MILWAUKEE – Billy Donovan feels like Patrick Williams does have an identity.
The Bulls coach made that clear on Friday when discussing the starting power forward.
The issue now is getting Williams to consistently play to that identity.
“You have to have an awareness when you’re playing like, ‘How far is this guy off me? Who is off me? Does this guy have length or not? Is he closing hard?’ That’s where he can start to build an identity, that when he’s getting closeouts he’s got to play better against them,” Donovan said. “The other thing for him is he’s got to put himself in more possessions. There are times when the ball is coming down the floor and Coby (White) may have it or Ayo (Dosunmu) can have it, and (Williams) has got to get out and up ahead of the ball so we can throw it to him. When you’re trailing the play all the time, you can’t get in the play.”
So better against closeouts and more aggressive running the floor, and that’s when Williams will finally play to the potential of a No. 4 overall pick?
Unlikely.
Forget playing like a top five draft pick. That ship left the dock awhile ago. What Williams can do, however, is play like a starter that was just extended for $90 million for the next five years. And even more important would be less talking about it, more doing it.
Williams is not oblivious to any of that, especially fresh off a season-opening loss in New Orleans in which he scored just six points and grabbed three rebounds.
“Being aggressive is a broad term,” Williams replied when asked once again about increasing his aggressiveness on the offensive end. “Just pick your spots is how I see it, how I view it. What I’m working on is picking my spots. With a lot of younger guys on this team you never want to make it seem like you’re selfish, shoot every time you touch it. There has to be a rhythm of the game, but still be aggressive. I have to know what I bring to the game on the offensive end. That’s something I did not feel confident in my first few seasons, but now I do.”
You’re never always going to make the right decisions in basketball. Sometimes you’re going to shoot it when you shouldn’t have shot it, sometimes you should have shot it and made the play. Just trying to play through it. Just go make plays. That’s what I have to subscribe to.”
The wait continues.
Ball out
As expected, Lonzo Ball missed the game against Milwaukee, sitting out the front end of the back-to-back. Ball will play in the home opener against Oklahoma City on Saturday.
Besides the minutes restrictions with the surgically repaired left knee, it was determined before the season that he would also miss one of the games in all back-to-backs. It’s up to Bulls medical and Ball to pick out which one benefits him more to sit out.
The good news was he did come out of the opener with no setbacks or concerning soreness.
Musical rotation chairs
Donovan went with an 11-man rotation against the Pelicans, and didn’t like the way it looked or performed.
The coach’s happy place is a nine-man rotation, but he also knows that would be hard to do with this group with the increase in pace that he wants them to play with, as well as Ball’s minutes restrictions.
Where does that leave Donovan? Still searching.
“We’re still working through some of that,” Donovan said. “Ideally, I don’t want to play 11. I think that’s too many. There were a couple times we got caught there.
“So for us I think it’s still a work in progress with some of the rotations.”