Is Jim Boylen hindering Wendell Carter Jr.’s growth offensively?
Wendell Carter Jr. is in his second season in the NBA however it seems as though he is still playing with the training wheels on.
This year, Carter Jr. has shown improvement in every category. Currently, Carter Jr. is averaging 11.9 points, 10 rebounds, and 54.3 field-goal percentage in 30.3 minutes a game compared to his 10.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 48.5 field-goal percentage in 25.2 minutes a game rookie averages. But all improvement isn’t good improvement.
The second year center from Duke is shooting approximately 6 percent higher in his field-goal percentage and is playing about five more minutes a game compared to last year. However, his scoring average only has increased by a little bit more than a point.
When you look deeper into this season, Carter Jr. only has a single 20-point game this season which came against the Pacers back in early November where he scored exactly 20 points as his season high. Last year, by Jan. 9, he already had three games where he scored 20 points or more and his season high last year was 28.
Despite playing five additional minutes a game, the most alarming stat is that Carter Jr. is averaging 8.4 shots a game, which is the exact amount of shots he averaged last season. With shooting a higher field-goal percentage one would expect more shooting opportunities but this is not the case and this needs to change.
Offensively, Carter Jr. is being held back by the offense ran by coach Jim Boylen. The Bulls rarely run set plays specifically for him. Whenever he gets the ball most of the time, he doesn’t even think about scoring or facing up towards the basket, and most of his turnovers come from him dropping the ball on lob passes where he takes his eyes off the ball because he is thinking about passing the ball before he even gets it.
Although Carter Jr. is averaging a double-double and having a good season for himself, his growth offensively is important for him to turn into one of the focal point players of this team in the future. The only way he can grow offensively is by getting more scoring opportunities through actively looking for his own shot.
Every time Carter Jr. hits an occasional 3-pointer, Boylen makes statements like, “When he’s faced up, he has his feet down on a catch-and-shoot, I’d like him to take those open shots”. However, the way he plays questions whether the coaches really trust him on offense. Carter Jr. should definitely be averaging between 11–13 shots per game and this Bulls coaching staff needs to invest in his growth.
When you look at a player such as Bam Adebayo, the 6-foot-9 center for the Miami Heat who is in the running for the 2020 all-star team, he is similar to Wendell Carter Jr. in size and stature. Adebayo has improved his offense tremendously compared to his second year with the Heat where he averaged 8.9 points and 7.3 rebounds a game, which is very similar to Carter Jr.’s first year in the NBA. Now, Adebayo averages 15.5 points and 10.7 rebounds a game while taking around 10.2 shots agame and playing 34.4 minutes a game.
I think Carter Jr. easily can average numbers similar to Adebayo if the Bulls trust him and put him in a position to succeed. Carter Jr. is improving at a good pace but his improvement can definitely get even better. The Bulls need more production from Carter Jr. on offense seeing that the team experiences many offensive droughts throughout the season.
At the end of the day, Carter Jr. does have to take it upon himself to be more selfish even though it’s not completely his fault, and it certainly doesn’t help seeing he suffered an ankle injury against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night that may possibly ruin his streak of 36 games as the starting center.
