{"id":723610,"date":"2026-06-24T18:33:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T18:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/723610\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T18:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T18:33:34","slug":"nba-draft-chicago-bulls-select-dailyn-swain-at-no-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/723610\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA draft: Chicago Bulls select Dailyn Swain at No. 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bulls are sticking to their system.<\/p>\n

After selecting North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson with the No. 4 pick<\/a> in Tuesday\u2019s NBA draft, the Bulls pivoted to focus on their backcourt by selecting Dailyn Swain at No. 15. At 6-foot-8, the former Texas wing looks similar to other recent selections by the Bulls \u2014 a lengthy athlete who loves to carve a path from the perimeter to the rim.<\/p>\n

Swain fits the SLAP moniker \u2014 which stands for \u201csize, length, athleticism and physicality\u201d \u2014 preferred by the new Bulls front office<\/a> led by executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham. He gives the roster another lengthy, defensive-minded option alongside Wilson, Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue.<\/p>\n

But Swain differs from those new teammates as a self-described \u201cbig guard\u201d who will work to connect the Bulls offensively as both a passer and cutter.<\/p>\n

Even on draft night, Swain felt he understood the identity necessary to fit into the mold the Bulls are seeking.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefensive versatility, transition, making the right plays, being a connective player \u2014 I see myself doing that from Day 1 and developing into whatever the team needs from me,\u201d Swain said.<\/p>\n

Swain averaged 17.3 points and 7.5 rebounds for Texas last season after playing his first two seasons of college basketball at Xavier. He turns 21 next month, making him one of the older first-round selections the Bulls have made in the last decade.<\/p>\n

Swain joins Wilson in the first year of a rebuild under Graham and new coach Tiago Splitter<\/a>. After watching Wilson at North Carolina, Swain is eager to pair up with his new teammate.<\/p>\n

Before the draft, Swain said he watched a highlight reel of Wilson\u2019s best dunks for the Tar Heels. The video lasted more than five minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the longest thing I\u2019ve watched,\u201d Swain said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Swain already knows how he hopes to complement Wilson: finding him off the bounce and pushing the pace in transition. He also knows he will be expected to operate off the ball in conjunction with point guard Josh Giddey to create much-needed offensive pressure through cutting and motion.<\/p>\n

But for now, Swain\u2019s main strengths exist on the ball. Scoring is not a problem for Swain, who embraces every chance to work the ball downhill and create opportunities at the basket. He averaged 5.6 free-throw attempts per game last season, a reflection of his ability to force the issue at the rim.<\/p>\n

Swain is an efficient rim finisher but will need to keep improving his shooting to truly make an impact in this rebuild. That seems achievable after he improved his 3-point percentage from 15.4% as a freshman to 34.4% as a junior.<\/p>\n

Still, Swain\u2019s shooting profile will be one of the first major development challenges for the new Bulls regime \u2014 something that didn\u2019t intimidate Graham when making his selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people might ask, \u2018Where is the shooting at?’\u201d Graham said after the first round ended Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m not worried about that right now. There\u2019s a certain mentality and a certain profile and a way that Coach Tiago and myself want to play. We felt like today was a good layer for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Bulls are sticking to their system. After selecting North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson with the No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[311248,62693,7329,311249,16902,13329,99,311250,311247],"class_list":["post-723610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bulls-nba-draft","tag-caleb-wilson","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-chicago-bulls-nba-draft","tag-dailyn-swain","tag-nba-draft","tag-sports","tag-who-did-the-bulls-draft","tag-who-is-dailyn-swain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}