Patience should win the day in the approach that Chicago Bulls fans take with expectations for forward Patrick Williams in his rookie season.
The hopeful outlook that the Chicago Bulls and newly hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas have for their lottery pick from the 2020 NBA Draft, former Florida State forward Patrick Williams, could come to the forefront this season. Williams got a lot of playing time for newly hired former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan off the bench in the Bulls first two preseason games.
And the result of the first two games of this four-game preseason slate for the Bulls were one win and one loss. Both of their initial preseason games came at home at the United Center against the Houston Rockets. Williams and the Bulls notched a loss in their preseason tip off on Dec. 11, by the convincing final score of 125-104.
But then the Bulls responded well in a Dec. 13 home win over the Rockets, by the comfortable final score of 104-91. Now the Bulls are set to hit the road to travel to OKC to face the Thunder to round out their preseason slate. Donovan and the Bulls will face his former team twice, on Dec. 16 and 18, to round out the preseason this year.
Williams will continue to be a key figurehead for this Bulls team throughout the preseason, and heading into the regular season. The Bulls tip off their regular season slate on Dec. 23 at home against the Atlanta Hawks. While we aren’t likely to see Williams in the starting five by then, he could already be garnering sixth or seventh man role types of minutes.
Here’s a look into three bold predictions for Williams for his rookie season in 2020-21.