Four Plays that Stand Out from the Bulls Summer League win over Dallas

LAS VEGAS — The (Summer) Bulls are back!

The Bulls came out with a bang in their first Summer League game in Las Vegas. After digging a 14-point halftime deficit, the Bulls clawed their way into the game, forcing overtime and eventually pulling out the victory 100-99.

Marko Simonovic, who led the way with 27 points and 13 rebounds, scored the bucket that forced overtime, and won the game with a free throw right before the buzzer. Dalen Terry had a rounded nine points, five rebounds and six assists.

Summer League is for fun and overreacting, but let’s try to focus on the process rather than the results. It’s awesome to see Simonovic put up these gaudy numbers, but was his performance scaleable? What can we really take away from Terry’s offense when he only took seven shots?

When I watch these games, I want to see the tendencies of players and the little things they do, or don’t do, on the court and how that might project to the regular NBA season.

Here are four little things that stood out from Vegas Summer League Game 1.

Marko SimonoVP

This was the play of the game and it was not particularly close.

Malcolm Hill gets the stop, Carlik Jones gets out in transition and Marko Simonovic ties the game with a monster dunk before flexing his muscles in Arturas Karnisovas, Mark Eversley and Billy Donovan’s faces.

Marko Simonović flexed his muscles right in front of the Bulls’ brass after a late bucket. Message? He says no. Dalen Terry says yes. pic.twitter.com/inLhkpnIeV

— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) July 8, 2022

The highlight finish is awesome. No doubt. But I like to see Simonovic playing with certainty, moving well, finishing above the rim and showing some emotion. This play was the exclamation point on an incredible game for him.

Justin Lewis the stopper

Flying a bit under-the-radar is two-way wing Justin Lewis, who the Bulls just signed as a free agent out of Marquette. The 6-foot-7 forward is the perfect size and has the perfect skillset to be an impactful role player with the Bulls in the near future. He has some work to do, to be sure, but he had a defensive stand against a noted bucket-getter Jaden Hardy midway through the second quarter.

This gets no box score credit. In fact, the Mavs ended up with a three-pointer on the play. But the ability to stay with the ball over the dribble-handoff, move his feet well enough to cut off the drive and then contest without fouling to force a kick out was the greenest of green flags.

Dalen Terry’s biggest area for improvement

I was super high on Terry coming out of the draft because he does so many things well. That includes passing, defense and basketball IQ. One area I want to see improvement from him more than anything else is his handle, as it will unlock all of the playmaking.

I’m cheating here a bit and putting two clips together. Both offensive fouls where Terry couldn’t create an advantage off-the-dribble, so he put his shoulder into the defender’s chest and got whistled for an offensive foul.

Dribble, pass, shoot are the three most important offensive skills in the game, and having an elite handle can elevate the other two. Terry struggled to go left in this game and wasn’t able to get downhill without any shake. If he can put together a deeper bag of moves, he’ll be able to create those advantage situations at a much higher rate, and show off his incredible passing.

Dalen Terry’s biggest strength

Terry is truly a special passer. Cheating again here with a clip of three assists. All flashy, timely and dimely.

These plays speak to Terry’s understanding of the game. His accuracy is really impressive. He’s passing these guys into open shots. That’s an incredibly valuable skill to have as a connective player on the roster.

The Summer League experiment is always interesting for guys like Terry, who are not necessarily true number one offensive engines, but have parts of that in their game. These passes are exactly why he’ll need to improve his handle and add strength to beat guys off the dribble, draw help to where he can put this passing on display.