The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.Mea culpa, CalebThe No. 4 pick looks like a starI want to make sure it’s clear. I wasn’t against Caleb Wilson at any point in the draft process. But I definitely didn’t take him as seriously as I should have. To the point that I questioned multiple times if Wilson should have been the No. 4 pick to the Chicago Bulls. I thought maybe they’d benefit more by grabbing one of the dynamic point guards from a loaded group.With the show he’s put on at Las Vegas Summer League, Wilson has proved he’s one of those elite guys. There is no denying it now. The 6-foot-10 forward from North Carolina has been electric, including his 35-point effort against No. 3 pick Cameron Boozer in his opening Vegas matchup. As you dig deeper into who he is, what he’s about and how he’s played, it’s so clear that Wilson is an incredible competitor.Kevin Garnett has already co-signed him and shown up to support Wilson. And while the numbers can be one thing in a summer league environment, it’s the energy that comes through like a punch in the face. (Sorry, Tyler Herro! Too soon.)In yesterday’s showdown between the Summer Bulls and the Summer Lakers, Wilson had a couple of massive plays. This first one was him hanging back in transition, catching a pass and then dunking all over Cameron Carr, the 24th pick in the draft:That probably wasn’t even the best highlight of this game. Wilson also had this massive block, after a turnover at half court. Adiou Thiero quickly took the ball the other way and went up for a shot at the rim. I have no idea if Thiero was going up for a dunk or a layup. Nobody knows. Because Wilson recovered so quickly and blocked the ball so hard out of Thiero’s hands that we never saw it get close to the rim.I need you to hear the noise that happens on the block. That doesn’t sound like a normal blocked shot would. It sounded like he slapped multiple basketballs as hard as he could. Or maybe it was even like a pronounced glottal-stop type of noise.Also, that dunk we saw above isn’t even his best dunk of the past week.In a game against the Summer Jazz, he drove right past Matt Cleveland and threw one down, literally, against Jonas Aidoo.Watch This: No. 4 overall pick Caleb Wilson posterizes defenderThe Bulls were right to take Wilson at No. 4. Not that many people were doubting that. Some of us stragglers just needed to watch a bit more of him. Not to mention, when Wilson was asked about other star rookies like AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson sitting out some summer league games, he said this:“I feel like I’m different than all of them. I can’t say they don’t enjoy basketball. But I enjoy basketball. I love this s—. I’m going to play as much as I can. As much as my team will let me. I’m not the type to go away from a game because I don’t feel like I feel good. As long as I don’t have an injury, I’m going to play every time. People come from all over the world to come see me play, so I don’t want to let them down too.”Hell yeah, Caleb.The last 24🤔 Still nothing? LeBron James did a live pod with the NBA awaiting his decision. He … said nothing.
The Bounce: I underestimated Bulls rookie Caleb Wilson
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