Bulls<\/a> from Derrick Rose.<\/p>\nSometimes, however, it\u2019s just the natural order of things, no matter the age.<\/p>\n
So when 20-year-old rookie Caleb Wilson speaks about \u2018\u2018trying to find a balance because I want to be a good teammate, but I also want to win\u2019\u2019 when it comes to taking over games, it\u2019s a bit out of the ordinary from a player with six NBA games under his belt.<\/p>\n
The Bulls showed up lethargic and unfocused in their 125-111 loss Friday to the Celtics. By the time the wake-up call kicked in for the second half, the deficit was too big to overcome.<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t sit well with Wilson, who finished with 23 points and came out of the locker room after halftime more aggressive.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I always feel like I can be aggressive and take over a game, so I\u2019m just going to do that from the jump,\u2019\u2019 he said afterward.<\/p>\n
And that wasn\u2019t all he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019m 20, and I\u2019ve never been a loser in my whole life,\u2019\u2019 Wilson said when he was asked about a play in which he dived to the floor for a loose ball, didn\u2019t get it and immediately jumped to his feet to defend the Celtics\u2019 Paul George. \u2018\u2018So I\u2019m going to try my best to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen, and I\u2019m not ever going to accept being a loser.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018This is my job to be a leader on this team, and it\u2019s all going to start with me. I know that. It\u2019s partially my fault that we started off the way we did, whether I\u2019m the youngest on the team or not. I take ownership for that, and it won\u2019t happen again.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
In most NBA locker rooms, that might sound like a young guy stepping out of bounds. But the Bulls don\u2019t have that sort of locker room.<\/p>\n
It can\u2019t be stated enough: This is a rebuild, and rebuilds are painful. The Bulls\u2019 front office and coaching staff are new, so they don\u2019t have an allegiance to any player except Wilson. There\u2019s a scenario in which Wilson might be the only player still on the roster in three years. It\u2019s unlikely, but it\u2019s not impossible.<\/p>\n
Even if Wilson wasn\u2019t a natural leader, the organization likely wouldn\u2019t look to silence him. Wilson is the future. And, the way things have played out lately, he is already the present.<\/p>\n
Wilson showed that in the third quarter against the Celtics when he tried to will his teammates to be better.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I think his will to play well, to be effective, was contagious,\u2019\u2019 coach Tiago Splitter said. \u2018\u2018He took some tough shots, but he made those. He was just trying to be effective and aggressive, especially to start the third quarter.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018He\u2019s a winner; he wants to win. He wants to do the right thing.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why no one around Wilson was confusing his confidence for cockiness. He knows how good he can be someday but is also aware of how good he has been just a few weeks into his NBA career.<\/p>\n
Even in talking about his defensive improvements, Wilson said: \u2018\u2018They don\u2019t ever go at me. When it\u2019s an iso on me, I usually hold my own ground. Just need to work on being more attentive off the ball so people can\u2019t get actions off the ball. But once I get that, I\u2019ll be one of the best defenders in the NBA.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The takeover has begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Sometimes, a takeover must be hostile. Such was the case when Jimmy Butler took control of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-949257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}