Ex-Wildcat Dalen Terry has already found his leadership voice just a few games into NBA Summer League

LAS VEGAS — Dalen Terry had seen enough.

When the Chicago Bulls trailed the New York Knicks 54-24 with just over a minute left in the first half of their 101-69 loss in the second game at NBA Summer League on Sunday, the former Arizona Wildcat and No. 18 overall pick chirped at his teammates sitting on the sideline. The moment generated a brief reaction from a packed crowd at Cox Pavilion.

Terry’s message: “We gotta pick it up. We gotta go out with respect before anything. We’re all men. We’re grown men and we have to go out here with respect. It doesn’t matter how much we lose by. We could lose by 1,000 points. We’ve got to go out with respect. That was my biggest thing. I feel like our bench energy was low, and that was my way of getting them going. After that, we had a spark in the second half.”

Added Terry: “At Arizona, my job was the same thing. My job was to be out on the court and make sure our bench was involved. So when (Justin Wright-Foreman) said, ‘DT, let’s go,’ I said ‘Y’all come on, too. We’re all in this together. Even if you’re not in the game, you’re in the game still.’”

Bulls Summer League head coach Johnny Bryant admired Terry’s emotions pouring out in that particular moment.

“The one thing we talk about, you’re either giving energy or taking energy,” Bryant said. “At that moment, Dalen was speaking to the bench. … We’re encouraging everyone to fight together.”

The following sequence, Terry, who finished the game with 13 points on 3-for-7 shooting and three assists, threw a bad pass — one of his seven turnovers — that was stolen by New York’s Miles McBride, who passed it to Feron Hunt for a transition layup. Terry hustled back to redeem his error, but was called for a flagrant one foul.

Terry was asked by a reporter during his postgame availability, “Was that a period of frustration for you?”

“No, I didn’t let him score. He didn’t score, right? All right. He scored on a free throw, he earned it. The way I grew up, you turn the ball over, you gotta get back and get a stop,” Terry said.

“Coach said no layups, you feel me? If we were up, I wouldn’t let him get the layup either way. I was trying to block it and I couldn’t jump. I was in a situation where I couldn’t jump. No layups. You gotta earn them at the (free-throw) line.”

Did Terry lose control? Let emotions get the best of him?

“It seems from the outside in, maybe (he lost control). But every young player has to go through it, and learn what it takes to play at a consistent level and play at both ends and not lose your cool at both ends,” Bryant said. “This is Game Two of his short-lived NBA career, and we’re not done with him yet.”

Terry was also called for an offensive charge on Sunday, his fourth of NBA Summer League.

“I didn’t agree with a lot of them, but they made it seem like I was strong,” Terry joked. “I mean, it’s all good. Some of these you have to learn about.”

Following the Bulls’ come-from-behind 100-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks to open Summer League on Friday, Terry was asked by longtime Bulls reporter Sam Smith, “How come it looked like you didn’t want to shoot at all?” Terry’s response: “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.”

With identical field-goal statistics, the cocksure Terry was once again asked about his approach against the Knicks.

“It’s a basketball game, so everything is different,” he said. “Like you said last time, I wasn’t shooting. What did I do this time? I shot, right? All right then.”

Citing New York’s physicality and actual NBA experience on the roster, including guard Quentin Grimes and center Jericho Sims, Bryant preached staying even-keeled against the Knicks.

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“Adversity is going to come, so how will we respond? Specifically before the game, we talked about, ‘With adversity, will we take it as a sign or take it as a test? The sign? Shot’s not falling, refs are against me, we’re turning the ball over — you come up with every excuse.’ We also talked about taking it as a test. ‘Will you fight through?’ It looked like we took it as a sign today.”

Terry and the Bulls are hopeful they’ll shrug off their sophomore slump at NBA Summer League, as they face Terry’s Arizona teammate Christian Koloko and the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday at 2 p.m. on NBA TV.

“It was another basketball game. The other team, they punched us in the mouth early and we responded late, but I’m proud of my teammates and how we handled it,” Terry said. “We went out with a little more respect than we did at the end of the first half.

“But we got punched in the mouth in the first half, and respect to the New York Knicks. … My biggest thing is, we didn’t have any energy in the first half. That’s on me. I’m one of the leaders on the team, so I take full responsibility.”

He said it

“I like a lot out of him. I think it’s his ability to score and get shots off at any time and create shots at any time. That’s a hard skill to learn, and he has that already. We have to find ways to use that to our advantage and figure out where he can pick his spots. I really like that about him, and his physicality. We saw that tonight, when he puts his head down and gets to the rim, not a lot of people can stop him. …

“We try to let him flow as much as possible and now slow him down. The thing we have to teach, we have to let him be himself and understand where the reads are, when to score, when to kick it out. We spend a lot of time on that in film, and he’s doing a pretty good job picking that up.” — Indiana Pacers Summer League head coach Ronald Nored, on former Arizona guard and No. 6 overall pick Bennedict Mathurin who finished with 15 points and three rebounds in the Pacers’ 103-96 loss to the Sacramento Kings

The big number

6 — Consecutive games Mathurin and Terry won in Las Vegas, before their respective teams lost on Sunday. Between the Roman Main Event, the Pac-12 Tournament and the first games of NBA Summer League, the duo won six straight prior to Sunday.

Koloko is 7-0 in Las Vegas dating back to his freshman season at Arizona, when the Wildcats won the first game of the Pac-12 Tournament against Washington, before the pandemic canceled the remainder of the season.

Repping the alma mater

Former Arizona star Luke Walton was spotted wearing a navy blue Arizona hat at Cox Pavilion during the Cavaliers’ 84-76 loss to the Nuggets.

Walton, who is entering his eighth season coaching in the NBA, was hired in May as an assistant on J.B. Bickerstaff’s staff in Cleveland. Walton finished his NBA-playing career with the Cavs in 2013.

R.J. the ref

After attending a series of NBA Summer League officiating meetings, ex-Wildcat and NBA personality Richard Jefferson temporarily exchanged a microphone for a whistle.

Jefferson helped officiate the second quarter of the Trail Blazers-Knicks game on Monday. Jefferson’s Arizona teammate Gilbert Arenas told the Star, “He’s going to be a really good ref, because he’s sarcastic enough to go at the players without getting into their attitude and giving a player a (technical foul).”

“It would be very hard to get a tech from a personality like R.J. He would rather just talk (expletive) to you versus taking it personal and trying to get you out of the game,” Arenas said. “But it is the Knicks, and R.J. is petty. He’s going to take it seriously and try to be as fair as possible, but it’s still the Knicks.”

Hours before the game, Jefferson tweeted: “Why do this? One: Tremendous amount of knowledge about our game that I’ve learned sitting in classes with the best refs in the world. Two: I do this because not many people would dare put themselves in this position. The more info I have the more informed I am as a broadcaster.”