Chicago Bulls: Patrick Williams future development hinging on roster

Defensive prowess

This is his calling card right here. Coming into the NBA, the one thing you could not question about Williams was his defense. The former ACC Sixth Man of the Year proved at Florida State that he was one of the best defenders in college.

But even still, no one could have expected him to be guarding the opposing team’s best players on a nightly basis. It takes a special type of defender to draw praise from both Lebron James and Kawhi Leonard in your first game playing them. But Williams is just that type of player on defense, and while his body continues to fill out, his prowess defensively shall too.

"“I think he’s going to be an exceptional talent,” James said of Williams. “Long arms. He has Kawhi-type hands that I noticed out on the floor, so I knew I couldn’t play with the ball much. And you could tell that he’s just laser sharp on trying to get better and better.” (per NBC Sports) “Billy Donovan’s done a great job with that team over there, Zach LaVine’s been great leading the team, the rookie played well tonight, Williams. They shot the ball great. We were there on a lot of contests.” (per NBC Sports)"

One slight criticism of Williams on defense is that times his lateral quickness does fail him. This is normally due to poor stance with his feet, allowing him to get beat by quicker guards more easily. But these types of technical issues should be polished up as he continues to learn NBA defenses more and more.

With how much he has shown us thus far in his rookie year, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to say Williams could become one of the NBA’s elite defenders in the league, being able to guard positions 1-5.