NEW YORK — Head coach Billy Donovan explained the pending decision Friday, but the Bulls made things official Sunday by announcing rookie forward Noa Essengue had been assigned to the Windy City Bulls of the G League.
After a deeper dive into the situation, it’s apparent no one should be surprised.
Donovan was asked whether this season is being treated like a redshirt year for Essengue, 18. And while he wouldn’t go that far, he said this was the plan for Essengue even before the Bulls drafted him with the 12th overall pick in June.
‘‘I think the front office was very transparent going all the way back to the draft,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘Noa was one of the guys we went through [in the draft process]. You don’t know how the draft is going to play out or who is going to be there, but one of the things that we talked about prior to [his selection] was that he was going to be a development piece. He was not going to be a guy that was going to be immediately in the rotation. There needed to be a plan for him.’’
The plan was simple: Get him playing time in the Summer League, offseason workouts, training camp and preseason games and see whether he did anything to change the Bulls’ minds.
He didn’t.
While the Bulls love Essengue’s IQ, he needs experience with the speed of the game and some work in the weight room.
No one should be surprised if Essengue plays most of his rookie season with Windy City, especially with Donovan admitting Isaac Okoro, Matas Buzelis, Patrick Williams and Julian Phillips are all in front of him at this point.
If all four of those guys stay healthy, it will be up to the organization to make sure Essengue is developing the right way.
‘‘This is a guy at 18 years old who has a huge runway in front of him to get better and to improve, but we’re going to have to invest in his development,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘It may not be with us. It may be going back and forth between us and the G League. Those were things discussed back in June.’’
Floater off
Guard Josh Giddey was in love with the floater game when he came over from the Thunder, and that was a problem. He rather would drive into the paint, stop and shoot a floater than attack the rim, despite being 6-7 and having a size advantage against most opposing guards.
That hasn’t been the case so far this season, as evidenced by his field-goal percentage rising to 48.1% and his free-throw attempts going from 3.2 per game last season to 6.8 so far.
‘‘Those are conversations that took place last year, just from an efficiency standpoint,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘Some of those shots are very low-value shots. Most players, not just him, don’t shoot a great percentage on those types of shots. We need him downhill because he gets to the free-throw line for us, and that’s probably been the one biggest growth for us as a team from a year ago. We’ve gotten to the line, at least through the early part of the season. Josh has been a huge catalyst to that.’’
Dosunmu sits out
Guard Ayo Dosunmu missed the back end of the home-and-home against the Knicks because of a bruised left thigh suffered in the second half Friday, but it’s not considered serious. The Bulls said he is day-to-day.
