1) Chicago Bulls bound to breakout in the second half
Patrick Williams, Forward
A player that most Bulls fans would love to see breakthrough in a big way in the second half of the regular season above all the rest would be the former Florida State Seminole and rookie forward Patrick Williams. This reigning ACC Sixth Man of the Year award winner is starting to show some signs of improvement within the last few weeks on a more consistent basis.
There were a number of Bulls fans that felt like Williams was a major snub from the Rising Stars Challenge played during All-Star Weekend. But there is still a lot of growth and increased confidence that we need to see in Williams’ game before he can come anywhere close to reaching his mind boggling amount of potential as a two-way forward/wing.
Williams played well at times during the first half of the season. His counting stats and shooting percentages showed a higher degree of success than his all-encompassing advanced metrics did, though. He averaged just over 10 points per game, five rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block, in the first half of the season. And Williams shot above 47 percent from the field, 39.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.8 percent from the free-throw line.
But the advanced metrics do Williams a bit dirtier than the counting stats so far during his rookie campaign. He’s registered a poor -3.5 box plus/minus rating, player efficiency rating just above 10, and just one win shares. But the second half of the season can be where he puts it all together as a more confident decision maker on offense and a more consistent one-on-one wing/forward defender.