Bykov forward Leonard Miller has been outstanding during the preseason and appears to be ahead Noah Esseng and Patrick Williams the new head coach Tiago Splitterrotation, writes Joe Cawley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
The 33rd overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller hasn’t played much during his two-and-a-half seasons in Minnesota, but he’s been a regular in the rotation Billy Donovan at the end of last season after being traded to Chicago in the lineup Ayo Dosunmu right. In four preseason contests, the 6’10” Canadian averaged 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals in 19.4 minutes per game on a .651/.600/.714 shooting percentage.
How Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune observes Miller and Jalen Smith played a bigger-than-expected role during the preseason amid injuries to centers Nick Claxton and Zach Collins and forward Isaac Okora and Tobe is at home. Smith appears poised to open the regular season as the starting center, with Miller serving as his primary backup in Wednesday’s lopsided win over Milwaukee.
Miller is in the final year of his rookie contract, which pays him $2.4 million this season. Smith is also out of contract, making $9.4 million in 2026-27 ahead of free agency next summer.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- According to CowleySplitter suggested recently that Smith will likely get minutes even if Claxton (hamstring) and Collins (quad) are healthy enough to return. The 26-year-old big man, entering his seventh season in the league, is valued for his ability to get down the floor — Smith has made 36.7 percent of his three-point attempts over the past three seasons — and opposing defenses see him as a shooter who creates lanes for his teammates. “What I see from (Smith) is a guy who can stretch the floor” said Splitter. “Having a top five that can stretch the floor and create space is tremendous, so you have to try to use that as an advantage and we go from there.”
- After missing most of his rookie season with a shoulder injury, Splitter benched Esengo during Summer League play for not playing with the necessary physicality and effort. The young French forward has focused on these areas during pre-season and Splitter has been largely pleased with his efforts, – writes Cowley. For his part, Eseng says he welcomes the opportunity to fight for playing time. “I am a competitor; I love to compete for everything, on the court, off the court, I love to compete” – said Eseng. “Yeah, I was a first-round pick, (Williams) was No. 4 (overall in 2020), Lenny’s in the last year of his contract, so we’re all playing for something.”
- Splitter and backup point guard Three Joneses are optimistic about Chicago’s depth and bench entering the season, trans Cowley. “I think our second unit can be very good” Jones said. “If we want to be really good as a team, our second unit has to be just as good and hold that standard. The energy that the second unit brings will be key for us. We’re really selfless in this group, we share the ball. We really don’t care who scores as long as we score as a unit that’s all that matters. We are trying to build our defense. We have length and athleticism, so try to use that to our advantage and make stops, feed off of that.”
