The Chicago Bulls selected North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson with the No. 4 overall selection in the 2026 NBA Draft. Thanks to the Portland Trail Blazers' questionable Larry Nance Jr. trade, Chicago also had the No. 15 overall pick, where they selected Texas guard Dailyn Swain.
Two incredible athletes and reasonable value at each pick, but the concern lies in the overlap regarding their weaknesses: shooting. Wilson shot just 25.9 percent beyond the arc at North Carolina. Swain wasn't much better, connecting on 29.3 percent of his three-point attempts throughout his collegiate career.
The Bulls were a middle-of-the-pack shooting team last season, ranking 19th at 35.6 percent. Considering their two building blocks are Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, it's likely even more concerning than that statistic indicates.
Unfortunately, Portland is no stranger to floor spacing problems of its own. Essentially, every draft prospect they've invested in throughout this rebuild has been an average to below-average shooter.
Portland has continually ranked in the bottom five in three-point efficiency, ranking 28th last season at 34.3 percent. So why in the world were they third in attempts per game (42.2) behind only the Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets?
Tiago Splitter needs to adjust his coaching style to match his roster
Tiago Splitter exceeded expectations overall. As Matisse Thybulle said at his exit interview, Splitter was handed a grenade and made the most of an unprecedented situation following Chauncey Billups' federal incitements just one game into the season.
Portland entered the year with a 33.5-win projection yet made the postseason with 42 wins under Splitter. He deserves a ton of credit for getting this team back to the postseason and for earning a more permanent head coaching position after nailing his unexpected audition.
Multiple Blazers players even achieved respective breakouts. Deni Avdija with his first All-Star appearance, Donovan Clingan with a sophomore leap, and Shaedon Sharpe with the best statistical season of his career. Most importantly, that led to Splitter's reputation as a players' coach, with just about every player making a case for his return.
But both things can be true: Splitter earned a head coaching role with Chicago while still having more to prove.
It's fair to wonder how much of this internal development for Portland would've happened regardless, especially considering GM Joe Cronin made strategic offseason moves to give them increased roles. We would've been happy to have Splitter return to Portland, but we also feel somewhat indifferent about his departure -- especially after Micah Nori's recent hiring.
One significant sign of a good coach is their ability to adjust their system and scheme to play to the strengths of the roster they've been handed. Splitter had a one-size-fits-all approach, resulting in a poor shooting Blazers roster to launch among the most threes in the game. But as Splitter admitted, he's still a young and relatively inexperienced head coach, still growing himself. We saw him get significantly better as the season wore on.
Hopefully, he continues to grow and learn from those mistakes by finding an offensive system to better fit this Bulls roster. The good news is that this is an ideal rebuilding situation for Splitter to continue going through those growing pains. Chicago has finally embraced a long-overdue rebuilding timeline.
By the time they are ready for a deep playoff run, Splitter will be ready for the occasion, and in all likelihood, they'll be happy with their decision to steal him away from Portland.
Add us as a preferred source on Google