\u201cI expect to be Rookie of the Year,\u201d he said in a June press conference<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s the sort of confidence you want from a fourth overall draft selection and face of the franchise. For the 2026-2027 season, the biggest thing for Wilson will be health.<\/p>\n At the University of North Carolina, Wilson played only 24 games before being sidelined due to a broken hand and then a broken thumb injury<\/a> suffered during rehab. If he can stay on the court and progress his game this year, it would be a benchmark for success this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Norman Powell<\/p>\n Twelve-year-veteran wing Norman Powell joined the Chicago Bulls on a two year, $45 million deal<\/a> this offseason. While good value for the sharpshooter, it\u2019s a bit of a strange move, signing a 33-year-old veteran to a team with no aspirations of being good over the life of his contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a short-term stop gap though, it makes sense, as Powell brings some shooting \u2014 38% from three<\/a> last year on over seven attempts a game \u2014 and an \u201cold man at the rec\u201d skillset that differentiates him from his teammates in a complementary way.\u00a0<\/p>\n My biggest question for Powell this season is how long is he actually going to be a Bull? Powell seems like a player primed to score a lot of points on a young, wild Bulls team, and if he takes that role on, he surely will have plenty of trade suitors desiring the sharpshooting two-guard at the deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nicolas Claxton<\/p>\n In one of the more undernoticed deals of the offseason, center Nicolas Claxton was sent to Chicago<\/a> as part of the deal that sent Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 27-year-old joins the Bulls after having spent seven seasons on a Brooklyn Nets team that, for almost the entirety of his career, occupied the basement of the Eastern Conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sadly for Claxton, the Bulls probably won\u2019t fare much better in the coming season \u2014 but at least he isn\u2019t on the second most prominent NBA team in his city now.<\/p>\n All jokes aside, Claxton is the sort of gamble a young team like Chicago should invest in. He\u2019s youngish, a highly switchable center and decent shot blocker who comes with real offensive limitations as well as a motor and drive that wanes game-to-game.\u00a0<\/p>\n If nothing else, Claxton will certainly be an upgrade over the embarrassingly bad options Chicago trotted out at center to end last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tiago Splitter<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty wild the new head coach didn\u2019t crack the top three of the new additions in Chicago, but that goes to show just how impactful these three new players have the potential to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n I think Splitter\u2019s a phenomenal hire for the Chicago Bulls. After former Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups was found to be involved in a mafia-linked gambling investigation<\/a> just one game into the season \u2014 yes, that really did happen \u2014 Splitter took over as the Trail Blazers\u2019 interim head coach<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Splitter guided Portland to a seventh seed in the playoffs last year and elevated their franchise to their first playoff berth since 2021<\/a>. In any other circumstance, he probably gets brought back, but since team Governor Tom Dundon is possibly the cheapest billionaire alive<\/a>, that is not the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 41-year-old Splitter is a former seven-year NBA vet<\/a>, most notably with the San Antonio Spurs, and is the sort of hire that signals the start of a new era in Chicago. He\u2019s not the flashiest hire, but he\u2019s young and seems likely to succeed if his one year as an NBA head coach is any indication. Time will only tell if that proves true.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dailyn Swain<\/p>\n Dailyn Swain is the other young forward joining the Bulls this year after being selected<\/a> 15th overall this past draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n Swain took an interesting path to get to the NBA, spending two seasons at Xavier University before transferring to the University of Texas<\/a> and having a breakout third-year season, averaging 17.3 points per game<\/a> on an uber-efficient 54% from the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n Swain rose quickly in the pre-draft process and found himself selected at 15 before putting together what I\u2019d consider to be a full on catastrophe of a performance at the Summer League where he went just 3\/26 from the field.<\/a><\/p>\n Thankfully for Swain, he doesn\u2019t have to be good right away, as he\u2019ll be competing with forwards Leonard Miller, Noa Essengue and Patrick Williams for the minutes off the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n No matter how this season goes, Swain is an essential part of the Bulls young core moving forward, and I expect his development will be top of mind for Splitter this season.<\/p>\n This NBA season for the Chicago Bulls will be interesting, featuring a pair of vets, a couple exciting rookies and a brand new head coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n Will Nichols is a second year student majoring in multimedia journalism and minoring in psychology. He is the podcast manager for the Phoenix and host of The Byline, along with regularly contributing to the arts section as a movie reviewer. Hailing from Lenexa, Kansas, Will loves watching the latest movies with friends and is seen regularly at sporting events and museums throughout Chicago.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Maroon_Phoenix_logo.png\"){kind=logo}
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