Chicago Bulls: Patrick Williams is the glue that holds defense together

Likely the main concern surrounding the Chicago Bulls projected starting five heading into Training Camp and the preseason concerns the defense. Adding the likes of star center Nikola Vucevic and shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan to a starting five that also features shooting guard Zach LaVine is something that creates a volatile defensive situation for head coach Billy Donovan heading into next season.

The saving grace that Donovan can rely on next season among the players in the projected starting five is a duo of standout young defensive stoppers. That duo includes the newly signed former New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball and second-year forward Patrick Williams.

Bulls fans have all the hype surrounding Lonzo since executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley pulled off a sign-and-trade deal last month with the Pelicans to land him. The Bulls gave up veteran shooting guard Garrett Temple, combo guard Tomas Satoransky, and future draft capital, in this sign-and-trade with the Pelicans to land Lonzo.

And the Bulls selected Williams fourth overall in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft out of Florida State. Williams showed plenty of two-way potential during his rookie campaign last season. What he didn’t show was the confidence necessary to make use of his gifted physical tools and developing shooting stroke on offense.

But that should come along over time.

Chicago Bulls will be relying more on Patrick Williams defensively than any other projected starter

A lot of hope surrounds the defensive ability of Williams next season to make up for any lapses by the trio of Vucevic, LaVine, and DeRozan. There will be a ton of responsibility placed on Lonzo and Williams to be the glue that holds this defense together.

But the main difference between the responsibilities of Williams and Lonzo will be the versatility asked of each of them and particular positions they’ll be often switching to defend. Williams will be asked to likely switch between the three, four, and five. With the likelihood that Williams will start at the three or the four (with DeRozan taking the other spot in the starting unit), the former Florida State standout will be asked to cover ground for both Vucevic and DeRozan.

That is a lot to ask without a doubt.

You can see the defensive value that Williams brought to the table last season in terms of the number of offensive win shares compared to defensive win shares. He ranked in the top four on the team last season in defensive win shares, at 2.2, with only 0.3 offensive win shares.

What is encouraging about some of the numbers that Williams put up last season is that he actually had the best net steals and blocks per 100 possessions in a two-man combination with Vucevic. And some of his more effective defensive lineups net per 100 possessions last season came with Sato and LaVine.

Williams is adept to making up for other players in the lineup with him that are defensive liabilities. He showed that in bits and pieces last season on the floor with Vucevic and/or LaVine.

And Williams is just someone who is very reliable as an on-ball defender, so Donovan won’t have to worry about him missing assignments. According to NBA advanced stats, on three-point attempts that Williams defended last season, the player he matched up with shot on average 3.5 percent less than the average opponent percentage as a whole against the Bulls.

When Williams was defending the shooter last season, the opponent shot two percent less than average from two-point range.

It’s clear that Williams is a plus defender for the Bulls, and he’s shown the ability before to pick up the pace for other poor defenders in a lineup with him. It will be critical for him to continue to grow defensively and pick up the slack for other Bulls’ starters like LaVine, DeRozan, and Vucevic, heading into next season.

The challenge will be even greater for Williams to help make up for other negative defenders in the Bulls’ rotation after the addition of DeRozan. At least he will have Lonzo in the starting five with him, and other solid defenders off the bench such as Alex Caruso and Javonte Green, to help out defensively.