Following the unfortunate injury news to second-year forward Patrick Williams, the Chicago Bulls coaching staff is left looking for solutions as to who can step up in his absence. Williams is likely set to miss the rest of the regular season at least as he suffered a left wrist injury that will require surgery.
Williams suffered this wrist injury in the Bulls’ loss to the New York Knicks at home at the United Center on the night of Oct. 28. He suffered this injury when he came down awkwardly when Knicks center Mitchell Robinson met him at the rim to challenge a dunk.
Now that the Bulls have this absence at the four in their starting unit, someone is going to have to step up to fill this void left by Williams. As one of the most important two-way players in the Bulls’ rotation this season, it’s going to be hard to replace what Williams did, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
Chicago Bulls could give more minutes to Tyler Cook in the absence of Patrick Williams
Williams took on a lot of the tougher defensive matchups, especially against top forwards/wings among their opposition this season and last.
Tyler Cook is at Bulls’ shootaround today. Started season with Windy City Bulls (two-way contract), but makes sense to call him back with Patrick Williams injury
— Rob Schaefer (@rob_schaef) October 30, 2021
It appears that the coaching staff is going to turn to the likes of shooting guard/small forward Troy Brown Jr. and small forward Derrick Jones Jr. to help fill the void left by Williams.
But beyond Brown and Jones, the Bulls are likely going to pull forward Tyler Cook up from the G-League affiliate Windy City Bulls. With the likes of Brown and Jones potentially getting a major uptick in minutes from here on out, someone is going to also have to fill the void deeper down the bench.
Cook is in one of the two-way contract slots for the Bulls this season. But he finished out the season strong last year with the Detroit Pistons. It’s worth giving him a shot deeper down the bench this season.
Second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls own a record of 4-1 following their Oct. 28 loss at home at the United Center to the Knicks. They are set to take on the Utah Jazz at home on the night of Oct. 30 in the next game.