It’s hard to really call the embarrassing loss to Charlotte on Friday rock bottom for the Bulls front office, especially when the floor continues sinking.
It’s no secret that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has been actively trying to shop veterans like Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic since the summer, hoping to continue the rebuild and have a better future. But now it’s becoming clear that even the future pieces they were counting on are looking more suspect than prospect.
A source told the Sun-Times on Saturday that Karnisovas has finally bought into the idea that 23-year-old Patrick Williams needs a change of scenery, opening the door for Williams to also be on the trade block.
The issue?
A very similar one with this front office – too little, too late.
They started to work on making LaVine available a year after they gave him a max contract, they allowed Andre Drummond to walk into free agency months after turning down second-round picks in a trade, they are shopping Vucevic with this season and next year left on his extension, and now there’s Williams, who was just signed to a five-year, $90 million extension over the summer.
By the way, a contract that they bid against themselves to get done.
Williams was a restricted free agent, so they could have let him test the market, have a price set, and opted to match it or let him walk.
So why the change of heart?
The coaching staff has been trying to unlock Williams for years, and while he has had setbacks with injuries, the source said that Williams hasn’t been easy to work with. Like most NBA teams, individual coaches are matched up with individual players, and there’s been frustrations on both sides with previous matchups.
The source stressed that Williams hasn’t been volatile or difficult with his behavior. It’s more about being completely comfortable in order to buy into what’s being communicated.
Director of player development Peter Patton has stepped in, taking over those duties, and it seemed like Williams was finally on to something back in November when he averaged 11.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
Williams’ last nine games in January, however? A disappointing 6.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.
He hasn’t just gone backwards, he’s digressed to the point where coach Billy Donovan continues cutting his minutes, including the Hornets loss in which he played 17 minutes, scored five points, didn’t grab a rebound and was a minus-17 in plus/minus.
After the game, Donovan was asked if he was concerned with Williams and did his best to protect the former No. 4 overall pick.
“I don’t want to use the word concerned, but I think Patrick’s heart is in a really good place as it relates to our team, and I think he really wants to do well,” Donovan said. “I think the one thing he will continue to get better at, and I think I mentioned to you guys that in closeouts, and I think the next iteration, the next part of it, at least offensively, is going to end up being, ‘What are the ones I need to go in and finish, what are the ones I need to spray out? And when I do spray it out, taking care of the ball?’
“The other part of it too, for our team, we need more rebounding from him. I think he’s made the effort to try and go there, but we probably need to get a little more out of him. But I’m not concerned about him. I know this stretch for him has not been good, but he has had moments where he has been pretty good. I think he does work, I think he’s a good player. He’s up in a tough stretch right now. He’s still going through a maturation process offensively.”