They aren’t the type of numbers that scream No. 4 overall draft pick.
Heck, they don’t even really say starter at this point, let alone five-year, $90-million extension.
But here the Bulls are with Patrick Williams the last seven games, with the forward averaging 6.3 points and three rebounds per game, shooting just 25.9% from three-point range, and slowly losing minutes, especially late in games.
Not exactly how Year 5 was supposed to play out for Williams at the mid-point.
Billy Donovan reiterated that he has not thought about benching Williams yet – not that the coach is completely opposed to it – but he also knows there has to be more from the player that was once expected to be a pillar to build on.
“My expectations for him, even in my conversations with him, is, and this is going to be kind of a broad statement, but you got to feel him out there,” Donovan said on Wednesday. “That’s not necessarily scoring. He’s shot the ball pretty well. You gotta feel him on the glass, feel him in transition, feel him with the activity with his hands, feel him at the rim. That. I think he’s capable of doing that. That’s really been the message more than anything else, of him getting his body size, physicality into the game.”
And it’s not like Williams is naïve to the situation. He continues to agree that he has an important place with this team, but he still seems confused on how to reach that place consistently.
“In the half-court it’s obviously a little tougher,” Williams said last week when discussing his role. “We have plays and sets that we run where we trust the ball in Coby (White’s) hands, Zach (LaVine’s) hands, Josh (Giddey’s) hands, Vooch’s (Nikola Vucevic) hands, and I think as of now in my career, at least up to this point, a lot of my buckets have come off closeouts, transitions, getting downhill that way. That’s where I am in my career or where they have me at in my career.”
The Bulls have tried to change Williams’ routine this season, having him work with director of player development Peter Patton in hopes of something being unlocked. That search continues.
“We talk, Patrick and I, but in the conversations he knows. He knows,” Donovan said. “He’s got the body, the size, the physicality, but the consistency part has got to be there. I think he knows that.”
Return to sender
As expected, the Bulls did get Ayo Dosunmu back after the combo guard missed 10 games with a strained right calf.
For the time being he will stay on a minutes restriction of 24-26 minutes, and if there are no setbacks that will slowly loosen up.
Save the date
Next week’s game with the Clippers in Los Angeles was moved from Tuesday to Monday, with tip-off at 9:30 PM CT. The Bulls plan to stay in Los Angeles until Wednesday, and then head to San Francisco to face the Warriors.
Ways to go
There isn’t a real detailed timetable of Torrey Craig returning to the court, as the veteran forward was dealing with what was first diagnosed as an injured nerve in the left knee and is now being called an ankle sprain.
Either way, don’t expect him back on this remaining homestand.
“They figured out going back through the video and looking at it that it was kind of an ankle sprain,” Donovan said. “So they’re just treating that right now.”