Chicago Bulls: Patrick Williams landing in Windy City picking up steam

The former Florida State Seminoles forward and reigning ACC Sixth Man of the Year Patrick Williams is getting linked to the Chicago Bulls of late.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is now almost upon us. The Chicago Bulls fans long awaited night of the 2020 NBA Draft is set to see them pick fourth overall in the lottery. That is if the Bulls and newly hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley don’t pull off a big draft night trade.

We can’t really rule out anything at this point in time pertaining to the Bulls draft night strategy until the time actually arrives for them to make a move or draft fourth overall. There’s not a whole lot of certainty surrounding the Bulls concrete plan for draft night, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

If you do want to zone in on a few names that are more and more often getting connected to the Bulls with their fourth pick in the lottery, they are the former Florida State Seminoles forward Patrick Williams, Maccabi Tel Aviv shooting guard/wing Deni Avdija, and Iowa State Cyclones point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

The name that is the most interesting of that trio of draft prospects in this class is the former Noles star freshman forward Williams. Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated had the Bulls taking Williams with their fourth pick in the lottery in his latest mock draft ahead of draft night on Nov. 18.

And Woo is not the only draft pundit around the media landscape that feels there is more traction of late between the Bulls and Williams in the lottery. Jeff Goodman recently posted on his Twitter timeline on the afternoon of Nov. 18 that he’s “hearing a lot of chatter that both Detroit (No. 7) and Chicago (No. 4) really like Pat Williams”.

If the Bulls do pick Williams in the lottery on the night of Nov. 18, they would be getting a pretty potent power forward with a lot of promise. But they would also be taking a risk on passing on the likes of Haliburton, Avdija, etc. (if they’re available at four).

During the shortened 2019-20 college hoops season in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Williams played in 29 games at Florida State (none of which he started in). And he averaged 9.2 points per game, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks. Williams shot 45.9 percent from the field, 32.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 83.8 percent from the free-throw line.

In addition to the fourth overall pick in the 2020 draft lottery, the Bulls hold the original Memphis Grizzlies 44th overall pick in the second round. Last year, the Bulls picked the former North Carolina Tar Heels point guard Coby White seventh overall in the first round and the former Arkansas Razorbacks center Daniel Gafford 38th overall in the second round.