The Bulls have a developmental plan for rookie guard Dailyn Swain, and it involves stints in the G League.
No matter what Swain does between now and the end of preseason play, he can’t change the inevitable. But at least he can ease some minds.
With guard Tre Jones nursing a sore hip and the Bulls thin in terms of ball-handlers beyond starting point guard Josh Giddey, Swain has been the primary ball-handler off the bench during the team’s first two preseason games.
The Bulls experimented with him in that role during Summer League play in Las Vegas, but it didn’t go well.
Without question, Swain has improved with the ball in his hands since July. The Bulls’ loss Friday to the Grizzlies was a reminder he’s a quick learner but still needs work.
In the Bulls’ preseason opener Wednesday, it seemed as though the Suns had popped in the tape of Swain from the Summer League and decided to press him full-court. It was a good decision because he looked shaky at best.
In the second half of that game, however, coach Tiago Splitter used teammates to free up Swain with more of a screen game.
‘‘I just had to stop playing with the ball in the backcourt,’’ Swain said. ‘‘Just make a decision and go. People came back and helped on the ball, set screens in the backcourt, so it just freed up things for me.’’
Swain played with more freedom after that. He finished that game with 10 points and six assists. Not bad, considering he committed two turnovers and was a minus-9 in plus/minus in the first half.
‘‘I’m just trying to get as comfortable as I can out there play by play,’’ Swain said. ‘‘I’ve got great vets and some of the young guys helping me out from the sidelines, letting me know what they see, so that helps me a lot.’’
That showed up against the Grizzlies, especially with Splitter playing Swain on the ball and off it. He had a backdoor dunk off a pass from Buddy Hield and added four assists in his 18 minutes.
Splitter reiterated the Bulls see Swain as a primary ball-handler in the long term. That’s where the G League comes into play. The Windy City Bulls don’t start regular-season play until early November, so Swain has time to continue working on his craft in the NBA before jumping into some G League games when the schedule allows.
Jones is considered day-to-day, so he should be fine for the start of the regular season,.That will allow the Bulls to take some pressure off Swain.
The good news is that he’s in a better place mentally than he was in July, when he was hard on himself for his lackluster play in the Summer League.
‘‘Just not beating myself up about it,’’ Swain said of his mindset about mistakes now. ‘‘There was so much volume on my Summer League performance and coming out there [Wednesday] and things not going like I imagined [in the first half]. But just watching the film [at halftime], taking the advice and fixing it, I felt good. I felt more comfortable.
‘‘It shows that it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish. It’s a credit to my teammates for keeping my head up, credit to Coach for not allowing me to beat myself up [and] not, like, piling on. They encouraged me and did a great job with that.’’