LAS VEGAS — Billy Donovan III, who is coaching the Bulls in the NBA Summer League, described it as a ‘‘welcome-to-the-NBA moment.’’
He was being kind.
Rookie forward Noa Essengue’s debut Friday wasn’t just humbling, it was a disaster. The 18-year-old looked like a freshman playing with the varsity. He was pushed around like a baby giraffe, turned over like a French pastry — seven giveaways, to be exact — and became a passive bystander in the second half.
Essengue scored only five points and was a minus-32 in just less than 25 minutes against the Raptors. Even more alarming was afterward, when he admitted he was ‘‘surprised’’ by the physicality. He very well might have been, but it probably wasn’t something he should have admitted.
‘‘I need to improve everything: my dribble, my shooting skills, my go to the basket,’’ Essengue said. ‘‘I missed a lot of shots. I [had] a lot of turnovers. I just need to get better [in] everything. I just need to be more physical, more ready.’’
Donovan III was blunt, too.
‘‘This league has humbled all of us at some point,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m really interested to see how he’s going to respond.’’
It wasn’t as though Essengue overshadowed the buzz of Cooper Flagg’s 31-point clinic from earlier in the day Saturday, but he showed something in the Bulls’ game against the Kings.
With forward Matas Buzelis sitting out for a recovery day, the baby Bulls leaned on Essengue, especially on the glass. He grabbed nine of his 10 rebounds in the first half and finished with 12 points. He continued to play the tip of the spear in the Bulls’ zone, patrolling above the key, and — perhaps most important — looked more engaged and less overwhelmed.
There was a sense of belonging just 24 hours later — at least until he left the game with a bruised right quad midway through the third quarter.
‘‘Definitely better,’’ Donovan III said. ‘‘He definitely wasn’t thinking as much. He kept the dribbles down, and I thought he was decisive. I think he’ll get better and better. They’re calling it a knee contusion right now, so he’ll get treatment on Sunday and see how he responds to it.’’
‘‘We’re going to see how it feels the next few days,’’ Essengue said of the injury.
Still, his mind wasn’t on the injury as much as it was on the slight bounce-back he displayed.
‘‘I think that was really important to just bounce back,’’ Essengue said. ‘‘[Friday] was the first game of my life in Summer League, so I had to see what was going on.’’
There’s still a sense, however, that he will require a lot of work, patience and development in his rookie season. He’s a combined 1-for-7 from three-point range in the Bulls’ two Summer League game and has had more airballs than makes from that distance. Plus, the lack of physicality isn’t going to change anytime soon.
What he has on his side is a veteran frontcourt that allows him time to change his body and his game.
If the season were to start today, Essengue would be an afterthought in the rotation, especially if coach Billy Donovan wants to lean into a three-guard lineup to start games. That would leave Nikola Vucevic in the middle and Buzelis as the lone true forward, backed up by Patrick Williams and newly acquired Isaac Okoro.
The Bulls also still have Jalen Smith and Zach Collins, both of whom can play forward or center, so the idea that there’s an urgency for Essengue to make an immediate impact in misguided.
That doesn’t mean he won’t prepare as though he’ll have a chance to make an impact once training camp tips off. Essengue got a little taste of that leading up to the game Saturday, going through three film sessions — admittedly the most film he had watched leading into a game — and then getting an up-close look at a back-to-back situation.
In the German League, where he played last season, there are no back-to-backs.
‘‘As with all these rookies competing in Summer League, it’s going to get better,’’ Donovan III said. ‘‘We’ve just got to keep repping it out, and when they screw up you’ve also got to be able to tell them why there’s failure.
‘‘There’s going to be failure, but I also think you’ve got to do a good job of celebrating success. I think we did a little bit of that [Saturday].’’
