Chicago Bulls: 3 reasons Patrick Williams could be Rookie of the Year
Sitting in a good position with his spot in the rotation right now, the Chicago Bulls rookie forward Patrick Williams could be a dark horse for ROY honors.
The way that the Chicago Bulls showed out in their last two preseason games under the direction of newly hired head coach Billy Donovan should inspire at least a little bit of confidence for where this rebuild is going in its fourth year. All of the internal changes that were made to the Bulls organization from the top-down hopefully have a very positive impact for the years to come.
The Bulls started out by parting ways with former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, who was replaced by Arturas Karnisovas who takes over as the lead voice in the front office. And then Karnisovas hired Marc Eversley to replace Gar Forman as the next general manager. Donovan was another key hire to replace Jim Boylen as the Bulls head coach.
Moreover, the most notable move that Karnisovas made after taking over as the executive vice president of basketball operations back in spring, at least to the roster construction, happened in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft. The Bulls selected the former Florida State Seminoles freshman forward Patrick Williams fourth overall in the draft lottery.
And while there were a lot of questions that surfaced up front about the drafting of Williams last month, it looks like a pretty good move thus far. It’s way too early to tell if the Williams pick was a good one for the Bulls, but the signs so far are promising.
In three games played this preseason (one of which he started in), Williams averaged 12.7 points per game, 4.3 rebounds, no assists, one steal, and 0.7 blocks. And he shot 50.0 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 55.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Williams is already looking like a good fit with this Bulls rotation. But hopefully this momentum continues for him heading into the final game of this team’s preseason slate, on Dec. 18 on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Here’s a look into three reasons why the Bulls rookie forward Williams could take the Rookie of the Year honors this season.