The Central Division has some of the premier PFs in the league. Will Caleb Wilson give the Bulls a chance to compete every night?
The Chicago Bulls kicked off their (latest) rebuild by taking North Carolina power forward out of North Carolina with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 draft. There are many reasons Wilson was the pick at 4, the main one being he is a devastating finisher on offense. Wilson has a high defensive ceiling, but showed plenty of room for improvement despite his impressive athletic tools.
If Chicago hopes to stay out of the relegation zone in the 2027 NBA Draft Lottery, they will need Wilson to quickly establish himself as a premier PF.
Bulls Nation will get a chance to assess their young talent against top competition quickly, as the central has two of the better PFs in the league and two established veterans.
How does Wilson stack up with the rest of the PFs in the central division?
1. Evan Mobley - 2025-26 stats: 18.2 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.7 BPG
2. Pascal Siakam - 2025-26 stats: 24.0 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.8 APG, 35.8% 3PT
3. Caleb Wilson - 2025-26 (NCAA) stats: 19.8 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 2.7 APG, 2.9 steals + blocks per game
4. John Collins - 2025-26 stats: 13.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.0 APG, 40.6% 3PT
5. Kyle Kuzma - 2025-26 stats: 13.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.7 APG
Bold indicates player made All-Star team
Evan Mobley was the Defensive Player of the Year for the 2024-25 season, and had a nearly identical season in 2026. The major difference in Mobley's game was a big drop-off in free throw shooting (60.6% from the line in 2026). Outside of that, the 24-year old did everything you could expect from a modern PF sans 3-point shooting.
May 23, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32), forward OG Anunoby (8) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward EvanMobley(4) reach for a rebound in the first quarter during game three of the eastern conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images Mobley had a "down year" by his standards, and that still resulted in a 59.6% True Shooting percentage, an elite 5.2% block rate and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance for Cleveland. Mobley's offensive game may be slightly behind the next PF on this list, but no big man in the division has the defensive impact of Mobley.
Four-time All-Star Pascal Siakam comes in at No. 2 on our list, but really this is more of a "1A-1B" type situation. Siakam has made consecutive All-Star appearances the past two seasons with the Indiana Pacers. Already an established PF star by the time he got the Pacers, the 6-foot-8 Siakam has been on a tear the past three seasons.
Siakam has averaged 21.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 3.6 APG and shot 37.6% from 3-pt range as an Indiana Pacer (181 games). He is a true inside-out threat on offense, but has the unique skillset that allows him to act as a facilitator in a pinch.
Siakam was crucial in the Pacers run to the NBA Finals in 2025. In 2026 the Pacers decided to take a step back, ignore the center position for a bit and position themselves for a top draft pick. All of the Pacers' front office planning didn't stop Siakam from dropping another season averaging 20+ points, 6+ rebounds and 3+ assists with solid perimeter shooting.
Siakam is perhaps the embodiment of football coach Bill Belichick's "Do Your Job," philosophy. Regardless of the Pacers place in the standings, Siakam is going to come out and provide 110% effort and solid two-way play. He's a better jump shooter than Mobley but gap defensively makes Mobley top PF in the central.
The rest of the list is Caleb Wilson 3rd, new Detroit Pistons PF John Collins 4th and Milwaukee Bucks PF Kyle Kuzma coming in last at 5th in the division. Now obviously we are judging Wilson without seeing him play regular season NBA action yet. We are basing this projection off of his college career and what we saw of him at the NBA summer league.
To properly discuss why I ranked Wilson as the 3rd-best PF in the central, we must first discuss Collins and Kuzma, two solid veterans with clear weaknesses.
Collins joins Detroit to replace the scoring punch formerly provided by Tobias Harris (now a San Antonio Spur). Collins is high-flyer who quickly started to add 3-point shooting to his game. Now it has been three-straight seasons of Collins shooting at least 37% from deep, culminating in 40.6% from 3-pt range on 219 total attempts over the 2025-26 season. The issue with Collins has always been his defense. He posted a negative Defensive Box Plus Minus the past three seasons.
If Collins is a bad defender, then Kuzma is a terrible one, as the advanced numbers are even worse. Per Basketball-Reference, Kuzma has never posted a positive DBPM and the eye-test reflects that. To make matters worse, Kuzma is no longer close to the offensive player he used to be. Kuzma was never dominant, but there were stretches during his Washington Wizards tenure where he started to look like an intriguing ball-handler. Last year with Milwaukee, he actually posted the best true shooting figure of his career at 58.1%. But it's safe to say he is the least exciting and effective of the starting PFs in the central.
Caleb Wilson--if he continues to play as he did in summer league--will not be shy when he takes the court for his first official NBA regular season action. He is intense on the court and shows tremendous focus, something that has been an issue for the aforementioned Kuzma throughout his career. Collins is a great offensive player who goes through long stretches of bringing nothing to the table defensively.
Wilson is a player who will have neither of those concerns.
Wilson's elite size, length and athleticism provide him with the tools to be a great defender. His mental fortitude makes it more likely that he will put those tools to work while still carrying a large share of responsibility on offense. I have no doubt that Caleb Wilson is already the 3rd-best PF in the central, my only question is how many years will it take Wilson to get to No. 1 on this list?
