Getting to know draft pick Phillips
The Bulls traded into the second round of the NBA draft Thursday to select Julian Phillips with the No. 35 pick.
Get to know the Bulls’ latest draft pick before he arrives in Chicago to prepare for the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas next month.
1. Where did Julian Phillips play in college?
Phillips played one year at Tennessee before committing to the draft this spring. He averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists as the Volunteers went 25-11 in the regular season before making it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.
A native of Killeen, Texas, Phillips started his high school career in Blythewood, S.C., before transferring to Link Prep — a biblical preparatory academy in Branson, Mo., created in 2020 — as a senior. He played in the 2022 McDonald’s All-American Game as a senior, earning interest as a consensus fivestar recruit and a top-20 player in his class.
2. Why did the Bulls select Phillips?
Physicality and defense were the two defining traits that set Phillips apart for the Bulls front office. With a 6-foot-8 frame and a 7-foot wingspan, Phillips impressed at the draft combine with a 43-inch vertical — the highest among attendees — which pairs well with his high defensive motor.
“He’s one of the best athletes in the draft,” executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas said. “He can step in right now, probably can defend on our level. He has a lot of things to improve but we’re looking forward to it. He’s very young and very talented.”
General manager Marc Eversley noted that Phillips also will help to fill a gap in the roster left by forward Derrick Jones Jr., a similarly lengthy defensive specialist who declined his player option with the Bulls for next season.
3. Where can he improve?
Shooting will be the major point of focus for Phillips. Despite consistent 41.1% shooting from the field, Phillips shot only 23.9% from behind the arc in his one year with the Volunteers.
The Bulls have to improve their 3-point shooting after finishing last in the league in attempts (28.9) and makes (10.4) from 3-point range last season. The front office is doubling down in this area after hiring former Mavericks shooting coach Peter Patton as their director of player development — and Phillips will be a target for that improvement.
“When we both showed up here a few years ago, we talked a lot about player development and internal growth,” Eversley said. “We recently hired a new director of player development to focus just on that — shooting and being shot-ready and being ready to shoot the ball when you’re open. It’s something that’s very important to us. We’ll continue to work on it every single day.”
4. Did the Bulls try to trade higher in the draft?
The Bulls did not own a pick in the draft after ceding first- and second-rounders in a pair of trades and forfeiting another second-rounder because of a tampering violation in the acquisition of Lonzo Ball. Rather than miss out on their first draft since 2005, the Bulls traded into the second round in a deal with the Washington Wizards, which cost a pair of future second-rounders, according to Shams Charania.
Karnišovas said the Bulls did measure several trades to move into the first round, but the front office felt “no urgency” to move for a first rounder.
“We had some looks in the first, but we thought that the best value we could get was at the position that we acquired,” Karnišovas said. “It worked out very well.”
5. Will Phillips play regularly for the Bulls this season?
This is a key question for any recent draft pick on the Bulls roster. Ayo Dosunmu became a relief point guard after being selected in the second round in 2021, and other recent picks such as Coby White (2019) and Patrick Williams (2020) have moved in and out of the starting rotation. But 2022 first-rounder Dalen Terry averaged fewer than six minutes last season, while 2020 pick Marko Simonović has spent the bulk of his time with the Windy City Bulls.
Phillips’ length and athleticism could help him see the court quicker than Terry, but the Bulls still haven’t established a consistent pattern of integrating their draft picks into rotations.