Noa Essengue poses for a photo with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected 12th by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

The Chicago Bulls took a chance on the long-term upside of 18-year-old French forward Noa Essengue to highlight an otherwise quiet opening round of the NBA draft for Central Division teams.

Chicago was the only Central team with a first-round selection Wednesday. The Bulls used the No. 12 pick on the 6-foot-9, 194-pound Essengue, who has played professionally in Germany the last two years.

“I think I can do pretty much everything, all the little details like shooting, passing the ball, attacking the rim,” Essengue said. “That’s my biggest strength right now, is the open-court game.”

Essengue has been playing for Ratiopharm Ulm, but he left his team as it competed in the German league finals to be in New York for the draft.

“We talked a lot with my coaching staff, all the staff from Ulm,” Essengue said. “(I said), ‘If I go to the green room, I’m leaving. The coach said, ‘Yes, go to see your dream.’ So yeah, the day I (found out) I’m in the green room, Coach said, ‘Just go there and live your dream, and we’re gonna finish the job.’ ”

Essengue is the second-youngest player in this draft class and only three days older than No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, the former Duke star who went first overall to Dallas.

His youth means that this pick might not pay immediate dividends for the Bulls, who have just one playoff appearance in the five seasons since Arturas Karnisovas was hired as executive vice president of basketball operations.

“I see him as a two-way player who can impact the game both offensively and defensively,” Bulls general manager Marc Eversley said. “His ability to get to the free-throw line and play downhill is super intriguing to us. I think he’ll be able to be a versatile wing defender.”

Chicago went 39-43 for the second straight season and finished ninth in the Eastern Conference before getting knocked out of the play-in tournament by Miami for a third consecutive year.

While Chicago was the only Central Division team to pick Wednesday, the reigning Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks all had second-round selections Thursday.

The Pacers traded out of the first round last week when they sent the No. 23 overall selection to New Orleans. In that deal, the Pacers reacquired their own 2026 first-round pick that had been sent to Toronto in the trade that brought Pascal Siakam to Indiana. New Orleans had landed that pick in a trade that sent Brandon Ingram to Toronto.