Why the Chicago Bulls owe Patrick Williams a legitimate chance at being more than a role player.
In 2020, the Chicago Bulls selected Patrick Williams as the fourth overall pick in the NBA Draft. This was following a season in which the Bulls finished 22-43. When teams pick in the lottery, most of the time it’s due to a group not cutting it. Maybe there were injuries that led them to that record, not enough talent on the roster, scheme, roster fit, etc. So when you have a chance to pick that high you are swinging for the fences, hoping for a homerun type of player. Lottery picks usually have patience and opportunity from their organization early on. Patrick Williams has been afforded the patience part of the equation, but one could question the opportunity part of it.
Months after Patrick Williams was drafted the usual ramp-up period for newly drafted players was impacted heavily by the pandemic. Training camp was shortened, and there was no Summer League. Fast forward to March of the very same season and the Bulls had traded a young, promising big in Wendell Carter Jr. and more for Nikola Vucevic. This was an attempt to try to push for a play-in spot, where they fell short. A big reason for the move was to show Zach Lavine that they are trying to win now and want him in Chicago long-term. The look of the roster and the way the team tries to play offensively and defensively were altered. For a rookie just trying to figure things out, it can really impact you from a learning standpoint. The following summer, the Bulls again made big moves with the signings of Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan. Putting Patrick’s development on the back burner and hoping he can develop while also trying to win.
My good friend Mark Schindler recently wrote an article about Providence College basketball star Bryce Hopkins. In that article, he wrote something that I really think speaks to the Patrick Williams situation at the moment: “Unless you’re on a team that goes all-in on developing youngsters, there’s generally less leeway to figure yourself out on both sides of the ball when you’re on a rookie scale contract, especially as a role player.” The reason that this quote stuck out to me is Patrick Williams hasn’t been given the opportunity even to show that he can be more than just a role player. I totally understand why the front office went out and brought in the services of DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball, but the timing of those moves didn’t allow for Patrick Williams to develop and grow without the expectations of winning and going to the playoffs. The hope was that Patrick Williams could do enough to help the roster with his ability to switch defensively, rebound, and hit open shots (39% on 2 attempts from three in 2021). But this team has shown that it can’t win with the three stars that they have leading the ship and the injury to Lonzo Ball’s knee also throws a wrench into plans.
I think it’s time to clear the way for your young and upcoming legitimate two-way player. No more putting his development on the back burner, it’s time that this organization pushes its chips in and allows him to grow through his mistakes with more touches and opportunity to see what he can actually do in the NBA. Patrick Williams this season has shown you flashes of what he can be with more opportunity.
Let’s talk about it…
Shooting Improvement
Patrick Williams has a usage rate of 15% this season, which isn’t much of a difference from any of his years being in the league. Yet, in my eyes, he is still deserving of even more opportunity. His aggression has taken a leap in terms of more three-point attempts. During his rookie year, he was at 26% in 3PAr, and in his sophomore year was at 28% 3PAr (only played 17 games due to an injury of torn ligaments in his left wrist), and this season in 59 games he is sitting at 41% 3PAr. Yes, at times he can still seem hesitant, but I think it’s less about him turning down open looks and more about his ability to read closeouts faster–is it a short closeout or long closeout? Many folks like to harp on the speed of his release, but to me, it’s gauging and thinking a bit too much for his next course of action. We are seeing him take more contested threes as well. According to Synergy, Patrick Williams is shooting 37.5% on 80 contested three-point attempts, he’s shooting 42.7% on 125 open attempts. Patrick grades out in the 78th percentile in the catch-and-shoot category for Synergy. The skepticism about Patrick’s shooting should be put to rest.
Self-Creation Flashes
Draft evaluators were intrigued by Patrick Williams’ potential to play off the bounce against NBA-level defenders. The past couple of years you would seldom see flashes of self-creation. Even this season it was few and far between, but in the last month or so, the game seems to have slowed down for him. You are seeing him understand where he can get his own and how to play off of the stars more consistently.
Cleaning the Glass has Patrick Williams at 42% from long midrange (14 feet to just inside the three-point line) on 73 attempts. Drafting a player as high as fourth the hope is that player can bring some semblance of self-creation, being able to get his own shot is a necessary piece to earning more responsibility on his plate. 22 percent of his shots are unassisted so far this season and that’s only one percent more than his ROOKIE year. The problem that Patrick Williams has in front of him right now is that he plays in a hierarchy that includes all of DeMar DeRozan, Zach Lavine, and Nikola Vucevic. Patrick’s touches and opportunities come after those three get their own. So, with shooting just under 10 attempts per game, it is going to be an uphill battle for him to get those attempts up with his usage being so low. This is due to the fact that two of those three stars are some of the best isolation players in the league.
