Chicago Bulls: Patrick Williams finishes season amid top 10 NBA rookies

The 2020-21 regular season wrapped up for the Chicago Bulls and first-year head coach Billy Donovan on the night of May 16. In their regular season finale on May 16, the Bulls faced the divisional foe Milwaukee Bucks at home at the United Center. And the Bulls did wind up with a win over the Bucks to round out the 2020-21 campaign.

Although it was somewhat of a surprising win for the Bulls against the Bucks last weekend, it didn’t do much to help this team heading into the offseason. The Bulls are still bound to miss the postseason for the fourth year in a row. They came within two games of getting a spot in the play-in tournament over the likes of the Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers.

There is hope for Donovan and the Bulls heading into the offseason, though. A budding star duo for the Bulls that includes shooting guard Zach LaVine and center Nikola Vucevic should be able to lead this team back to the postseason next year. Rookie forward Patrick Williams also gives this team hope as the key piece of their core heading into the future.

Chicago Bulls building around their star duo and Patrick Williams

A strong finish to his rookie campaign for Williams was recognized in the final version of the NBA Rookie Ladder this season. As the season moved along, the NBA released their usual editions of the rookie ladder. This season saw Williams featured among the 10 rookies on this list quite a few times.

All throughout his rookie campaign, Williams was solid defensively for the Bulls. And this edition of the rookie ladder put it well in essentially stating that he was finally more aggressive on offense in the last two games of the season.

Williams came 10th place in the final rookie ladder. The rookie that topped the list was the Hornets point guard and the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft (one spot ahead of Williams) LaMelo Ball.

In 71 games played for the Bulls in his rookie season, Williams averaged 9.2 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.6 blocks. And he shot a solid 48.3 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 72.8 percent from the free-throw line.

The Bulls wound up finishing up the 2020-21 regular season with a record of 31-41 following their win over the Bucks last weekend. Williams looks to be one of the brighter young talents for the Bulls to build around moving forward.