Dalen Terry's Energy A Welcomed Addition To Chicago Bulls

The rookie's on-court enthusiasm and energy can be difficult to keep off the floor.

No one should ever take too much away from a single preseason game, as it usually takes well over 100 games for most young NBA players to settle in.

While this undoubtedly still holds true, let's talk about Dalen Terry's lone NBA game, that didn't matter, anyway.

The Chicago Bulls hosted the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday night, and Terry played 18 minutes off the bench, putting together 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, and three turnovers in the loss.

While the stats are impressive compared to his somewhat low minutes total, it was his energetic playing style that stood out. Often barking at his veterans, and dictating where people needed to be, you caught the sense that Terry is a player who is fearless.

On two occasions, the rookie noticed small openings in the Pelicans defense, and swooped in for finger-rolls, despite sturdy interior defense from New Orleans all night long.

Terry stands in stark contrast to another Bulls youngster, Patrick Williams, who has started out his career by being passive, and even timid at times, preferring to stand in the corner instead of moving around and creating opportunities for himself.

Terry moves, and he moves a lot. You'll see him cover a ton of ground on most possessions, which is a trait that dates back to Arizona, and something he also sported at Summer League in Las Vegas.

At 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, Terry is built remarkably similar to Mikal Bridges, allowing him to seamlessly shift positions on the fly. The Bulls, who are absolutely loaded at the guard spots, are likely to utilize him mostly as a wing this year, but one who gets to handle the ball, and initiate plays.

Terry also showed an unexpected willingness to shoot from the post, sinking a hook shot and a little push shot, which also drew a foul. He's got a clear size advantage over most guards, and is seemingly keen on exploring how to take full advantage.

As has firmly established in the world of player development, personality matters a great deal when it comes to the realization of potential. Some, like the aforementioned Williams, are more laid back and prefer to let the game come to him. Others, like Terry, want to bend the game to their will.

In today's NBA, the latter is usually the one to extract most from their own potential, by simply making stuff happen. That may sound like an oversimplification, but it's not. By being constantly active, and constantly involved in plays, a player gains incredible valuable experiences. Just against the Pelicans alone, Terry played in the post, had a breakaway steal and dunk, drove the lane, and relentlessly attacked the glass. Every single one of those things are experience points that he'll be able to extract something from. Be that confidence, or knowhow.

I've written before about Terry, noting that the Bulls aren't likely to play him much this year.

To some extent, I wish to withdraw that prediction. Terry's enthusiasm, energy, defensive upside, positional flexibility, and ability to play without fear is going to earn him minutes this year. Will he have a rotation spot on opening day? Probably not. But over the course of the season, it seems unlikely head coach Billy Donovan can keep the rookie off the floor - not entirely dissimilar to how Ayo Dosunmu turned himself into a rotation player last season.

And obviously, it needs to be noted that Terry won't always have those lanes to score from as he did against the Pelicans. His stats won't get accumulated that easily in the regular season. That's fine, because that was never the point. For Terry, it's about the willingness to attack, whether that's taking a shot, forcing the defense to collapse, or to attack an opponent defensively. He's wired to go all-out, all the time, which brings back memories of a former Bull, Joakim Noah, who turned himself into a fan favorite via his relentless hustle, by injecting energy, and by being a constant overachiever.

Terry is cut from that same cloth, and it would thus behoove the Bulls to find every excuse to get him onto that floor, as the unbridled exuberance of a bright-eyed energy monster can often be worth its own weight in gold.

---

Want to join the discussion? Like Draft Digest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest NBA Draft news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.