday.
Essengue has yet to appear in a game for the Bulls as the group has raced out to its first 5-0 start since the 1996-97 season (12-0). The team has utilized a 9-10 man rotation for much of the early going, leaving Essengue and others out of the fold.
With Windy City convening this past week for training camp, Essengue will join the team ahead of its season opener on Friday. Donovan said the team will evaluate him monthly to determine if he is hitting certain benchmarks set by the coaching staff.
“We feel like we have got to get him some playing time, some practice time,” Donovan said, via Zachary Draves of ClutchPoints. “We have not been able to with the way the schedule has been set up, where we have been able to necessarily practice a lot, so a lot of it is film and walkthrough. I think, early on in the year, it is good that he has got to see that stuff but that is not the best thing. Part of it is OK for him, but that is probably not the best thing.”
Essengue was the 12th pick in the draft after averaging 10.7 points, five rebounds and 1.2 assists on 52.1% shooting from the field with ratiopharm Ulm in the German League. He registered seven 20-point games, including a 22-point, 14-rebound performance on June 1.
The 18-year-old logged five appearances with the Bulls in the preseason, averaging 3.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and one assist on 33.3% shooting from the field. He had his most productive outing on Oct. 7 with eight points and five rebounds.
Essengue was highly touted in the draft because of his size, rebounding and defensive versatility. The team outlined a specific development plan after selecting him and will be carefully monitoring him throughout his upcoming stint with Windy City.