LAS VEGAS — Labaron Philon Jr. was selected No. 22 overall in the NBA Draft last month. In his first two Las Vegas Summer League games, he averaged 21 points and handed out a combined 13 assists with a swagger few in this vaunted rookie class have displayed.
Cameron Carr was the No. 24 overall pick and served notice in the California Summer League that he could score, putting up 26 points. In his Las Vegas debut, he scored 18.
Both were rumored to be on the Bulls’ radar — whether in terms of visits or mock drafts — and both were selected after struggling guard Dailyn Swain, whom the Bulls took No. 15 overall.
Buyer’s remorse? Not in the slightest. It’s way too early for the Bulls to second-guess a month-old draft pick based on two summer games. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few concerns about Swain’s growing pains.
In the Bulls’ Summer League opener Friday, Swain scored seven points on 3-for-10 shooting and struggled against the Grizzlies’ ball pressure. In their game Monday, he was even worse. He shot 0-for-9 from the field and was a minus-17 against the Jazz. And he went 0-for-7 in the Bulls’ 99-87 victory Tuesday against the Wizards.
‘‘I talked to him, and he’s overthinking a little bit too much,’’ coach Tiago Splitter said of Swain. ‘‘He’s got to go there and just play basketball. Shoot when he’s open. We’re going to watch film with him again and try and get him to play a little bit more loose and make good decisions.’’
That’s why Splitter isn’t losing any sleep about Swain just yet.
Swain hasn’t been delusional about his struggles, either, and has been great in practice. Now it just has to translate to the games.
‘‘He’s not being firm with his decisions on the court,’’ Splitter said. ‘‘[If you’re] open, you’ve got to shoot it. Drive in a straight line. Sometimes he’s trying too much to get a gap. You’ve got to choose one side and go.
‘‘We’ve been talking, and . . . this is part of this. I told the guys this is the first step in the NBA. They’re nervous, and some of them are not playing well. That’s why we have the Summer League — to go through the struggles and learn from it. Also, for us coaches to understand the players that we have and how to help them on the court. So it’s really important even for us to go through the struggles sometimes.’’
What Swain also has on his side is a rookie teammate in Caleb Wilson. Sure, Wilson has been the talk of Vegas with his 35-point debut, but his follow-up game included going 0-for-6 from the free-throw line and leaving a lot of points on the court.
‘‘Honestly, we’re both rookies trying to figure it out,’’ Wilson said. ‘‘It’s important that we both give ourselves grace. We try as hard as we can; we go out there and play as hard as we can. Dailyn is figuring it out, just like me.
‘‘I just told him to stick with it because, at the end of the day, I do have the ball a good amount and he has the ball a good amount, so we have to play off each other and give each other the ball when we want it. That will help both of us out.’’
The good news for Swain is that NBA careers aren’t defined in the Summer League. What matters is that he grows from it.
‘‘We know he’s way better,’’ Splitter said. ‘‘In practice, he’s been way better than he’s shown in the game. So I’m not worried about him. He’s struggling mentally, and he’s got to go through it.’’