Pick-and-Roll Ballhandler Intrigue
Part of the reason I am writing this article is due to the roster construction restricting Patrick Williams from exploring his game. This Chicago Bulls roster forces Patrick Williams to be in more of a floor-spacing role because of the lack of shooting on the roster. But when I watch the games closely, there are things that catch my eye about this young 21-year-old. When I pull up Synergy for Patrick WIlliams and look at his play types page there is something that sticks out to me and entices me to wonder what it could look like if Patrick Williams was given more reps in pick-and-roll as the ballhandler. Take a look at these numbers:
Patrick Williams has a unique skill set and body type that could lead to being a good pick-and-roll ballhandler and adequate passer. He has enough size to keep screen navigators in jail and he has the mid-range pull-up shooting (as detailed above) needed to be successful. One of the things that I would like to see more of is his passing out of pick-and-roll. He has shown in his time so far that he can make live dribble passing reads, but the reps have not been plentiful enough to be super encouraged about it. Patrick Williams can be a scorer out of pick-and-roll, but he needs more reps and opportunities to show it off. At the moment, I do believe that having Patrick Williams be the recipient of second-side pick-and-rolls with Nikola Vucevic as the roller or popping big is something that should be experimented with more often.
Patrick Williams is a part of both positive lineups that help this team play to the best of their ability. Take a look:
The Defensive End of The Floor: Already a Wing-Stopper
In the 2022-2023 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls needed Patrick Williams to take a leap defensively. With the illusion that Lonzo Ball would be back during the season, the Bulls needed Patrick Williams to truly become that big-wing defender to help solidify the perimeter defense. According to Synergy, Patrick Williams grades out in the 89th percentile, only allowing 0.70 PPP in isolation. Patrick Williams has held up his end of the bargain by truly becoming a damn good defender. I think the game has slowed down for him on that end of the floor and he is starting to recognize actions before they happen.
Point-of-Attack Defense
In the NBA guarding the point-of-attack is only one part of a good team defense, but it’s even more important if you don’t have a rim-protecting stalwart on the backend. It’s rare to find a team that does both aspects of defense great at the same time. If you have a great shot blocker for the most part it’s hard to have and find an Alex Caruso-level defender to muck up the start of action for the opposing team. When the defense has great point-of-attack defenders it’s so hard to pair them with great rim protectors. Mostly because of money reasons, because the best rim protectors are rostered. This is why the Chicago Bulls need to play aggressively on the ball and cause havoc.
The concept is to disrupt as much as possible in order to negate paint touches. The last part of point-of-attack defense is “can the defender guard without fouling?” and Patrick Williams is doing that at a pretty nice level. Especially for someone that guards the best of the best every single night. He ranks in the 95th percentile in foul percentage (how many defensive fouls did the player commit per play), when you look at the difficulty of matchups for Patrick Williams on a nightly basis the ability to guard without fouling puts him in the same rank as Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Devin Vassell just to name a few, according to Cleaningtheglass.com.
| BLK%* | STL%* | Foul%*** | Deflections per 36** |
| 2.6 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
Help-Side Defense
The on-ball defense of Patrick Williams has been very thrilling, but with Alex Caruso on his team, the Bulls’ greater need is for Pat to fill the weakside rotator/sweeper role. He’s done an exceptional job of correctly ranging from low-man tagging the rollers and getting back out to shooters for a strong contest. He’s becoming more of a high-level, adaptable defender. His footwork on his closeouts has become more fluid and allowing him to keep his balance while having to react to drives. While in help situations, he has evolved into being more observant and well-positioned according to the ball. While off-ball you can now see him processing quicker and getting his hands on the basketball, whether it’s a skip pass, or digging on drives. The overall display of defense for Patrick Williams shouldn’t be overshadowed by this Bulls team’s downward spiral.
In Conclusion
Three years ago, I started watching Patrick Williams closely while he was a Florida State Seminole. The 6’7 forward flashed so many tools. The combination of size and ball skills was tantalizing at times, mix that with his switchability on the defensive end and I thought you had a player worth taking a chance on. The vision was clear to me from the Bulls’ front office perspective. They drafted the youngest American-born player in the 2020 NBA Draft who needed time to develop and find who he was at the NBA level.
This roster construction of this Bulls team is an apparent factor in Williams having to be more of a floor spacer on offense. His team needs more shooting, and a floor general that can get this team into the offense a bit faster and into the right sets. Once those roles are filled I think that will help Patrick slide into more of a secondary creator role, second-side pick-and-rolls and creating for himself against tilted defenses. I truly believe in this young ascending player’s ability to be more than a role player, but he needs more opportunities and usage to get that done.
A wise friend once mentioned to me that there’s no guarantee that the drafted player’s team will have their best interests in mind at all points. It’s time for a change.
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