Lottery picks Ayo Dosunmu is showing up for the Chicago Bulls this season: Ziaire Williams
There was a point in time where I thought the former Stanford Cardinal 20-year-old small forward Ziaire Williams would be a quality 2021 NBA Draft target for the Bulls to target with the 38th overall pick in the second round. Yet, Williams would wind up moving up draft boards pretty fast to the point where he was a lottery pick.
Yet, the original team that selected the former Cardinal standout forward would eventually ship off Williams on draft night 2021 in a three-team trade with the Memphis Grizzlies and Charlotte Hornets. Williams was originally selected by the New Orleans Pelicans 10th overall in the lottery.
Williams had some early flashes that he showed this season. But his play was pretty inconsistent through the first half of his rookie campaign.
He’s averaged 6.1 points per game, 1.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.2 blocks while shooting around 39 percent from the field, 26 percent from beyond the arc, and 86 percent from the free-throw line in 28 games so far this season.
Dosunmu is looking better in his per-game averages and shooting percentages almost across the board so far this season. He’s also got roughly five times as many win shares with a better box plus/minus and player efficiency rating thus far.
Williams looks to be a younger forward that the Grizzlies are going to have to be more patient with. He just hasn’t made much of an impact out of the gates during his rookie campaign.