LAS VEGAS — Manifestation has always been essential to Dalen Terry, even as a 9-year-old living in Phoenix.
Terry grabbed a sheet of paper and inked “Be a legend” at the top, then drew a line under the words. It was his vision board.
“I’m just living my dream right now,” said Terry, who made his NBA debut with the Chicago Bulls on Friday afternoon at NBA Summer League at the Thomas and Mack Center. “Ever since I was younger, I always wrote down goals and everything I wanted to accomplish. There’s some crazy goals on there, but once I complete them, I’ll tell you.”
Underneath “Be a legend”, he wrote several plans to, well, become a legend. Among them: motivation, destroy defenders, cone crossover, two-ball dribble, find your teammate, energy, wake up early and play, never quit, jumprope, most valuable player, lift weights and eat, sleep, play, repeat.
Was it the plan to be a legend? Depends who you ask. But it certainly was the course to becoming an NBA player for the former Arizona Wildcat, who was taken No. 18 overall by the Bulls in this year’s NBA draft.
“It was like this was expected, and he’s always done what he’s wanted to do. When you keep your faith and you believe, it’s really that simple,” said Terry’s mother, Fenise Yancy. “You really do get what you desire and what you manifest. … When he’s 9 years old, we’re not talking about vision boards, but he created his own vision board. At 19, 10 years later, he gets drafted in the first round with the 18th pick to a legendary team — the Chicago Bulls? It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Terry momentarily enjoyed the fruits of his labor, when he made his NBA debut in the Bulls’ 100-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. Terry was one of three former Wildcats to make their NBA Summer League debut on Friday, along with No. 6 overall pick Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers) and undrafted Terrell Brown Jr. (Timberwolves).
The 6-foot-7-inch Terry finished the afternoon with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting, five rebounds and six assists in 31 minutes, although he did commit six turnovers and had six personal fouls (players have up to 10 fouls in NBA Summer League). Terry ended the first half with two points, three rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.
“I had a couple stretches where it was a little shaky for me, but we had to get the first one out of the way. … I don’t think the pace was an adjustment for me, it was more just myself and I was just a little extra happy, so I feel like that’s why I got a couple of them fouls and turnovers, but we got the ‘W,’ so I ain’t complaining,” Terry said.
Bulls Summer League head coach John Bryant said, “You can tell every rookie wants to be an All-Star right now.”
“With Dalen, every possession he’s trying to make something happen right now, which is commendable because I trust to put the ball in his hands, because he can not only make a play for himself but his teammates,” Bryant said. “Now he’s got to let the game come to him a little bit more and trust the good he’s trying to give will come back to him.”
Friday’s opener was a microcosm of his “glue-guy” career for the Wildcats. Tasked with defending Dallas’ second-round pick and former G Leaguer Jaden Hardy, the do-it-all Terry entered the first timeout break with a block, a rebound and an assist to a cutting Justin Lewis for a dunk.
After the game, longtime Bulls reporter and “Jordan Rules” author Sam Smith asked Terry, “How come it looked like you didn’t want to shoot at all?”
Terry tilted his back with a huge grin and replied, “I was playing basketball. I’m not going to force anything. I’m a basketball player. The way I play, I don’t have to score 30 points to affect the game. I don’t care how many points I have. I couldn’t care less. We won the game, so ...”
When Terry’s Arizona career came to an end in the NCAA Tournament, anyone would’ve been hard-pressed to find a mock draft projecting Terry as a draft prospect, let alone a first-round pick.
UA alumnus and new assistant general manager of the Trail Blazers Mike Schmitz admired Terry’s skillset and compared the Wildcat to Scottie Barnes, the 2022 NBA Rookie of the Year for the Toronto Raptors, and said, “Every time you watch him, it’s like he’s got his fingerprints all over the game with his energy, his infectious joy. … He has a good way about him.”
But even Schmitz, who at the time was an ESPN NBA draft analyst when he said that, believed Terry could benefit from another year working on his scoring in a half-court setting.
“I think he has a real good chance of becoming a first-round pick in 2023, if he takes the next step,” Schmitz said then.
Terry eschewed the idea of not landing on an NBA team — even if some of the doubt came from the passionate Arizona fanbase that rooted for him for two years.
“Even though the city says they’re all for him and everything, everyone kept saying he’s going in the second round and, ‘Oh, he needs to stay back in school.’ What did he do? He knew what he wanted, he knew what he was told and look what happened? First round, 18th pick — 18th pick! Like, are you kidding me? ‘He needs to stay another year,’” Yancy said. “For what? Why do you need to tell a kid to wait on their dream, when they feel it’s time for them to fulfill that dream? For what?”
Yancy’s message to her son, who is named after his late cousin Dayland, during the decision process: “‘If you make a turn because of someone else’s opinion, then you can’t be pissed off at somebody else. You have to go and make that decision. You have to put on the jersey or not put on the jersey. You have to receive that phone call or not receive that phone call. I’m going to be there to hug you, if you get it or don’t get it — and whatever you get after that. I’m going to congratulate you, hug you and kiss you the same way you came out.’”
Despite not participating in the five-on-five scrimmage portion of the NBA draft combine, Terry excelled in workouts, measurements and player interviews. Then his draft skyrocketed more than the GameStop short squeeze in 2021.
Once he was finally taken off the board at No. 18, becoming the first-ever Wildcat drafted by the Bulls, Terry immersed himself in the Chicago basketball culture by switching his jersey number from No. 4 to No. 25 to honor Chicago hoops legend Benjamin Wilson, who was a top high school prospect at Simeon High School and tragically killed in 1994, and fellow ex-Wildcat Steve Kerr. Earlier this week, Terry threw out first pitch for the Chicago White Sox
“It’s been crazy,” Terry said. “I’ve been all over the country with pre-draft stuff, the draft and now I’m in Vegas. It’s just part of the journey. I live for this. I was born for this.”
While Terry remained in Chicago to work out and practice with the team, he still hadn’t processed he became a part of the most exclusive basketball league in the entire world — the top percenters.
“I was talking to him over FaceTime and I asked him, ‘What kind of car do you want to buy?’ He was like, ‘Mom, to be honest, I haven’t even thought about it. Everything still feels normal, like it’s college ball. It hasn’t hit me yet. It feels like a normal lifestyle,’” Yancy said. “I got emotional and just cried, because he’s always been covered in God’s blood. He’s always been a good kid.”
One game into NBA Summer League, Terry’s new reality still hasn’t settled in.
“I still feel like I’m in Tucson, man, it’s crazy,” Terry said. “It hasn’t hit me yet. It’ll really hit me when I put a couple months in. I’m just here.”
